A while back, I gave you several reasons why I wished I could travel to Utah this year for the Sundance film festival. After the awards ceremony this past weekend, I'm really kicking myself for not finding a way to make it happen. As it turns out, one of the films I was jazzed about, Frozen River, walked away with the Grand Jury Prize for best U.S. drama. The film, written and directed by Courtney Hunt, stars one of my favorite actresses, Melissa Leo.

Frozen River tells the story of a single mother in dire need of cash who falls into a smuggling ring as a means of supporting her family. Her connection to the ring is a Mohawk woman, played by Misty Upham. And they're smuggling people, not drugs. The title comes from the fact that the ring smuggles illegal immigrants across the frozen St. Lawrence river from Canada into the U.S. Not only did the film earn the Grand Jury Prize, but it also secured a distribution deal following the Sundance showing. And based on the reviews I've read, the success of the film is due in large part to Leo and her performance in it.

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I have a really long to-do list in a notebook somewhere. I call it my things-to-do-before-I-croak list. It includes stuff like places I want to see, books I want to read and things I'd like to accomplish. Thanks to AfterEllen.com, I can sort of cross off one of those items. No. 67: Get published. Sure, the Internet wasn't what I had in mind when I added that particular item to my list, but it counts in my world.

Another thing on my to-do list is attend the Sundance Film Festival. If I could manage to squeeze in the time off and barter my way to Utah, I'd make 2008 the year to get that one crossed off the list. The complete list of films screening at next year's festival was released over the course of the past couple of weeks. Not only do some of the films sound intriguing, but the list of who's in those films should make the red carpet a true treat. In last week's Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. we told you about one reason to head for the Utah mountains, a reason named Saffron Burrows. Here are a few more reasons to make the trek.

One of the people I would expect to see strutting about town is Lena Headey. Not only would I love to drool over her in person, but I'd also like to see the movie she's in that's screening at Park City at Midnight. It's called The Broken and tells the tale of a woman who sees herself drive by in her own car while on a busy London street. She follows the mystery double into "a living nightmare." Lena Headey in what sounds like an eerie psychological thriller? Count me in. … continue reading