A Brooklyn Beat: Sundance Institute at BAM

I went to Sundance once, and it was a pretty surreal experience. Just months after 9/11, it felt very strange to be sitting in heated tent trying to concentrate on a movie about the Hollywood-fairytale life of Robert Evans (actually a pretty good flick, worth Netflixing). And the parties, forget it. After a few laughable attempts at talking my way into Christina Ricci-attended shindigs, I decided just to hunker down in my nondescript hotel room and focus on getting my assignments done. Starting today, in what hopefully will become an annual event, New Yorkers can get a taste of the festival without all the glitz, glamour and $15 cheeseburgers. Through May 21st, BAM is hosting a series of screening, panels, and musical performances focusing on the best of Sundance. Promising offerings include a documentary about the first U.S. soldier killed in Iraq, a panel about the making of "The Usual Suspects," the suicide comedy Wristcutters: A Love Story (pictured), an erotic anthology with contributions by master squirm-inducers Gasper Noe, Larry Clark and Matthew Barney, and screenings accompanied by Q&As with John Waters, David O. Russell, Allison Anders and Hal Hartley.