Just wrapping up a great week in Park City at the Sundance Film Festival.  Awards were given two nights ago and I had a chance to see two winners:  "King of Ping Pong"  (Jury - World Cinema Dramatic) and "Trouble the Water" (Jury - Documentary).  Both great and I will review below. 

Here are some festival highlights.  U2-3D was promoted early at the fest and will be released in IMAX theaters in February.  It features their Vertigo tour in South America.  That is another win for IMAX in my view and a must see.  The band was at the fest lookin' large.

Another concert film that premiered the last day of the show was "CSNY Deja Vu".  It generally got good reviews and is a must see for the children of the sixties.

The top sale at the fest was a film called "Hamlet 2" which was bought by Focus Features.  It is a romp comedy, from what I gather, well received by all audiences.  It went for $10 million.  Focus is part of the NBC Universal Family, read GE.

Now for my mini reviews:

"King of Ping Pong": Swedish film about two young brothers one big and awkward, the other popular.  A moving, beautifully-subtle film.  (It also received the award for World Cinematography).  I highly recommend it -- although it will likely only get limited release.  Hit it on Netflix.  Check trailer.

"Trouble the Water":  Kimberly Roberts bought a video camera for $20 on the street and intended to use it to film birthday parties.  Instead, she documented the experience of being left to vend in the ninth ward in New Orleans during Katrina.  Awesome film, check the web site.  We all know the story, but if you buy into this film, you see how the government let these people down -- and still continues to do so.  The highlight was Kimberly's rap song scene.  She is a total boot strapper, optimist and just plain talented woman.  Danny Clover was a Producer.

Anyway, we are snowed in, so I hope to go to a couple of other best-of-fest films tonight.