HEADLINE: Eight-letter word for documentary hitmaker: Sundance run could spell success for film on crossword culture BYLINE: Katherine Monk, CanWest News Service, January 19, 2006 Blame it on the altitude, but the Sundance Film Festival inhabits an almost surreal headspace, where serious global issues, American politics and pure entertainment seem to merge in a cosmic wash of low- budget and experimental celluloid. Nowhere else can you find a festival that boasts a guest list that includes Hollywood heavy-hitters such as Robin Williams, as well as Beltway celebs such as Al Gore, but that's just a sample of the bigger names descending on Park City, Utah this week for what has become one of the largest, and most influential film festivals on U.S. soil. An offshoot of the Sundance Institute founded by Robert Redford 25 years ago, the Sundance Film Festival -- which kicks off tonight with a screening of Nicole Holofcener's Friends with Money, starring Jennifer Aniston and Catherine Keener -- brands itself as a progressive institution, where important issues of the day can be discussed in a laid-back environment. Gore will be there with a documentary film he inspired called An Inconvenient Truth, which deals with the bleak problem of climate change. But he won't be alone on the environmental bandwagon. Other films in the 120-film program include Who Killed the Electric Car?, a documentary that examines why American car manufacturers destroyed their early prototypes for alternative propulsion models, and Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon, which cuts a swath through the logging issue. Sundance can take small, political documentaries such as these and launch them to the world stage, as it's done in the past with Why We Fight, Inside Deep Throat, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Super Size Me. Over the years, Sundance has become synonymous with offbeat and challenging American films, but there's one type of film Sundance seems to showcase with more enthusiasm than anywhere else, and it's within the very narrow niche of "word game" movie. Three years ago, Spellbound witnessed unprecedented success as people found themselves immersed in the drama of a spelling bee. Two years ago, Word Wars chronicled the Sturm and Drang of the pro Scrabble tour. This year, Wordplay has already sprung from the box office gate ahead of the pack, selling out almost every one of its five screenings. A low-budget documentary from director Patrick Creadon and producer Christine O'Malley, Wordplay began as a documentary about New York Times Crossword editor Will Shortz, but it evolved into a movie that goes much deeper. "In life, we are all presented with different challenges ... and in order to meet those challenges, you often need the comfort of a daily routine, and the New York Times crossword puzzle has become part of that daily routine for millions of people," says Creadon from his home in Los Angeles. A career cameraman who's worked in industrials to small documentaries, Creadon and his wife O'Malley moved to Los Angeles from Chicago to pursue their dreams of making movies. They got stuck in the grind of the good money for unfulfilling work, but after they started doing crossword puzzles on a remote tropical island, they thought about a crossword documentary. "Finally, I just made a cold call to Shortz. I found the number, called and said I would like to make a movie about you.... To our surprise, he called back." Creadon says when he started shooting, he wasn't even thinking of Sundance. "We were such idiots. I had no idea of what the deadlines were or anything. But a friend of ours said, look, you have to go to Sundance. If you do anything, he said, apply to Sundance -- even if you don't get in -- they can help you get your film out there. He was right, and I'm so thankful he told me to drop everything and just get it ready for Sundance because he thought the characters in the film were unbelievable." Creadon got lucky. The film got in, and now he and his wife are packing up the two kids and the truck and heading to the mountains for 10 days of festival craziness and, no doubt, several days of deal negotiating. Distributors are already calling, but Creadon isn't focused on making a big sale as much as he's interested in taking in the Sundance experience. With a Sunday morning brunch and crossword party with Will Shortz already planned, Wordplay is leading the early buzz of films to watch out for. "Though we geared the movie for a general audience -- for people who aren't necessarily crossword addicts -- we did recognize the built-in audience for the movie. The New York Times Crossword is the most famous puzzle, and Shortz is an icon. I think people will want to see what he has to say," says Creadon. "But I also think people will see the human story as well. People who do crosswords are people who generally don't mind a challenge -- but also care about getting the right answer. These are people who want to figure things out, and because of the content, they are also people who are engaged with the world around them. They have to know popular culture ... as well as politics." In other words, Wordplay combines the two key ingredients of a Sundance success story: politics and entertainment, coupled in one fun but equally challenging package. "I think the thing about Sundance is it gives people in the industry a chance to do something ... and get recognized for something ... that feels personally meaningful. As someone who has been a part of the film industry for close to 20 years, I know how rare that is, which is why we're so honoured to be going," says Creadon.