Day 6

Park City, Utah

We got a call yesterday morning from the Sundance organizers that Jonathan Demme wanted to invite us to his exclusive party for Heart of Gold, the new Neil Young documentary he directed! We had a screening that night in Salt Lake City, so we didn’t manage to get to the party until quite late. Both Neil Young and director Jonathan Demme were there. It was held in this amazing house on the outskirts of Park City. There were a lot of film people there, of course. Without a doubt the highlight was meeting Neil Young (a fellow Canadian!). He’s just the most humble, kind, approachable man. He’s a legend, but he’s just so warm. My producers and I were all in awe, because we’ve grown up with his music. I also got introduced to Jonathan Demme. Somebody had told us that he’d seen Eve & the Fire Horse and liked it, but he told me he’d been trying to see it but it’s been sold out. Just hearing that he’d made the effort was enough for me.

Erik Paulsson, Neil Young, Julia Kwan, Yves J. Ma

My producers, Yves Ma and Shan Tam, went to this party put on by Participant Productions — who made Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck — and they met Al Gore. They thought he was very approachable. He was actually worried about the Canadian election, and the future of the Kyoto Protocol in Canada. They also talked to the Super Size Me guy, Morgan Spurlock, and plied him with all our Eve & the Fire Horse swag. He was wearing our toque.

Yves J. Ma (producer), Al Gore, Erik Paulsson (producer)	Mark Francis, Morgan Spurlock, Nick Francis, Erik Paulsson

It was past midnight that we ended up at Neil Young’s party; the reason we showed up so late is that we were coming from an Eve & the Fire Horse screening in Salt Lake City. It was an amazing screening, because it was a true audience. They weren’t industry people; they were real movie-going folks. I was a little nervous about it, but it was a warm reception. Most of the audience stayed for the Q&A, which is not that usual.

I’ve overcome my altitude sickness and I’ve just been running on adrenaline these last few days. Everywhere you go, people know about the Roger Ebert interview. (Ebert said that Eve & the Fire Horse was “one of the most beloved films at Sundance.” I still can’t believe it.) Our Eve & the Fire Horse jackets are a conversation piece. In fact, it’s happened two or three times that people on the street break out into a spontaneous O Canada when they see us. It’s bizarre.