Sundance Diary

Julia Kwan, director of Eve & the Fire Horse. Photo by Steve Carty.

Vancouver-based filmmaker Julia Kwan attended this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Utah to promote her first full-length feature, Eve & the Fire Horse. The picture explores the religious awakening of two Chinese-Canadian girls living with their parents in 1970s Vancouver. The festival, which is held in both Park City and Utah’s capital, Salt Lake City, and ran Jan. 19-29, is one of the main events of the annual festival circuit, and is traditionally known for breaking new, independent talent. During the festival, Kwan kept an online diary as she attended all the hot parties and chatted up all the necessary contacts in the hopes of garnering international attention for her film.

January 24

Park City, Utah

Last night, I was at the party for Heart of Gold, the new Neil Young documentary. Both Neil Young and director Jonathan Demme were there. It was held in this amazing house on the outskirts of Park City. There were a lot of film people there, of course. Without a doubt the highlight was getting my picture taken with Neil Young. He’s just the most humble, kind, approachable man. He’s a legend, but he’s just so warm. My producers and I were all in awe, because we’ve grown up with his music. I also got introduced to Jonathan Demme. Somebody had told us that he’d seen Eve & the Fire Horse and liked it, but he told me he’d been trying to see it but it’s been sold out. Just hearing that he’d made the effort was enough for me.

My producers, Yves Ma and Shan Tam, went to this party put on by Participant Productions — who made Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck — and they met Al Gore. They thought he was very approachable. He was actually worried about the Canadian election, and the future of the Kyoto Protocol in Canada. They also talked to the Super Size Me guy, Morgan Spurlock, and plied him with all our Eve & the Fire Horse swag. He was wearing our toque.

It was past midnight that we ended up at Neil Young’s party; the reason we showed up so late is that we were coming from an Eve & the Fire Horse screening in Salt Lake City. It was an amazing screening, because it was a true audience. They weren’t industry people; they were real movie-going folks. I was a little nervous about it, but it was a warm reception. Most of the audience stayed for the Q&A, which is not that usual. And… we now have interest from several major U.S. distribution companies. That’s exciting for us. Seven representatives from one particular company drove all the way out to Salt Lake City to see the film. They picked an amazing screening to come to, because the audience responded so well to it.

I’ve overcome my altitude sickness and I’ve just been running on adrenaline these last few days. Everywhere you go, people know about the Roger Ebert interview. (Ebert said that Eve & the Fire Horse was “one of the most beloved films at Sundance.” I still can’t believe it.) Our Eve & the Fire Horse jackets are a conversation piece. In fact, it’s happened two or three times that people on the street break out into a spontaneous O Canada when they see us. It’s bizarre.