We could easily have fit a sixth film into our Sundance Monday schedule. But I wanted to hook up our Kosovo film crew with three Spokane filmmaker who are spending 10 days here in Park City, trying to see as many films as they can get into.

Two of the Kosovars, producer Blerim Gjoci and cameraman Fitim Shala, met us at the makeshift theater they call the Racket Club. They’d just seen a film called “Four Sheets to the Wind,” then interviewed the director, when we met in the half-heated tent where Sundance makes the ticket-holders (and ticket hopefuls) wait.

Then the three Spokanites walked in: Brian Johnson, Timothy A. Burton and Bryce Woodworth. And the interview was on. Two filmmaking crews from two different continents, jawing about independent film.

Here’s the plan: Blerim wants to finish his film, which is a study of American independent film, in time to submit it to next year’s Sundance. If that happens, you may get to see it.

Then again, he could insert some explosions, a werewolf or two and some graphic sex and maybe Harvey Weinstein will pick it up.

Overheard at an 11 a.m. Sundance press screening of “Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten”:

(To the room in general) “I don’t know if I’m up for hearing The Clash this early. … Have you ever heard them live? I did once and they were so loud my ears rang for three days. …”

(On the phone) “I was at the Egyptian last night until 2:30 a.m. You’d have been so proud of me. I saw six films, plus went to a panel discussion. And I got kicked out of the Entertainment Weekly party. I was so … stupid. If you ask the doorman what time the party starts, that’s a good pretty good indication that you weren’t invited, right?”

Sundance has put me in a bad mood. And not just because I sat through three downer movies on Saturday. The protocol is that if I want to go to a screening, I’m supposed to request a ticket. So I wanted to see the controversial horse-lover film, “Zoo” – based on an actual case that occurred in Enumclaw, Wash., in 2005. And I filled out the form Friday morning, aiming at an 8:30 p.m. showing.

I was told to come back Saturday morning, which I did. But, hey, no ticket. Come back later, I was told. They’re still processing things. So I did, catching the shuttle bus between press screenings at the Yarrow, but still no ticket. Finally, one of the volunteers explains: No tickets left.

Great. So I jam on to a crowded bus, shuffle back to the Yarrow and barely make it in time to see “The Good Life.” Depression city.

Then I got a phone call. It was from my Kosovar friend, Blerim Gjoci, and his two filmmaking pals. They’re here to make a documentary film about the nature of independent moviemaking, and I decided to help them get a start.

So we met at their hotel, at Prospector Square, then took the shuttle to Main Street, where we walked up and down, looking at all the Sundance types, not to mention the freaks. Though our friend from San Diego had seen celebs all day long – John Cusack, Teri Hatcher, Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga – we saw nobody.

But we had a good meal, met a cute waitress from Brazil, working her summer vacation where she could hit the ski slopes of Park City, and had a few laughs.

I left feeling a whole lot better. The movies I’m seeing may depress the hell out of me, but the country these guys are from is in bad shape for real. Yet here they are, striving to create art. It’s hard not to feel inspired.

As for the people we met. I knew Kim Salyer when we were both seniors at Frank W. Cox High School in 1964-65. He now owns a video-processing company in San Francisco, and we connected between two of the movies, catching up on our lives.

Equally strange was what my daughter had told me: Her former boyfriend, the singer-songwriter Kevin Devine, was in Park City and had been hired to perform at the Celsius with a number of other people (including Zooey Deschanel). After the Abu Ghraib movie, we went to the Celsius, stood in line and were just about to get in when Kevin walked out.

Hugs all around, and then we went off to drink some coffee and hear about Kevin’s career (four LPs, the latest for Capitol Records) and travels (throughout the U.S. eight months of the year, plus Europe). Then more hugs, plus promises to get together once again before we go home.

Earlier in the day, I had seen the guy with whom I almost got into a fistfight with several years ago. Strange. He never says hi.

Oh, and Mandy Moore? She slipped into the Celsius just before Kevin stepped out. And trust me, folks: She’s as cute in person as she is on the big screen.

Today is Saturday. The adventure continues.

Friday was a good day. Even though Sundance is harder than ever to navigate, particularly if all you really want to do is see films, we managed to see three pretty good ones. Plus, I met an old high-school buddy, we snared our third party invitation and the evening ended with our catching up with an old boyfriend of my daughter’s who is a recording artist.

Oh, and we saw Mandy Moore walk into the Celsius Lounge. But more about that later.

Why is Sundance harder for critics to navigate? Two reasons. First, for my previous eight festivals, I was always guaranteed a seat at the 1,300-seat Eccles Theater. I would just show up, flash my press credentials and some volunteer in charge of such things would hand me a special ticket. Now, even at the Eccles I have to request tickets 24 hours in advance – with no guarantee that I’ll score any.

Second, we always used to fill both our days and nights watching movies. We could do that easily enough because the press room had copies, mostly VHS but more and more DVD, of films that we could check out and watch whenever we wanted. So a typical day would be our showing up at the press office before 9 a.m., checking out two or three movies on tape, going to see three or four movies theatrically, then watching two or three more in our condo.

For 2007, they are still letting you check out DVDs. But … you can’t take them out of the building. They have three screening booths – booths, not rooms – where you have to watch them on the premises. With one set of headphones, so that even if you wanted to you couldn’t watch the movie with a friend. Or spouse.

The reason for the change? The fear of piracy, we’re told. Sitting in the press lounge Friday morning, posting a couple of feeble messages (feeble because I hadn’t yet experienced anything), I heard a guy laughing that excuse away.

“Last time I was in New York, I bought one of those pirated movies,” he said. “It was shot from the second balcony, and the main thing you could see was the bald head of the guy down in front.” He smiled and swigged from his freebie bottle of Aquafina. “Next year they’ll be charging for the water because of piracy,” he said.

First notes from Sundance 2007: I’m writing this about 4:49 a.m. Woke up with stomach ache and can’t get back to sleep.

Impressions: Driving in on the shuttle, I meet a woman who says she works for “POV.” She’s here to “go to meetings and look for documentaries,” she says. She also says she remembers my daughter Rachel from when Rachel worked for “Now with Bill Moyers.” Says she doesn’t get to see many narrative films, which she proves by asking basic questions about “The Departed,” which shocked her with its violence.

Hello? Martin Scorsese? Violence?

We’re staying in a condo located somewhere between the Park City Library, which doubles as a theater, and the foot of Main Street. It’s a big place, two floors, though there doesn’t seem to be enough bathrooms for the dozen or so people who will be here. Still, we have a private room – which at our age is pretty much a necessity.

I heard tonight that the actress/filmmaker Adrienne Shelley was murdered. Seems it happened while we were in Kosovo. I’m a bit shaken by this for a couple of reasons. One, I can’t believe that something like this would have escaped my attention. Two, I attended a panel that Shelley spoke at several years ago. I can’t remember whether it was here or in Seattle, but I remember her, and it’s hard to believe that she’s dead. Things like that happen only in the movies, right?

That’s it. I’m bushed. Time to take a sleep tab.

If you’d like to catch a flavor of the Sundance Film Festival but don’t want to have to spend all the time and money getting to Park City, pay attention to this: Beginning Jan. 22, iTunes will sell downloads of 2007 Sundance short films for $1.99 each.