So the air is back to normal now, I can breathe again and while the light is still sparkling it no longer blinds: in short I am coming down from the initial high that was Sundance. Just having AFGHAN STAR selected for Sundance, just being there and taking part was enough. Winning two awards… WHAT?! Sundance really is amazing - the heart of Independent film with keen, dedicated audiences, passionate organisers and excellent films. I am evangelical in my conversion!
The British documentary industry can sometimes feel constricted, cut throat and very arrogant. We believe our TV is the best in the world, our executives are the most talented and our channels are the most innovative. What a relief to find a whole world out there where ‘worthy’ isn’t a dirty word, social justice isn’t old fashioned and love of film is the driving force rather than ratings or schedule. AND Sundance proves there is an income to be made in this world.
I arrived on Friday, nervous (in fact I didn’t eat for a week) but thrilled to be in the beautiful Park City, high up in the snowy Utah mountains. We couldn’t afford a dedicated publicist and so were allocated the lovely Maria from the Sundance office and planned what is known as a ‘guerrilla marketing campaign’. This basically means flyering, spreading the word by mouth and handing out lots of great gear. I had 200 glowing, flashing baseball caps (they feature in the film) shipped in… only to discover they had forgotten the batteries. I spent the first day raiding every watch shop in the place. It was flipping hectic and in the end we only managed to get about 50 working. Still by clever positioning we made sure that only key people had them. They wore them too. There’s even a photo somewhere of Hamish Mykura in one.
Luckily Maria had not only seen the film but fallen half in love with Daoud Siddiqi, one of the heroes of the film. She organised loads of press interviews and already our Friday and Saturday screenings were sold out. I was too nervous to enjoy the premier but David Courier’s (head of Sundance Doc selection) intro was so glowing and kind, we (my Commissioning exec Sandra Whipham, the Mohsenis, - exec producers from Kabul - and the BRITDOC girls, Beadie and Jess) and I were ecstatic.
By Saturday Daoud had arrived from Kabul, and we had brilliant screening in Salt Lake City. Again a packed cinema with a fantastic Q&A including an Afghan family who burst into tears and moved the crowd hugely. Daoud and I went to eat burritos with them afterwards. Perfect.
That evening my execs (Mike and Martin) and editor Ash from London arrived and we were now a proper crew. Loads of us handing out flyers, badges (I ❤ Kabul) and hats. Our 8.30 am screening on Sunday was a huge sell out (queues for return tickets even) and it was the best ever screening in the history of my world. From the first few minutes they were laughing, gasping, weeping, swearing and finally at the end standing up and cheering. It was electric. I will never forget it.
By Monday we were officially a ‘buzz film’. This is a weird Sundance phenomenon where momentum gets behind a film and people start to focus on a few. Not sure how it happens but I’m sure buzzologists have studied it somewhere in the world. We were officially sanctioned by the Hollywood Reporter in its article ‘Little-hyped films that could steal the Sundance spotlight’, and by the end of the week we had reviews in Variety and Screen International.
On Wednesday night the BRITDOC lot had a packed and fantastic party, complete with Afghan music (Daoud as DJ) Afghan food and slippers (brought direct from Kabul). One of the jurors is there and we are not allowed to talk to each other. He is flirting a lot however with a friend of mine and she keeps whispering ‘Afghan Star’ into his ear.
More Guerilla marketing and Daoud is hitting the vein of the American Dream. Everyone wants his autograph and picture and they stop him on the street. I think he thinks this is normal. He is the coolest man in Utah, except perhaps Spike Lee, Slash and the bloke from ZZ Top. There were loads of other Hollywood celebs but none as cool as them.
The award ceremony is a bit of a blank to be honest. I remember deciding what to wear and arriving, but after that it’s like a glitterball haze of light. We were awarded Best World Cinema Documentary Director and the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award. I didn’t say anything clever on stage and I went down the wrong stairs but I think over all we did everyone proud. Daoud finished it perfectly by shouting ‘Long Live Afghanistan’ .