As has been our habit for the last 13 or 14 years, Jason and I attended the Sundance Film Festival again this January. Due to some travel conflicts, we were only able to go to four screenings, less than our norm. However, the heterogeneousness of those four flicks represented Sundance’s diversity well as did our assorted company. Hence, I’d place 2020 solidly amongst our top dozen years at the festival. The best 85% looks something like this.

Our first screening was for the premier of Worth. Although not a documentary, Worth proved informative. It portrays the obstacles of Ken Feinberg, the impartial lawyer who headed the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Feinberg’s struggle to determine the value of a life by balancing the equation of economics with humanity makes this a thought-provoking picture. Sara Colangelo, the film’s director, provided answers to the crowd’s wide-ranging questions after the screening. To date, no distributor has purchased this movie. It seems like it could be worth the investment. (Yes, pun purposefully and shamelessly placed.)

Our second film was Rebuilding Paradise. Rebuilding Paradise is a documentary directed by Ron Howard about the Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in the United States during the last century. In November of 2018, it destroyed nearly 19,000 structures and killed over 80 people with most of that destruction occurring within its first four hours. Although those statistics are harrowing, the footages from the blaze itself and its aftermath are shocking. To be honest, I didn’t know much about the details of the Camp Fire before watching this film. I learned that 95% of the city of Paradise was destroyed. Can you imagine your home and your entire community melting into ashes in a matter of hours? Ron was not able to be present at the Q&A as he was shooting another film, but a large portion of his crew and a number of the Paradise townsfolk attended.

The third film we saw was The Reason I Jump, a documentary about the experience of having nonverbal autism. It highlights a handful of amazing young people while sharing excerpts from the book by the same title, which was eloquently written by a 13-year-old Japanese boy with autism named Naoki Higashida. Since I have witnessed firsthand the communication frustrations endured by those with autism, I found this film absorbing and enlightening. I appreciated its articulate reminder that those who do not speak still have something to say. After the screening, a Q&A featured director Jerry Rothwell, crew members, and some of the documentary’s subjects. This film won the audience award in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, mostly due to my vote of course.

The last show we attended was Save Yourselves! This hilarious movie is equal parts B-grade horror, social commentary, and unhinged comedy. If alien poufs took over the world while you were taking a technology break in the woods with your significant other, offbeat situations would naturally ensue. So, part documentary also? We chortled, we ewwed, and we chortled some more. A Q&A with the writer-directors Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer also proved quite entertaining.

The Sundance Film Festival is always packed with the unexpected. This year, it was equally full of Q&As and comrades. All our screenings were followed by a Q&A; 100% isn’t typical for that statistic. We visited with friends in line, watched some great cinema, learned more about our world through deep subject dives, and interacted with filmmakers. That’s why 2020 is in the upper 85% for sure.