Sleepless at Sundance … notes from the front

First notes from Sundance 2007 : I’m writing this about 4:49 a.m. Woke up with stomach ache and can’t get back to sleep.

Impressions: Driving in on the shuttle, I meet a woman who says she works for “POV.” She’s here to “go to meetings and look for documentaries,” she says. She also says she remembers my daughter Rachel from when Rachel worked for “Now with Bill Moyers.” Says she doesn’t get to see many narrative films, which she proves by asking basic questions about “The Departed,” which shocked her with its violence.

Hello? Martin Scorsese? Violence?

We’re staying in a condo located somewhere between the Park City Library, which doubles as a theater, and the foot of Main Street. It’s a big place, two floors, though there doesn’t seem to be enough bathrooms for the dozen or so people who will be here. Still, we have a private room – which at our age is pretty much a necessity.

I heard tonight that the actress/filmmaker Adrienne Shelley was murdered. Seems it happened while we were in Kosovo. I’m a bit shaken by this for a couple of reasons. One, I can’t believe that something like this would have escaped my attention. Two, I attended a panel that Shelley spoke at several years ago. I can’t remember whether it was here or in Seattle, but I remember her, and it’s hard to believe that she’s dead. Things like that happen only in the movies, right?

That’s it. I’m bushed. Time to take a sleep tab.