• Jennifer Dietz
• Safety Not Guaranteed cast and crew

We pull somewhat of a Sundance all-nighter: After not getting back to our hotel until nearly 3 a.m., we are back on the shuttle at 7:30 a.m. to see Safety Not Guaranteed. On the bus, we run into Ben Kalsulke, who filmed Chris at our house for the short film, "The Dude." This was back in February during Lebowski Fest. We’re not sure if he recognizes us, but Chris shouts hello anyway.

They can’t all be winners at Sundance. Here are some signs of a potentially bad film: there is hardly anyone in the wait list, people come to sell unwanted tickets to the wait-listers, and people walk out during the film. All three of these things happen at Bestiare, a New Frontier film which is basically a silent slide show filled with images of animals in a Quebec zoo. Chris asks a question during the Q&A about why taxidermy scenes were stuck in the middle of the film, and the director mutters something about the circle of life. Sorry — we are just not buying that the film can even muster up that semblance of meaningfulness.

Our day begins with a visit to Temple, our least favorite venue. It is closer to Kimball Junction than Main Street and there is only one bus that goes there. We are excited to see our only documentary of this fest, Detropia, a film about the decline of Detroit. It falls somewhat short of our expectations, focusing on the downfall of the auto industry and the outsourcing of jobs. Current and relevant problems no doubt, but we had hoped to see something more along the lines of the Ruins of Detroit about decaying structures. Still, it is a good film, as the filmmakers try to tackle an enormous theme by focusing on a tapestry of local individuals in 90 minutes.

• Jennifer Dietz
• Detropia filmmakers

From Detropia, we go straight to our next screening in the midst of a healthy snowstorm. Robot and Frank (played perfectly by Frank Langella) is a futuristic tale about a retired cat burglar with a failing memory, who is given a caretaker robot by his grown children (played by Liv Tyler & James Marsden). Frank rejects the robot initially, until he realizes it can assist him with criminal mischief. Robot and Frank is part drama, part dark comedy. It is set in the near-future, perhaps 20 years from now, and its scenarios are disturbingly believable. It is a future where robots do human jobs; the local library is a bookless “social center,” run by a sketchy consulting company; and paper materials have become relics. It’s a complex, thoroughly enjoyable film and our favorite up to this point.

• Jennifer Dietz
• Robot and Frank cast

We begin our first day at Sundance with a visit to Squatters, Chris’s favorite Utah brew pub. Then it’s time for our first SFF12 screening, Beasts of the Southern Wild at Eccles. A Sundance Institute project, this film had significant assistance to get it into the festival. There is a large group of filmmakers sitting front and center cheering for the film. The accolades are not without merit: we both enjoy this surreal story of a young girl (impressively played by Quvenzhane Wallis) and her ailing father living a fictional wetland outside New Orleans called “The Bathtub.” The opening scene of the film felt like a cross between Mad Max and Arthur. That said, the film manages to pull off a seemingly impossible story line that includes the rise of ice age creatures called Aurochs. During the Q&A, one actor talks about being discovered and trained in acting while doing his work at a bakery. How indie!

• Jennifer Dietz
• Beasts of the Southern Wild Director & lead cast

The sunny weather and the lure of Main Street leads to a change in our earlier plans to sit in a 2 hour wait list line for That’s What She Said. Instead, we stroll through the chaos of Main Street. This is the image that comes up so often in Sundance footage and it is the hub of festival activity. After stopping in the Sundance Filmmaker’s Lodge, we are disappointed to find they have discontinued the afternoon wine receptions. A volunteer suggests we try another location she heard was providing a happy hour. All she was able to provide was an address, which turned out to be the Fender Music Lodge. At the door, they have a list and we are not on it. After Chris chats with the gatekeeper, his charm or business card must have worked because we were issued a couple of wristbands. After some refreshments, we wandered around more of this back alley mall and stumbled into the Celebrity Gifting area and a couple of pop up shops selling some hip art and handmade jewelry and bags, plus what everyone seems to be sporting here - Spirithoods.

Our evening selection is Red Lights, which Jenn wanted to see due to the paranormal story and Chris figures it will be packed with stars since Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy, Robert De Niro and Elizabeth Olsen round out the cast. Unfortunately, this $17 million dollar film (look for it in theatres on March 2) feels entirely average and the ending is less than satisfying.

• Jennifer Dietz
• Red Lights Cast

Sundance Eve... bags packed... films selected... flight to the blizzard awaiting Park City a mere 5 hours away.

It's hard to imagine this frantic flurry of last minute running around as the calm before the storm, but it is.

We are Chris & Jenn, a couple of film geeks who like to sundance whenever we can. Every year, Sundance draws a bunch of like-minded folks to the top of a mountain in the middle of winter to sit inside dark re-purposed rooms to watch a movie. Sometimes it's a blockbuster hit, other times it's fantastic but never to be seen again, and occasionally it's so esoteric or weird you sort of feel WTF -- these films can run from amazing to awful to snoozers -- but they always feel special.

This year we're hoping to provide reports from the festival on a fairly regular basis. The Sundance Institute has partnered with everyone's favorite social photo app Instagram and created a group #sundance to flood the internet with on-the-spot sharing of the experience. We hope to provide a little of that, too, with a second tag to show our stream of photos on the Daily Loaf.

Check back often, because once we are on the ground in Park City we will be providing reviews of some of the films we see, the aforementioned photo updates, as well as tips and tricks on how to sundance.