Day Four of Sundance promises to be a busy one for me. First up is the Women in Film panel, which usually offers some interesting persepctives from femme filmmakers around both the fest and independent filmmaking. The topic of this year's panel is "A New Consciousness in Film"; the female writers, directors and producers on the panel, according to the press release, will "discuss among other themes, how their films and artistic choices are being influenced by the social issues of the times, how they got their films made and the changes they foresee in the future of the industry."

My first screening of the day will be Marc Webb's 500 Days of Summer, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. The film takes a spin on the romance genre, spinning around a boy-likes-girl-more-than-she-likes-him premise. Gordon-Levitt is one of my favorite young actors, and has a solid track record of making smart script choices, but Deschanel's Sundance film history is a bit dicier; I'm curious to see which way this one swings.

Tomorrow evening I'm planning to catch Cold Souls; I'm hearing middling response from those who've caught it, but the premise is intriguing. Paul Giamatti plays himself as an actor having anxiety around an upcoming performance; he seeks out a company that extracts and deep-freezes souls, and has his removed until after the performance. Sounds like it could have an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind vibe, but is it executed as well? I'm hoping also to squeeze in an interview with Humpday director Lynn Shelton about the writing and directing process of her film.