Dave and Maya

Last night, my husband and I, tired of the the exploits of political idiots on The Daily Show (most days it's funny, but some days I find the stupidity and hypocrisy downright depressing) caught Sundance Channel's Iconoclasts. This smart show pairs up two unlikely figures and let's them just talk, debate and get to know each other. Pairings have included people like Ashley Judd + Madeline Albright; skater Tony Hawk + director/actor Jon Favreau; activist Desmond Tutu + entrepreneur Richard Branson.

We watched as comedian Dave Chapelle met with poet, activist, and general inspiration Dr. Maya Angelou. What a pairing! It was a poignant meeting of a wise older soul passing life lessons onto a 30-something man who has been through a lot but is still on his journey. As some of you may know, Dave walked away from his hit TV show and $50 million dollar contract at Comedy Central a few years ago just to get away from it all and save his soul. Maya seemed to understand this act, while many others have not.


You could see in Dave's eyes he wanted to just soak up as much knowledge and insight from this woman as was humanly possible. And she was eager to share, teach, praise and comfort. It was just awe-inspiring to watch so much love pass between two souls right in front of your eyes.


I am a huge lover of independent film and adore many of the selections on the Sundance Channel. Having attended the Sundance Film Festival 5 years in a row (2009 was the first year I'd missed it in a while), I love the energy of storytelling and community that permeates Park City for 10 days out of the year. But I often have a hard time with some indie film that is avant-garde for the sake of being avant-garde, rather than in pursuit of the story. Sometimes shocking is just shocking and it doesn't work. I will never forget an interview I saw back when Melanie Griffith was promoting the film Working Girl in 1988 (not that I would ever confuse that film with an arthouse classic, but bear with me on this point...). She was justifying a scene where she is vacumming the house topless because she's in a rush as "central to the story and what my character would do" or something like that. Seriously? That was pivotal to the entire plotline to have you vacuum topless and was not just a shameless attempt to sex up a late 80's film? I love non-cerebral entertainment just as much as the next guy, but let's call a spade and spade, shall we?


But I digress. Often Sundance Channel carries over some of the best films from the festival, ones that never got full distribution in the light of day. And original, smart, compelling, and eye-opening series like Iconoclasts actually help me regain some of my brain cells back from shows like I wrote about last time. True, honest, insightful storytelling is why I love film so much and showcases its potential to change minds, hearts and the world.