Hillary Clinton is headed to Utah, and she can’t wait to get there.
The former first lady, U.S. senator, secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate will be at the Sundance Film Festival to support the four-part documentary series “Hillary” — and she’s scheduled to take questions twice.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” said Clinton, who won the popular vote in 2016 but lost the electoral college to President Donald Trump. “I’m excited about it. It’s a new experience. I don’t know what to expect, except that it’s supposed to be cold.
“I was shocked when they said [the documentary] was going to Sundance. This is not my field of expertise or experience.”
And she burst out laughing when The Salt Lake Tribune asked about the irony of premiering the Hulu documentary in Utah, which has not been a hotbed of support for the Clintons. It was the only state where President Bill Clinton finished third in 1992 (behind President George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot).
“I think I did, too,” Clinton said with a laugh.
(Second, actually — she got 27.5% of the popular vote in Utah; Trump got 45.5%.)
She appeared before members of the Television Critics Association to promote “Hillary,” and will take questions from audience members following its premiere on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 3 p.m. at the Ray Theater. (The documentary will also screen on Sunday, Jan. 26, at 12:30 p.m. at the Rose Wagner Theater in Salt Lake City.) And she and filmmaker Nanette Burstein will also appear for an “informal chat” at the Cinema Cafe on Sunday at the Filmmaker Lodge.
“I’ve never been to Sundance. I hear it is the most amazing experience, and you could literally stay up two weeks straight and see incredible films from all over the world,” Clinton said.
“I don’t know if I will have time to see any other films,” she said, adding that it will be “so disappointing” if she doesn’t get to attend other screenings because, “I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to Sundance.”
Clinton sat for 35 hours of interviews with Burstein for the four-part, four-hour documentary, and “there was nothing off limits.” She said she’s happy with the series, although she acknowledged it’s not easy for her to watch.
“It’s really hard watching yourself for four hours. Thank God it was only four hours!” she said.
Why do it? “I’m not running for anything, I’m not in office. Why don’t we give it a try?”
And she said she’s also looking forward to taking questions from Sundance audiences.
“It’s going to be, for me, a lot of fun,” Clinton said. “Trying to figure out how to explain the moment in history that we find ourselves is really difficult.”
“Hillary” will premiere on Hulu on Friday, March 6 — two days after Super Tuesday, at the height of the presidential primaries. And the 2016 candidate offered up an endorsement of sorts for Democratic votes.
“Try to vote for the person you think is most likely to win. Because at the end of the day, that is what will matter,” Clinton said. “And not just the popular vote, but the electoral college,” she added with a smile.
“I want people to take their vote really, really seriously, because Lord knows what will happen if we don’t retire the current incumbent and his henchmen, as Nancy Pelosi so well described it.”
