Sundance sightings

Muslim punk rockers Shahjehan Khan, right, and Basim Usmani, of the Taqwacore band, “The Kominas,” play a set at the Star Bar to celebrate premiere of the Eyad Zahra film, “The Taqwacores,” which is in competition at the festival. The birth of the Muslim punk scene is often credited to the novel “The Taqwacores,” by Michael Muhammad Knight, a Rochester, N.Y.-raised writer who converted to Islam in his teens. Knight coined the book’s title from the Arabic word “Taqwa,” which means piety or God-fearing, and the word hardcore. The 2003 book portrayed an imagined world of living-on-the-edge Muslim punk rockers and inspired many real-life South Asian musicians, photographers, writers and filmmakers to forge their own artistic community.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Members of Taqwacore bands -- the Kominas, Al-Thawra and Filmstrip -- and various Taqwacore “scenesters” (members of the unofficial but closely-knit Taqwacore artistic community) crash and chill in a large room they’ve been sharing in a condo during the Sundance Film Festival. The bands were in town to play concerts to promote the Eyad Zahra film, “The Taqwacores,” which is in competition at the festival. They’ve been on tour of several cities and this was the last stop.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Movie goers wait for the documentary by graffiti artist Banksy, “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” to begin at the Library Center Theatre. The true identity of Banksy has yet to be revealed and many thought he might make an appearance at the festival. Many people in the theater kept looking at each other and asking the question, “Are you Banksy?”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Graffiti of a boy with pink angel wings, possibly the work of graffiti artist Banksy, is found on the outside of a parking garage in downtown Park City. Sundance’s Spotlight Surprise film was a documentary on Banksy titled “Exit Through the Gift Shop.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

World-record holding dirt bike legend Larry Linkogle reveals his tattoo while promoting the documentary he stars in, “Mind of the Demon: The Larry Linkogle Story,” which is in competition at Slamdance, the alternative film festival to Sundance. The film is about Linkogle battling his inner demons as he struggles to maintain structure, sobriety and self-control in his life.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Actress Kristen Stewart at the premiere of her new film, “The Runaways,” at Eccles Theatre in Park City, Utah. Stewart plays the role of Joan Jett in the film about the 1970s all-female rock band.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Actress Tatum O’Neal arrives for the premiere of “The Runaways.” O’Neal stars in the film about the 1970s all-female rock band.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Kristen Stewart waves goodbye to the media after doing a series of photo shoots and interviews for the premiere of “The Runaways.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Actress Dakota Fanning arrives for the premiere of “The Runaways.” Fanning plays singer Cherie Currie in the film about the 1970s all-female rock band.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Director Sultan Sharrief, left, and actor Julian Gant promote their new movie, “Bilal’s Stand,” by working on an ice sculpture on Main Street. “Bilal’s Stand,” written and directed by Sharrief, screens in the NEXT category at Sundance and premieres Monday at the festival. It’s the story of Bilal, a Detroit high school student, and his struggle to pursue higher education. Ice sculpting is part of the character’s creative outlet. “It’s about my life and my family ... growing up in Detroit,” said Sharrief.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Parker McCormick, 19, and Haley Douglas, 18, of Salt Lake City check out the scene and catch a movie.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Film goers are caught in a reflection against a window that announces the Sundance Film Festival at the Sundance House in Park City.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Actor Ryan Reynolds attends the dinner party for his latest movie, “Buried,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on Saturday, Jan. 23.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Attendees at the dinner party for the premiere of the new Ryan Reynolds movie “Buried.” The thriller’s distribution rights were later acquired by Lionsgate in what represented the first major deal of the festival.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Actor Mark Ruffalo, right, and writer Christopher Thornton celebrate the premiere of their new film, “Sympathy for Delicious,” at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on Saturday. Ruffalo directs and stars and Thornton wrote the original story for the film. This was Ruffalo’s first time directing a movie.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Sundance festival-goers attend the “Celebrity Tweetup for Haiti,” where moviemakers, celebrities and movie fans use Twitter hoping to raise money to aid the people affected by the earthquake.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The band 2 a.m. Club performs at the Sundance ASCAP Music Cafe on Main Street in Park City, Utah on Sunday. Artists such as the Fray, Richard Marx and LeAnn Rimes will play the club during the film festival.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Moviegoers wait in a long line in 20-degree weather Friday for the new Nancy Holofcener film, “Please Give,” outside the Eccles Theatre during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on Friday, Jan. 22.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

With little parking available during the Sundance Film Festival movie goers prefer to take a bus than drive to movie theaters in Park City, Utah.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Actress Kristen Stewart of the “Twilight” movie series appears at the Sundance Film Festival for the opening of her new film, “Welcome to the Rileys.” The movie also stars James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo. Stewart’s other film at the festival is “The Runaways.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Snowflakes are projected at night during the Sundance Film Festival.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A band of mariachis performs for festival goers along Main Street.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Movie goers run across Main Street during a snowstorm.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Festival goers listen to the music of Tyler Hilton as he performs at the Fatali Gallery.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A couple walk near a billboard where filmmakers have left posters featuring their movies that are being screened during the Sundance Film Festival.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Movie goers wait for a bus near a heat lamp during another chilly night.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Heidi Ewing, left, and Rachel Grady, co-directed the documentary, “12th & Delaware,” which is in competition at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The documentary looks at an abortion clinic across the street from an anti-abortion agency often mistaken for the clinic it seeks to shut down in Fort Pierce, Fla. The pair also co-directed the documentaries, “Jesus Camp,” and “The Boys of Baraka.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Actor James Franco, who plays Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in the movie, “Howl,” participates in a panel on the making of the movie at the Villiage at the Yard in Park City. Rob Epstein, right, and Jeffrey Friedman co-directed the film. Franco stars with David Strathairn, Jeff Daniels, Mary Louise-Parker and Jon Hamm. The film depicts events surrounding Ginsberg’s controversial poem.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Actor Bob Balaban attends a news conference for his latest film, “Howl,” at the Village at the Yard.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Robert Redford, actor, director and founder of the Sundance Film Festival, is surrounded by media at the end of a news conference announcing the start of the festival inside the Egyptian Theatre in Park City, Utah.  (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Park City Television videographer Mike Bradshaw films an installation by artist Tracy Snelling titled “Border Town” inside an exhibit space called New Frontier on Main. It will feature many video installations by artists visiting Park City, Utah, as part of the Sundance Film Festival. The New Frontier on Main space will also feature musical performances and panels.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt describes his installation piece alongside other video artists who are exhibiting video installations inside an exhibit space called New Frontier on Main. Gordon-Levitt will be appearing in the new film “Hesher,” which is being screened at Sundance.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Swiss artist and filmmaker Pipilotti Rist does an interview in front of her video installation titled “Lobe of Lung: The Saliva Ooze Away to the Underground,” inside an exhibit space called New Frontier on Main.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A video of actor Vince Vaughn takes up a room in a small model of a motel in the multimedia piece by artist Tracy Snelling titled “Border Town,” inside the New Frontier on Main exhibition space.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Artist and farmer Matthew Moore stands in front of his video and vegetable stand installation, “Lifecycles,” inside New Frontier on Main.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Swiss artist and filmmaker Pipilotti Rist presents her video installation, “Lobe of Lung: The Saliva Ooze Away to the Underground,” inside New Frontier on Main.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

New graffiti, possibly the work of graffiti artist Banksy, is seen on a power box at the Gateway Center in Old Town in Park City, Utah, where the 2010 Sundance Film Festival has just begun. At least three pieces of graffiti art have appeared in Park City in recent days, but it was not immediately clear whether the artist rumored to be featured in a Sundance Film Festival documentary is responsible for the pieces. Sundance’s Spotlight Surprise film could be a documentary on Banksy, reportedly titled “Exit Through the Gift Shop.”  (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Robert Redford, center, actor, director and founder of the Sundance Film Festival, joins a group photo alongside fashion designer Kenneth Cole, to the right, and Sundance Film Festival volunteers, who wear the official jacket designed by Cole, in front of the Egyptian Theatre on Main Street in Park City.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Main Street starts to bustle with traffic and pedestrians two days before the start of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Jay Smith, 52, walks down Main Street, which is decorated with flags that announce the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. Smith, who works at the Burns Cowboy Shop on Main Street, is looking forward to the onslaught of moviegoers and, perhaps, shoppers to the city.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Sundance Film Festival ticket agent Tyler MacBeth highlights the films that are still available to moviegoers at the main box office in the Gateway Center in Park City. There are only two short movies available to moviegoers on the first day of the festival, which begins Thursday.  (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Olivia Sprung, 5, walks along a snow-layered sidewalk on Main Street in Park City, where a mural pays homage to the filmmaking process. The Sundance festival begins Thursday.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Lights decorate Main Street in Park City, Utah, in advance of the Sundance Film Festival.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Snow blankets Park City, Utah, where the Sundance Film Festival will begin Thursday and run through Jan. 31.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Snows falls over Main Street and a pair of visitors in front of the Egyptian Theatre.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, center, talks with festival-goer Chris Ball in the lobby of the Eccles Theatre before watching the premiere screening of “Howl” on opening night at the Sundance Film Festival. Spurlock, who directed and starred in “Super Size Me,” is one of the judges this year at the festival.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Actor David Strathairn, who stars in “Howl,” makes his way into the Eccles Theatre to watch the premiere. Strathairn stars with James Franco, Jeff Daniels and Mary Louise-Parker in the film in which Franco plays the famed Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Strathairn was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow in the biopic “Good Night, and Good Luck.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Fans and moviegoers stand outside the Eccles Theatre, where the premiere of “Howl” was being screened Thursday night. Fans still hoped to get last-minute tickets to the sold-out screening.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The lobby of the Eccles Theatre before the premiere of “Howl” on Thursday night.  (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Filmmaker Michael Moore makes his way through the lobby of the Eccles Theatre to take in the premiere of “Howl.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Sundance volunteer Dylan Reiff looks over posters of some of the Sundance Film Festival’s featured films inside the Filmmaker Lodge in Park City. Volunteers on Thursday were still decorating the Filmmaker Lodge, where filmmakers can gather and discuss movies and host panel discussions.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Sundance volunteer Carolina Castaneda, 27, from Orlando, Fla., makes her way past a snow-covered sculpture of a moose along Main Street.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Snows falls in front of the Egyptian Theatre in Park City on opening day of the Sundance Film Festival.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)