The Circuit

The early morning activity at the Sundance Press Office was light.  Most journos are arriving today with some skipping tonight's "Mary and Max" opener and landing tomorrow. 

The accredited press, dazed in the elevation, stumbled around the various desks, working through the what, where, and when of Sundance.  Sundance press masters Brooks Addicott and Amy McGee smoothly worked to put out the small, inevitable fires. 

Some press grumbled that the fest printed no handy pocket-sized schedules this year, and some films didn't have press screenings (Gregg Mottola's anticipated "Adventureland" doesn't, though there are more tics available). 

Yet so far there is a good feeling of less-is-more this year.  One big change is hydration.  All press are given a Sundance "limited edition" water bottle, sponsored by Brita and Nalgene, where they can refill at stations across Park City.  The fest isn't giving out disposable water bottles this year.  Last year they gave over 50,000 of them out.  That's not a typo.

As Dave Poland remarked, they could also serve as a portable restroom (for men).  Even the bottle is tinted green so no one would know that nature called 40 minutes into "Humpday."

Above, Independent Film Festival Boston programmer Adam Roffman fills up.  With water.