Sam Green and Bill Siegel's "Weather Underground"

I thought I was backing a winner. I went to the 2003 Sundance Film Festival as a guest of my girlfriend Dawn Logsdon, who edited "The Weather Underground," a documentary in competition. We thought for sure that film would win something. All the indications were there: the screenings were sold out, it had a great buzz around town, the ITVS publicist worked night & day getting publicity, and then we heard Robert Redford went to one of the screenings and gave the filmmakers a "thumbs up" at the end.

"The Weather Underground" didn't win. The competition was something fierce. But going to Sundance isn't all about winning. It's about seeing films, meeting people and getting inspired. I've never seen so many powerful documentaries in so little time. In addition to the "The Weather Underground," the films I saw in competition were: "The Same River Twice," "What I Want My Words to Do to You" and "Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin." "What I Want…" did win a well-deserved freedom of expression award. "Brother Outsider" should have won something. It was a finely crafted film, impeccably researched with some amazing archival footage of one gay, African-American, Quaker who confidently (and almost invisibly) shaped the modern civil rights movement. Although some people really enjoyed "The Same River Twice," I never felt it was as compelling and brave as the others in competition.

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I was floored by a documentary that was not in competition, "An Injury to One." This film still haunts my sleep. It's a documentary with no talking heads. Most people call this doc experimental. I call it beautiful. It's about the birth of Butte, Montana in the late 1800's as the world center for copper and it's subsequent take over by the Anaconda Corporation who had no regard for the safety or well-being of the miners or of the land they raped. Every U.S. history class ought to show this film for its insight on the rise of the labor movement and its scary lesson on corporate greed and irresponsibility.

I attended two films from the World Documentary category: "Bus 174" from Brazil, and "The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia." "Bus 174" chronicles a bus hijacking in Sao Paolo that was filmed live by news stations in Brazil. The tragedy unfolds in front of every television in the country because of the ineptitude of the police in securing the area from the crowds and the news crews that gather around the scene. It raises global questions regarding the role of the media and the failure of most governments in combating poverty and criminality. It was like watching and waiting for a ticking bomb to explode. "The True Meaning of Pictures" makes the viewer ask whether or not Adams (a photographer who grew up in the Appalachia) is being respectful to his people or exploiting his subjects by reinforcing the "Deliverance" stereotypes of these people from Hazard County. After seeing the film, I feel it is the latter. It also asks whether his photos are fine art or documentary. Some of his best known pieces were staged and posed. I left the theater conflicted and still haven't decided.

The first feature film I saw was from Brazil, "Madame Sata." The film is set in the boho district of Rio de Janiero in 1931. It's a dramatized true story of an aspiring Afro-Brazilian transvestite cabaret star and his constant struggle with society's issues of race, class and sexuality. It was wonderfully acted and had many stunningly beautiful scenes. I hope it gets the major distribution deal it deserves. The other feature, Bollywood Queen was from the UK. It was a light-hearted pop musical inspired Bollywood film. A classic Romeo & Juliet story of an overprotected London-born Indian girl and a blue-eyed lad from the Somerset countryside. Nice art direction and slick MTV-like musical numbers, but if your looking for high art, this isn't it.

"Angela" was an Italian feature I saw one morning. It was fine, but nothing to write home about. So I won't. But I will write about the superior short film before it, "Rosso Fango." We came in a bit late and thought we were in the wrong theater. It was a war scene from World War I. Bombs bursting over a muddy trench and gunfire and screams dominate the soundtrack. A British soldier is trying to climb out of a trench with a screaming, injured German soldier. The Brit can't escape the carnage or screams and is about to shoot the German dead. At the last moment he puts down his rifle and takes out some medical supplies and helps the German with his wounds. The two exchange names and the British soldier has no idea he just saved the life of Adolf Hitler. The same Adolph who went on to cause the next World War and kill millions of innocent people. True story. Powerful short film.

I didn't meet any big celebrities, but I did meet several interesting people at Sundance. I met a woman who makes DVDs and a dwarf who works at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts who wants to make a documentary on dwarfism. I had a brief chat on the bus with film critic B. Ruby Rich about Frances McDormand. I met a film student from L.A., who told me that the Beastie Boys were playing at some club, which made me mad, because I had to be somewhere else. I met a Sundance volunteer from New York who told me that the Festival puts them up in a condo with five other people and gives them a $10 stipend for meals. He said he bought a bunch of Spaghettio's for the week. "At What I Want My Words to Do to You," I met and complimented Eve Ensler on her film and her incredible work with the women incarcerated in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Very moving film.

But the bulk of my meetings took place while standing in a line for something. It's really the best place to meet people, because if they see someone more important than you are, they can't leave because they'll lose their coveted place.

I arrived in Park City as an innocent bystander, really -- a fan of films with no agenda. I was only there because of a generous Christmas present from my girlfriend. I saw films of beauty and furious social activism. Films made by people with a passion for their art form and a mad desire to get the hidden stories out to people like me. To make people think, to keep us up at night with questions, to incite us to stand up for our beliefs, march on Washington when necessary and not to be afraid to talk with the person standing next to you.