What time is it there?!

The immediate neighbourhood around the hostel is soon forgotten once we realise that it’s less than 5 minutes walk to the edge of the main downtown area.

Our first discovery is that we’ve arrived in time for the last week of the film festival. This is a much bigger event than the one in Calgary and we manage to find a couple of interesting looking films to see over the next two days.

So our mini film guide to the festival is as follows. Both are documentaries, which I’m guessing are unlikely to get full releases in the UK, but may turn up late at night on Channel 4 (if you’re interested of course).

This Divided State
Documents what happened when a college in Utah (ie. a state full of Mormons who are BIG George Bush fans) invites Michael Moore as a guest speaker. Anyone who’s interested can find more info at www.thisdividedstate.com.

A.K.A. Tommy Chong
“In 2003, budgets allocated to the apprehension of the US government's top criminal targets were as follows: $25 million for the head of Osama bin Laden; $15 million each spent for information on the whereabouts of Uday and Qusay Hussein, the sons of Saddam; and $12 million spent to apprehend Tommy Chong... Co-founder of the stoner-comedy team of Cheech & Chong”

A good choice, since this was runner-up for the ‘Most Popular International Film’ as voted by audiences. Not only that but we got to meet the man himself. So our one brush with celebrity so far has been with a man who is famous for, um, making jokes about marijuana….

So, just a few days before we attempt to enter the United States, here we are putting money in the pocket of a convicted federal criminal. Good move. Let’s see if they still let us in!