This weekend, the pastoral mountain resort will be festooned with faux-fur snow boots, oversized Chanel sunglasses and Kabbalah bracelets, thanks to the glitterati arriving in droves for twenty feature-length movies, 55 documentaries and sixteen world premieres or at least for the after-parties. The festivities kick off tonight at 7:30 p.m. with a screening of The Oh in Ohio, a husband-leaves-wife-who-then-learns-to-stand-on-her-own-two-feet tale starring Liza Minnelli, Danny DeVito and a few prime-time-TV heavyweights. (Can anyone say How Stella Got her Groove Back?) The hoopla continues on Saturday with American Dreamz, a satire of a reality-TV series for wannabe, ahem, idols. It stars such big-screen luminaries as Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Marcia Gay Harden and Willem Dafoe.
A day pass costs only $30, but those wanting to hobnob with the beautiful people should expect to pay upwards of $150 for a weekend pass. And even if there are no star sightings, the money buys access to movies, filmmaker panels and parties, plus discounts on lift tickets. For a full film lineup and screening locations, visit www.vailfilmfestival.org or call 1-866-476-1092.
March 30-April 2