Geoff Gilmore Speaking at the Festival

I also attended the opening night ceremonies, and I did so with specific reason. I regretted going last year, but now that I think about it in retrospect I am glad I did. I tend to avoid the star-studded glamor personalities who show up for press and “indie-cred,” all in plentiful supply last year. I would even say it was somewhat so this time around. Luckily, I also avoided most of this by going to the second screening. Robert Redford went off to his party and there was little to no press at the second showing. Instead, I received a heartfelt speech given by the mayor of Park City, in which he not only applauded the festival, but also gave what he said was a rare political plug for the upcoming festivities on Tuesday morning, calling Barack Obama “the greatest president of my lifetime.” While he may have jumped the gun a bit on that one, they are having a jumbo-screen presentation of the inauguration right on main street. In addition to having a low key introduction, the movie was also not the usual opening movie.

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