The Sundance Diary by Dawn Keezer

Yes, it is true, Geraldine, 46, is one of the stars of the Slamdance documentary "Cirque Rosaire."

Geraldine is a chimpanzee from the Pittsburgh Zoo. She left home at the age of 6 months to live with Pam Rosaire, a chimpanzee trainer with "Cirque Rosaire."

"Cirque Rosaire" chronicles the lives of a real circus family, the Rosaires, who have been in the circus business for nine generations and are still going strong. The Rosaires are based in Florida but travel the world performing with their animals. I had spoken with Robin Billey, the first-time director who took on this project as a labor of love. She had been introduced to the Rosaires when she was 6 and never forgot them. She spent the past five years putting this film together. It was Robin who told me about the Rosaires love for Pittsburgh and then introduced me to Pam Rosaire.

Pam's brother trains the bears, the oldest sister handles the lions and tigers and Pam has the chimpanzees. Pam explained that she ended up with a Pittsburgh chimpanzee as the star of her show after she spotted baby Geraldine while visiting the Pittsburgh Zoo. She recognized some behavorial traits that could cause problems for Geraldine to stay in a zoo environment, and met with zoo officials and asked them to please contact her if Geraldine started having "issues." At 6 months old, the zoo called and traded Geraldine to Pam for a different baby chimpanzee that was more suited to the zoo environment. Geraldine has been a superstar ever since.

The Rosaires are committed to animal welfare and once an animal becomes part of their group, they stay with them for life. The Rosaires have created an animal sanctuary in Florida to make sure all of the animals are cared for in their later years. The documentary is hoping to acquire distribution during Slamdance, but if not, they will continue on the festival circuit. With their Pittsburgh connection, I told Robyn she should try to include the Three Rivers Film Festival in her schedule.

More on "Circus Rosaire": www.slamdance.bside.com/?_view=_filmdetails&filmId=43430231

My last Sundance screening was a film called "Death in Love." Interesting story, but more fascinating was Jaqueline Bisset. She is the star of this film and looks amazing. It's truly hard to believe that she's in her 60s. I was lucky enough to be introduced to her and she was wonderful.

After "Death In Love," it was off to the Kodak Party, which invites the directors, filmmakers and cinematographers who used Kodak film for their projects.

I was able to meet several filmmakers with films in the festival, handed out a bunch of business cards and kept getting positive responses every time I mentioned the word Pittsburgh.

My last day at the festival was marred by the death of Heath Ledger. It was all anyone was talking about once the sad news starting making the rounds.

The rumors were really wild, about where he was, who he was with and what he was doing. Michelle Williams, Heath's ex-wife, had been at Sundance with her new film "Incendiary." (The Associated Press reported she was filmning out of the country at the time of Ledger's death). It is very sad to lose such a young and talented individual.

Well, it is now 12:30 and I have to get up at 4 a.m. to catch my 7:15 flight (have to allow at least an hour to get from Park City to Salt Lake City's airport). Back in Pittsburgh, I'll write some final thoughts and observations about the festival.

Oh, almost forgot. I ran into a film critic for one of the trade papers, the Hollywood Reporter, who had seen "Mysteries of Pittsburgh" and loved how amazing the city looked in the film. He thought we should be able to use it for tourism promotion. Maybe, but there are some nude scenes that might have to be cut first.

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Postmarked Tuesday, Jan. 22

Monday was another great day for Pittsburgh at the Sundance Film Festival. Both "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" and "Smart People" had second screenings of their films.

"Mysteries" played again for a sold-out theater at 8:30 in the morning. Usually during Sundance, the early screenings are never sold out and 8:30 a.m. is way too early for the PIBs (people in black) to be up after being out most of the night at the private party houses. But, since the buzz is so high on "Mysteries," people grabbed their morning caffeine of choice and headed over to the screening.

Director Rawson Marshall Thurber and producer Michael London were in attendance at the screening. Rawson, once again, spent several minutes extolling the virtues of shooting a film in Pittsburgh. Someone else in the audience asked Michael London if he was planning on relocating to Pittsburgh, since both of Groundswell's films were shot there. Michael said he wasn't quite ready to move there yet, but that he loved it there, thought it was a great place to shoot and that our crews were great. Michael also told the crowd he is definitely planning on shooting in Pittsburgh again.

As people were exiting the theater, there was a lot of excited and upbeat chatter about the film. People genuinely seemed to like it. I hope it gets a distribution deal soon -- so far no news on that front.

After the screening, we headed over to the Association of Film Commissioner's (AFCI) brunch. The AFCI is a worldwide organization of film offices, with a membership of more than 300 in the United States and about 200 scattered throughout the rest of the world. The brunch is held every year at Sundance as a way to give the members a chance to catch up at the festival. It was fun to be able to brag about PA's great incentive program and to talk about the films currently shooting in Pittsburgh.

We then made our way up Main Street, stopping off at the New York State Film Office's storefront location for coffee. The New York office has rented a storefront on this main festival area for the past several years. It gives them great visibility, a chance to speak about their lucrative incentive program and they offer free coffee, plus they fly in bagels daily from New York, so they are able to generate a lot of traffic. It would be great if Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh could have a bigger marketing presence at the festival -- pierogies and Iron City beer, anyone?

On the agenda for the evening was the upscale Variety "Top 10 Directors to Watch" Party that is held at the Stein Ericksen Lodge at the Deer Valley Resort. This is a very hot ticket, and I was lucky enough to make the list again this year.

There were great celebrity sightings at the party: I was able to speak with and get pictures with both Stanley Tucci and Danny Glover. Stanley Tucci is here with his directorial debut, "Blind Date," in which he also stars with Patricia Clarkson, another party-goer. Danny Glover is in the film "Be Kind Rewind."

I also saw celebrity photographer Annie Leibowitz and thought about asking her to take my picture, but decided not to act like one of the PIBs.

After the party it was off to finally see "Smart People." The film was showing at 11:30 at night, and it was another sold-out screening. Usually at the second screenings, especially when they are really late or really early, the number of celebrities in attendance drops dramatically, and this screening was no exception. Noam Murro, the director, and Mark Poirier, the screenwriter, both were there to introduce the film, but did not come back for a question and answer session. I met with them both prior to the screening and they were both very complimentary about filming in Pittsburgh.

"Smart People" is set in Pittsburgh and opens with a beautiful aerial shot of the Carnegie Mellon campus. Although this film is set in Pittsburgh, it doesn't show the same wide range of Pittsburgh images as "Mysteries" did. The film is centered on a college professor, his family and his doctor, so there are many more interior shots of places that could be anywhere. "Smart People" did shoot at the Omni William Penn, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh and Allegheny General Hospital.

This film has distribution and is set to open nationally on April 11th. The Pittsburgh Film Office will be hosting a screening in late March or early April and we'll keep you posted on the details.

The film was over at 1:30 in the morning, so it was off to bed to get ready for my last day at Sundance.

On my last day, I am going to stop by the Slamdance Film Festival, which was started about 10 years ago as a "counter" to Sundance. One of the ways to apply for entrance was to produce your reject letter from Sundance. The humorous part is that Slamdance has evolved quite a bit since then and now garners a lot of attention from studio buyers and press. There is a rumored Pittsburgh connection with one of the films, so I am going to see if I can track it down.

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Postmarked Monday, Jan. 21

Sunday was the big night for Pittsburgh to shine in Park City. The Sundance entries that filmed in Western Pennsylvania -- "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" and "Smart People" -- premiered within 45 minutes of each other on Sunday night.

I had to make a hard choice between which screening to attend and in the end went with "Mysteries of Pittsburgh." I am seeing "Smart People" -- which brought Dennis Quaid and Sarah Jessica Parker out for the Sunday screening -- on Tuesday at 11:30 p.m.

Mena Suvari and Jon Foster were among the members of the cast in attendance at the premiere of "Mysteries," based on the book by Michael Chabon. The film is a picture postcard for Pittsburgh. Other celebrities who came to see the film were Quentin Tarantino ("Pulp Fiction") and "Grey's Anatomy's" Sandra Oh, also a star of Groundswell Productions' "Sideways."

I had a brief chat with Quentin, who loves Pittsburgh and especially admires George Romero. He was looking forward to seeing George's next film.

The buzz on "Mysteries" was very hot. People who were not lucky enough to have tickets lined up 31/2 hours in advance of the screening, in hopes of securing a seat.

There is a "wait list" system in place at Sundance. Basically, you show up two hours in advance of the show time and are given a numbered ticket. You can leave, but you must be back in line one hour before the show time. You are then lined up by your number. As people with tickets do not show up, the empty seats are filled by the wait-listed folks. It is a fair way to allow people to try and see as many films as possible, but it is much better to have tickets in advance.

I was lucky enough to have a ticket.

"Mysteries" was shot in the Omni William Penn, the Duquesne Club, the old Rankin Steel Mill, Gattos Diner in Tarentum, the Koppers Building, Point State Park and Evans City, and there are some beautiful driving shots that took place out in Butler County.

During the driving scene, the woman seated next to me said incredulously, "That road is in Pittsburgh, too?" She was surprised to learn that everything she saw on the screen was filmed in and around the Pittsburgh region. Hopefully when other people see the film they will notice the great diversity our region offers.

After the screening there was Q&A time with the director, Rawson Marshall Thurber, and several of the actors from the film. I asked, "How much did you love shooting in Pittsburgh?" In response, Rawson held his hands far apart and said he "loved it this much." I know -- it was a shameless way for me to be able to get some free marketing for Pittsburgh.

After the screening, we went to the private dinner for "Mysteries" with the cast, producers and some of the crew. Joining the Pittsburgh Film Office were Arlene Ashton from the Pennsylvania Film Office and Sharon Pinkenson of the Philadelphia Film Office. The dinner, held in Delta Airlines private party space on Main Street, came complete with a red carpet and security guards to keep the huddled masses at bay. I was lucky enough to be seated with the director of photography, Michael Barrett. I could not stop telling him how great Pittsburgh looked in the film, and he told me he loved Pittsburgh and he loved his crew.

I also had a great conversation with Michael London, CEO of Groundswell. As you may know, Groundswell produced four films last year, two of them were shot in Pittsburgh. Both Michael London and Groundswell really love the region and Michael told me he will definitely be back with another project.

I also caught up with Rawson at the dinner. He was thrilled with how the film turned out and is also a major member of the "I love Pittsburgh" fan club.

Bruna Papandrea, an executive producer on both "Mysteries" and "Smart People," was also at the dinner. She told me that she has been fielding calls from many of her producer friends who want to know what it is like to shoot in Pittsburgh. Lucky for us, Bruna is also one of our biggest cheerleaders.

There was a great gift bag at the dinner for the VIP attendees. Representing Pittsburgh was the Omni William Penn, the LeMont Restaurant, Dick's Sporting Goods and Heinz, which added to the Pittsburgh flavor with a special "Mysteries of Pittsburgh" ketchup bottle.

Tuesday night is Smart People's second showing, which isn't until 11:30, so coffee is definitely on the menu.

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Postmarked Sunday, Jan. 20

Saturday dawned early with the first screening at 9 a.m. Way too early, but it was a fascinating film called "Frozen River."

At the screening I met Trish Adlesic, a Pittsburgh native (Fox Chapel/O'Hara). Trish is the location manager on "Law & Order: SVU." We had a great conversation and I tried to convince her to come back home to help with all of the new work in Pittsburgh.

My other Pittsburgh native sightings included Sara Dawida (daughter of former Allegheny County Commissioner Mike Dawida) who joined us at the morning screening. Later on that day, we met James Schwartz from Peters. Amazing how many people in the entertainment industry have roots in Pittsburgh!

Celebrity sightings for today included Emily Blunt ("The Devil Wears Prada") and Tom Hanks!!! Tom is in a new movie with his son, Colin, and Ms. Blunt called "The Great Buck Howard." My favorite question after the screening was when someone asked Emily who was the better kisser, Tom or his son? (Emily Blunt kisses Tom Hanks in "Charlie Wilson's War"; she kisses Colin Hanks in this film). At first she declined to answer, and then she said that Tom's son was better - after Tom was had left.

Still on the lookout for Sundance founder Robert Redford.

I joined up with David Haddad in the afternoon, where he was getting mobbed by the crowds of people on Main Street. He brought Haddad's logo T-shirts to hand out to promote his company and people were going crazy for them.

We then met up with Joseph Zolfo, a line producer who has a film at Sundance called "Death in Love." We will see this film on Tuesday evening. We spent some time discussing the Pennsylvania Film Incentive program and he is very interested in filming in Pittsburgh one day. He is planning a trip in the next few weeks to scout locations for a few future projects that he is currently producing.

Next stop: the MySpace sponsored event, with headliner 50 Cent. We are supposedly "on the list." I will let you know tomorrow if we actually get in the door.

Sunday night is a big day for Pittsburgh, with both "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" and "Smart People" premiering can't wait!

More tomorrow, including details on the exclusive "Mysteries" dinner.

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Postmarked Saturday, Jan. 19

Friday was a fun day. I saw some movies and had my first celebrity sighting, Ian Ziering (a k a Steve Sanders of TV's "Beverly Hills 90210" and a contestant on "Dancing With the Stars").

My first film was a series of documentary shorts. For those of you who don't know, shorts are films that are usually less than 30 minutes in length and are used primarily as calling cards for directors hoping to direct a full-length feature one day. Not that I am trying to pretend I am teaching Film 101 here, but just want to make sure that everyone knows what we are talking about.

The shorts I saw varied greatly in subject matter, such as: interviews with kids about money, a beauty pageant in a Colombian prison and two elderly Irish women chain-smoking while complaining that too many kids smoke today ... all very entertaining.

After the screening, I went to my first gift house. This is where companies vie to grab the attention of the multitude of celebrities and press in attendance at the festival. The goal is to have them wear their apparel, use their products or try out the newest gadgets. The hot topic here at Sundance, just like everywhere these days, was the environment and how "green" a company's products could become.

The big item this year was the new Timberland Earthkeeper shoes. The cool thing about Earthkeepers is that they are made of 70 percent recycled materials and come with a "nutrition label" that gives the information about the "carbon footprint" involved in the manufacturing, as well as listing the more than 119,000 community service hours the company has donated. Brian Coleman, public relations manager for Timberland, and spent some time with me explaining Timberland's philosophy and products Fans of Earthkeepers include Leonardo DiCaprio, Ian Ziering, Jessica Alba and Tim Daly. I missed both Jessica and Tim in the gift house, but we are all wearing Timberlands around Park City.

Also in the gift house was Cristo, an international hair designer. He has several new products that he was showcasing this year. He was able to fix my hat hair in about 5 minutes, so I was quickly a huge fan! He also showed me his yet-to-be-released cuff links line, very fun and could come in handy for those of you attending the Pittsburgh Film Office's Lights! Glamour! Action! event on Feb. 24th!

Another interesting sight is the way companies try to draw attention to their brand and their daily swag. Amstel Light beer has models walking up and down the streets with giant St. Bernards and handing out bottles of beer. They are a big hit on Main Street! Beer, models and dogs -- that is a slam dunk to get attention! One last fun item was the company Pure Romance. They were "heating up the mountain" handing out various Passion potions. This was a very busy booth!

Off to another screening. More later.

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Postmarked Friday, Jan. 18

Sundance or Bust!
I have arrived in Park City! The trip was for the most part was uneventful, which is how I like my travel days.

A couple of highlights from the scene at the Los Angeles International Airport, where there were so many people on Bluetooth headsets it looked like an episode of "Star Trek":

-- A pretty blonde woman, all in black, with a rhinestone belt that added the extra touch of glamour you need at an airport, overheard a man telling someone else that he was with Getty Images (a large wire photography service that sends photo images to media internationally). She jumped up and immediately joined the conversation. She was an actress (of course) and wanted to know where Getty Images would be taking photographs because she wanted her picture in their library of images. He graciously gave her the address and suggested she use his name to gain admittance to the private photo studio. I wrote it down, too. May stop by later and see who else is getting their picture taken.

-- The other incident falls under the category of the self-important festival attendees. As the flight attendant was about to close the doors on our flight, two women came rushing onto the plane. They were seated across the aisle from me. They were overjoyed to have made the flight and were very happy to tell their friends why they were so late -- so late, in fact, that they could not check their luggage.

They began asking other people in line if any of them was on the next flight to Salt Lake City and would they check their luggage for them? A man agreed and the women were off to catch their flight. Apparently, after the man checked the luggage he had a change of heart about passing a stranger's luggage as his own, so he turned himself in to a TSA agent. The man was not be allowed to board his flight and consequently the flight was delayed while the luggage could be found and removed from the plane.

As we landed in Salt Lake City, an announcement was made asking for someone to please identify themselves to the flight attendant. They were looking for one of the women who was happily recounting her adventure earlier. As we got off the plane, the women were met by TSA agents and no one looked happy.

I went on to get my bags and pick up my rental car. As I was standing in line, the women ended up in line behind me. Since I had overheard most of the story, I was very curious as to what had happened next, so I asked them. They recounted what TSA had told them about the man turning himself in. The man is in a lot of trouble because he is the one who accepted their bags.

The women did not have any remorse about this man's situation. At this point they were hoping Delta would send them their luggage on the next flight. At the end of the story, one of the women asked me why I was in line. I told her I was waiting to get my car and she said, "I didn't rent you a car."

I laughed and said, "Well, that is good, because I don't know you."

She looked at me and said, "You're not Jodi!" This whole time they thought they knew me! It was very funny. As we introduced ourselves, I asked her who she was with (another typical festival question) and it turns out she is a travel agent who decided to join her film industry clients at Sundance.

The drive from the Salt Lake City airport to Park City takes about 45 minutes and winds through gorgeous, snow-capped mountains. David Haddad of Haddad's Truck Rentals is also attending the festival this year, and we shared the ride up the mountain.

Once you get to Park City, the first stop is always the grocery store. The festival usually consists of nonstop running between screenings, parties and meetings. There is not a lot of time for food. We stock up on power bars, protein drinks, soup in a can and a case of water -- fine dining at its best.

Once we have the necessary supplies, we drop off luggage at the hotels and head out on the second necessary step to start the festival: picking up the passes. Festival headquarters at the Marriott hotel, always a fun experience, is mecca for the PIBs. This is where a lot of people hang out, waiting to see and be seen. It is also where real work can get done as everyone has to come to headquarters at some point.

I am very excited to pick up my first-ever press pass. The press office for Sundance is amazing. There are several different areas, including individual screening rooms, so some reporters can watch films without ever going to a theater. The people working in the press office were very nice and helpful -- gave me my credentials and I was on my way! Took all of 4 minutes, as opposed to the hour it usually takes for me to pick up regular pass.

As I walk around, I run into a few people that I know. I have a nice chat with them, especially when I get to brag about "Mysteries" and "Smart People" premiering at the festival and tell them about all the work that is happening in Pittsburgh.

The first day everyone is happy and excited to be here. After about day 3, the novelty starts wearing off and the crowds start becoming annoying. It is amazing how a town the size of Park City can swell to 50,000 people during the festival. Traffic becomes bumper to bumper within an hour of the opening film and doesn't quit until the last day of the festival.

Just had a quick chat with Ron Yerxa, who produced "Bee Season," which had scouted Pittsburgh but went to Oakland, Calif., instead because they didn't want snow. He likes Pittsburgh and hopefully we will see him soon with another film.

No celebrity sightings yet, but will keep looking.

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Postmarked Thursday, Jan. 17

On the way to Sundance
LOS ANGELES -- I am flying out of Los Angeles International this morning and it should be a complete zoo as usual. When I was based in Pittsburgh, I would always fly to Sundance through L.A. because the airport is where the festival truly gets started. It is such a riot to watch all of the "people in black" (or PIBs) arrive with their designer luggage, wearing brand new snow boots that have never seen snow. The PIBs stand around with Sundance catalogs in hand, waiting for someone to ask the inevitable question, "Are you going to the festival?" In past years, I have been able to meet several directors and producers with films in Sundance at the airport. It is a great way to start pushing the "film in Pittsburgh message" before they even land in Utah. Plus, flying out of L.A. really helps connect with the much sought after private party tickets (which is where all the real work at the festival gets done).

Park City is a beautiful old mining town, set high in the Wasatch Mountain range. It is amazing to watch this quaint little town with a normal population of about 8,000 swell to 50,000. The people-watching and -listening can become a full-time sport at the festival. Watching the PIBs navigate their rented oversized SUVs through the narrow snow-lined streets is almost as fun as overhearing some complain about the inability to locate their particular brand of soy milk for their daily triple-shot latte -- all highly entertaining.

This year's festival is especially exciting for the Pittsburgh region since we have two feature films premiering, "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" and "Smart People." Ironically, although there are over 100 films at the festival, "Mysteries" and "Smart People" will premiere 30 minutes apart on Sunday, so it looks like I will see "Mysteries" on Sunday and "Smart People" for the second screening later on in the week.

"The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" is in the dramatic competition at the festival, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they win for Best Drama. So far "Mysteries" does not have a distributor (buyer); the hope is that Sundance will help them find a buyer for the film. "Smart People" is using the festival as a way to kick off the publicity for their April 11th release date.

I am excited about the opportunity to "share" the whole Sundance film experience with you. I will be sending in daily updates as to who I have seen, who I have spoken to, and most importantly who wants to come to the Pittsburgh region next.