KAMAS — The world-renowned Sundance Film Festival made a detour to this rural Summit County town Wednesday night.
And, oh, by the way, it wasn't because someone made a wrong turn off Highway 40 en route to Park City. The pit stop at the Kamas Theater was actually made on purpose as part of the festival's community outreach program.
So, instead of the town's recently reopened (and only) movie house being shut down for the night — it normally operates Monday and Thursday through Saturday only — the theater put out its welcome mat and hosted a free community screening of a true-blue festival film.
Showing Wednesday night only: "Seducing Doctor Lewis."
Small town, meet big festival.
"It is shocking that they come to Kamas," said the theater's new manager, Jennifer Clegg. "I would think that they'd go to Provo. I'm surprised."
And glad. The theater, which also showed Sundance hit "Napoleon Dynamite" to local schools earlier in the day, makes money on concessions, plus the festival people came in and gave it a deep cleaning.
Summit County commissioner Ken Woolstenhulme, a resident of nearby Oakley, also admitted being a tad taken aback upon finding out a Sundance film was being played in the town that barely got its first tricolored stoplight.
"This," he said, laughing, "is big-time, huh?"
A cheap date, too. Even the popcorn, sodas and candy are affordable at this cinema.
Sundance senior operations manager Sarah Komarek, who's in charge of the outreach program, said the festival has been coming to off-the-beaten-path places, including Kamas, for years. Last year, for instance, the award-winning "Whale Rider" was shown there in front of a full audience even though the theater wasn't in business at the time.
"We love these theaters. We want to support them and help them stay in business," Komarek said. "It's the spirit of Sundance. It's about that independent thing. . . . We want to reach out to other communities. People get intimidated by the craziness of Park City."
That, however, is not the only thing some were intimidated by this year. Though people traveled from Utah and Salt Lake counties, the Kamas Theater was far from packed Wednesday. Turns out some locals in this religious and conservative community were a bit worried about the name of the movie, fearing the film might be a bit risque.
"Every one thinks it's an R-rated movie because it says 'seducing,' " Clegg said. "Because of the title they're thinking, 'Ooooh.' People around town have been asking."
That caught Komarek off guard, considering "Seducing Doctor Lewis" is billed as a charming (and innocent) comedy about a French-Canadian town's efforts to convince a physician to call the tiny fishing village home.
It's a good thing the French title wasn't translated directly. Nobody might have shown up for "The Big Seduction" ("La Grande Seduction").
Komarek said the movie was easily PG-ish and was convinced it would be a perfect fit for Kamas.
"I didn't even think about (the title)," she said. "I feel bad. It's definitely appropriate."
The title notwithstanding, the chance to see a Sundance flick for free — and the idea of seeing the actual sun and blue sky — seduced Mary Cannon and her daughter, Molly, to drive up from Provo.
They considered seeing a movie in Park City but didn't want to hassle with rumored crowded and sold-out conditions. Plus, they thought this one sounded great.
"We wanted to go to a show, but we wanted to be sure it would be suitable for our tastes," said Mary Cannon. "This one looks like it is, so we're excited."
And, quite frankly, the Cannons were hardly disappointed the 280-seat theater didn't fill up after having arrived shortly after 5 p.m. just in case.
"I'm really surprised it's not packed," Mary Cannon said. "I'm glad. Parking's a lot easier."
They had their pick of the seats, too.
"And," added Molly Cannon, "at least nobody will be sitting in front of us."
Or behind, maybe.
E-mail: jody@desnews.com