Photos: The Standout Parties of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival

With all those cocktails and coat checks, Sundance parties have a tendency to blur together, but this year, a few events stood out from the pack.

On Friday night, Joseph Gordon-Levitt celebrated his directorial debut, Don Jon’s Addiction, at the Main Street pop-up Nur Khan Presents NK. Wending his way through the clusters of friends that had gathered at the ski lodge–themed space, the actor proved a natural born host. “Boys, boys,” he playfully cajoled a group of men who looked a bit lost. Jessica Biel meanwhile, was equally adept at playing the social butterfly at the Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes after-party at an event space just down the block, where she chatted with fans and gamely posed for cell-phone shots.

The following evening, Matthew McConaughey hosted a dinner at the Grey Goose Blue Door lounge, in honor of **Jeff Nichols’**s new film, Mud, which features the actor in the title role. McConaughey, who recently shed 47 pounds for his new project, Dallas Buyers Club, credits a strict four-month diet of, “fruit in the morning, then five ounces of fish at lunch, and five ounces of fish with vegetables at dinner.” Did he find that his energy was depleted? wondered reporters as they dove into their Mud chocolate desserts. Quite the contrary, responded the actor, who has since regained 27 pounds. “My mind was hyper-aware.”

After dinner, the table settings were cleared out and the furniture rearranged for the Breathe In after-party. Enjoying the festivities with his wife and various well-wishers, star Guy Pearce waxed poetic about the film’s director, Drake Doremus, “I feel frustrated with a lot of films because they never linger,” explained the actor. “They always have to push the plot on to the next, most exciting thing. And Drake really does linger, to the point where you feel uncomfortable, and I love that.”
Down the street at NK, The Lifeguard premiere party was in full swing. “I’m supposed to fly back tomorrow but Sundance is such an intoxicating environment . . . I might stick around,” said star Mamie Gummer over the DJ’s booming beats. “Who knows? I might even try snowboarding.”