Title: When Worlds Combine
Originally Published: February 16, 2009
Name: Clare Richardson
Year: Class of 2012
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Major(s): Film and Media Studies/Writing Seminars
******************************************************************************************************
I had always envisioned college as a place where my interests in life would become what I was learning at school. Where at last school wouldn’t feel like “work,” but where I would immerse myself in learning about things that interested me. My passions have always been film and creative writing, and unfortunately they’re two subjects that don’t get a lot of attention in high school. I came to Hopkins intending to major in Film Studies and the Writing Seminars, and I hoped that at one point this combination of school-world academics and my real-world interests would blend together. Of course I was realistic: I knew that I probably wouldn’t get that opportunity in my first few years in college, and especially not in the first semester of my freshman year.
I’ve been lucky enough to attend the Sundance Film Festival for the past five years, and the days up in Park City have always been some of my favorites. A week away from the real world, surrounded by filmmakers, producers, actors, and people who are just as passionate about film as I am. The whole festival has a wonderful summer camp feeling; it’s not uncommon for a complete stranger to ask you what your favorite film is while riding the bus (yes, the bus-it’s the only way to get around when almost 50,000 people descend on a town with a population of 7,000). As most know, a lot of the media focus has been diverted from the festival’s mission of presenting the best in independent film and towards celebrities, parties, and of course, swag. Even though there may be a celebrity influence, Sundance is still truly a film festival, where independent cinema has a chance to be seen.
I knew I wanted to study film in college, so I naturally enrolled in the class Intro to the Study of Film in my first semester. It was a great class that gave me a solid foundation in the “study” of film, and I was fortunate enough to have the head of the film department as my professor. As the semester began to come to an end and Sundance drew near, I realized the opportunity I might have. Here I was, a potential film and media studies major about to head off to the preeminent American film festival, and the thought to combine the two hadn’t crossed my mind. After my next class I talked to my professor about a potential independent study project using my opportunity to go to the film festival with my schoolwork, and she asked me to come by her office so we could talk it over. I couldn’t believe how receptive she was to my proposal, especially coming from a first semester freshman who hadn’t even declared her major. She loved my idea of tying the two together and approved my proposal for an independent study project over intersession. I was thrilled!
Needless to say, Sundance ’09 was fantastic. The trip started out incredibly well, with Dominic Monaghan (from Lord of the Rings and Lost) helping me with my bag in luggage. For the six days I was there, the skies were always clear and sunny, and the temperature never dropped below 40 in the day.
I was able to see 24 films, ranging from documentaries about the rapper Lil’Wayne to mainstream New York cop dramas to completely unclassifiable movies involving two straight men making gay porn. As always there were good films, bad films, and really bad films, but this year had a surprising number of great films. My favorite had to be The September Issue, a documentary about Vogue and its editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour. The close second was In the Loop which is an expansion of the British show The Thick of It, and a wonderful British comedy about the relationship between British and American politicians. My other favorites were 500 Days of Summer, a slightly off-beat romantic comedy, and The Yes Men Fix the World, a great documentary about activists attempting to point out corporate greed by impersonating major companies.
And of course, a Sundance recap is never complete without a mention of the celebrity sightings. While I managed to miss Paris (phew!), in addition to my encounter with Dominic, my “big” sightings were Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, and John Krasinski (a personal favorite-I’m a big Office fan). And what had to be the perfect Sundance Festival encounter was meeting the Sundance Kid himself-Robert Redford-and even managing to grab a picture with him :)
Coming home from Sundance and then immediately returning to Hopkins has been a quick transition, and now that I’m back on campus I feel like no time has passed since I left in December. As I begin to write my reviews of the docs, dramas, comedies, and genre-benders I saw, it’s fun to view the films with a new, critical eye and begin to apply what I’d learned last semester. And the best part of the whole experience is that I’ve already been able to connect these two parts of my life together after just one semester here.
April 12 2010 | 
Comments (0) 
