New Zealand Dreams, Park City Realities

Paloma Schneideman’s ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ premiered to a predictably full house at The Egyptian – though, honestly, one could barely move past the Eccles without tripping over a tech scout. The film, a rather earnest ode to adolescence, felt…familiar. One suspects the Park City Institute has a template for these things by now. The post-screening Q&A, however, was where the true spectacle unfolded. Schneideman recounted her New Zealand upbringing, mentioning a local art house cinema and a fondness for ‘Little Miss Sunshine,’ a film celebrated, quite inexplicably, at this year’s Series. Rain Spencer, of ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ fame, was present, exuding a casual, California-by-way-of-Park-City charm. Noah Taylor, ever the reliable character actor, offered thoughtful remarks. The casting process, apparently, involved a peculiar scan of audition thumbnails – a process I find both amusing and deeply revealing about the arbitrariness of artistic ‘discovery.’ It was a sea of Lululemon, gala black, and the occasional flash of flute-glass gold during the after-party at a private residence off Deer Valley Drive. The sheer volume of emerging filmmakers, all seeking validation, felt rather… dense. A polite murmur filled the space; hardly a roar, but enough.