
While Sundance gets far bigger buzz, another, much more intimate and independent festival happens at the same time in the Treasure Mountain Inn at the top of Park City's Main Street. Slamdance is smaller, and its selections tend to be a bit more raw and with a less mainstream appeal. It has nevertheless launched the careers of some high profile directors, such as Christopher Nolan (Sundance rejected his first film, Following; it played at Slamdance instead) and Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity was launched in the Treasure Mountain Inn in 2008, where I saw it with a group of Eckerd Students in a midnight screening, after which we huddled together and walked up the chilly mountain to our condos in the darkness, delighted in fright).