When I was leaving Austin for Park City, I drove past a long line of homeless people waiting to get a bed at the shelter. It was a stark reminder of how fortunate I am and of how badly so many others are suffering. I am grateful for the subdued tone of the fest this year. With everything that is going on, it feels like the right time to forgo celebrity, commercialism and opulence (though don’t worry, that is still here in a measure) and try to focus on the art and business of film.

It was with great excitement that I woke up this morning and went looking for the right place to view the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama. I found it—the Filmmaker’s Lodge on Main Street.

When I got there, I spyed Yance Ford of P.O.V. and her lovely partner Amanda. They had arranged the chairs and couches around the TV in stadium style and as 10 AM drew nearer, more and more people arrived. Laura Poitras (My Country, My Country), Pamela Yates, Paco de Onis, and Peter Kinoy (The Reckoning, State of Fear), Cara Mertes of the Sundance Documentary Program, Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water), Debra Zimmerman of Women Make Movies, and younger filmmakers like Jesse Epstein and Trish Dalton (34×25x36) and Ingrid Kopp of Shooting People.

These are the people who keep me in the documentary field. They use their energy and talent to bring stories from around the world to audiences with hope that their efforts will somehow contribute to social justice. I really can’t express how fortunate I felt to be watching this moment in the same room with them as they smiled and hugged and enjoyed the moment that they have worked towards over many years. Being there was almost as special as all of the hope and optimism of Obama’s moment.