The grittier, edgier, and more punk rock sister of Sundance, Slamdance, is often overlooked by media and industry. This is a shame. While in Park City, I made it to the top of the hill that is Main Street to Slamdance HQ only once, but it was WELL worth it.
After gorging on a free Stella Artois-sponsored meal at a Twin Peaks-esque mountain lodge, I hopped in the shuttle back to main street. A bit weary and bloated with beer and grits (yes, grits! but the gourmet kind!), I walked into the cinema with trepidation. Could I stay awake? Did I want to? What parties was I missing?

The film I was there to see, a documentary called RED WITHOUT BLUE, is being repped by a friend of mine, the noted entertainment lawyer Steven Beer. I should have initially been much more enthusiastic, and looking back, I wonder why I wasn’t. The documentary chronicles twin brothers in Montana, as one of them makes the radical decision to get a sex change. Now why should I have been more interested than the average human? Well, folks, I am an identical twin, just two minutes older than the sister with whom I shared a miniscule little womb for nine months. And yet, perhaps the festival grind had gotten to me, perhaps it had numbed my pleasure centers and sapped my dopamine. So as I sat down in that dark little theatre, I simply thought, I hope I can stay awake.

Well, dear reader, I’m sure you can guess the outcome of this little introduction. How predictable my narrative is! THe film was incredible, and I had to fight back tears throughout. (In the end of course, I succombed). The film was beautifully made, deeply moving and intelligent, expertly edited and completely captivating. After the screening, the twins went up to do a Q & A, and proved to be sensitive and articulate. Alex has now fully transformed into Claire, and is a lovely young woman, who is finding her niche in New York. I built up the courage to approach brother and sister after the screening, and simply told them how deeply moved I was by the story and noting my solidarity as an identical twin myself. It turns out, they are also two minutes apart. The rest of the night I contemplated my own sense of self and twinship. How does this similarity and difference define me? How does gender define my relationship to someone who is nearly my mirror and genetic image? How would I react if my sister was suddenly my brother? I commend Mark and Claire for their bravery, as well as their parents. In fact, their father was so incredible that he paid for Claire’s sex change procedure! And of course, I also commend the filmmaking team of Brooke Sebold, Bonita Sills and Todd Sills, who handled a sensitive issue with such respect and care.