It was a fantastic and exhausting week at Sundance. Aquarium screened six times, I was on two panels, met inspirational filmmakers, went to great parties and even got in a few days of skiing.

Most excitingly, I attended the Awards Ceremony on Saturday night, where Aquarium was awarded an Honorable Mention! This is an incredible honor and one the whole cast and crew should feel very proud of. To top off the night, Andrew MacLean (my sound recordist and friend) won the Jury Prize for his short film.

Later that night, there was a late-night screening of Aquarium and Jeremy and Rich were there to cheer it on. It was a wonderful way to end an unforgettable experience.

Other highlights of the festival included brunching with Quentin Tarantino and Sandra Oh, getting to meet Robert Redford and Juno director Jason Reitman, and seeing the premieres of In Bruges, Transibberian, Choke, Anywhere USA, Sleep Dealers, and What Just Happened, as well as a great panel about writing comedy during dark times.

Speaking of panels, I ended up being on two. The first was on editing panel sponsored by Avid, the system I used to cut Aquarium. The other panelists were amazing editors: Kevin Tent (who cut all of Alexander Payne’s films and The Golden Compass), and John Lyons (Savage Grace).

Next, the Creative Coalition honored me as a “Moviemaker Mentor.” I had no idea what this would entail and when I showed up to the event I was stunned to learn that the other two filmmakers on the panel were Dennis Hopper and Morgan Spurlock! So I was in pretty impressive company.

All in all, the screenings were successful, the meetings were productive, and my entourage of friends and family all enjoyed screenings, parties, skiing and generally had a great time.

Next week, I’m heading to LA to take advantage of the great momentum of winning an Honorable Mention, and Luke and I are working hard on a new draft of the feature Labrador Duck.

Finally, other film festival news: Santa Barbara went well and coming up are Omaha, Florida, Oxford and Boston Independent.