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Michaela Watkins isn't excited about attending Sundance because she has two films in the 2017 film festival. Nope, she's excited because she can't wait to go see other people's movies.

"I love Sundance. I love it," said Watkins, who has supporting roles in "Brigsby Bear" and "Person to Person."

She's been to Sundance before, including in 2013 when she also had roles in two films — "Afternoon Delight" and "In a World."

Watkins has never attended the festival when she didn't have a film screening, but said she "often talk[s] about going when I don't, because my favorite thing is to see the movies. I see as many movies as I possibly can when I'm there. If I do press stuff, that gets in the way, but I would see five a day, starting at 8 a.m., and go all the way to midnight."

Five films a day? Really?

"It's a lot, but what is amazing is sitting there in your winter coat with your coffee at 8 a.m. with people who are as enthusiastic about film as you are," Watkins said. "It is really energizing. I get almost verklempt. Like, I get a little tearful and choked up thinking about it.

"I know what goes into making an independent film and I know how much people put their time, blood, sweat, tears into it. And then to see it with an audience that's all seeing it for the first time, it's really a beautiful thing."

Watkins was a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" during the 2008-09 season, and she has a long list of credits that includes "Transparent," "Trophy Wife," "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp," "New Girl" and many more.

She's the star of the offbeat Hulu series "Casual" — she plays a newly divorced single mother who shares a house with her brother and her teenage daughter. (Season 3 is set to start streaming on May 23.)

This year at Sundance, which opens Thursday, Jan. 19, Watkins co-stars in the made- and set-in-Utah "Brigsby Bear," about a young man, Jason, who spends 25 years in a secluded existence with his protective parents in their isolated, off-the-grid home. He's the only person who ever watched his favorite TV show, "Brigsby Bear," and when it's canceled he is tossed into a new life in "relatively daunting" Cedar Hills.

"Creepily, I play Kyle Mooney's mother," said Watkins. "Don't do the math, because it doesn't make any sense at all. But it's such an absurd, weird little film that it works."

(Mooney, who co-wrote the film, is 32; Watkins is 45.)

"It's a really, really crazy film," Watkins said, with a laugh, "but it's great. And Kyle is so committed to that character."

She also has a small role in "Person to Person," written and directed by Utah native Dustin Guy Defa, which chronicles a single day in New York City when a variety of characters grapple with the mundane, the unexpected and the larger questions permeating their lives.

"Person to Person," also starring Michael Cera and Abbi Jacobson, premieres Friday, Jan. 20, at noon at the Library Center Theater in Park City; "Brigsby Bear" premieres Monday, Jan. 23, at 3:15 p.m. at the Eccles Center in Park City. Watkins plans to stick around for a while after that.

"I usually just take a day or two — extend past our premiere to go see films," she said. "I love independent films."

And working on "Casual" is "very similar" to working on an independent film. The series creator/executive producer/writer, Jason Reitman ("Thank You for Smoking," "Juno"), "is an indie film director, so right away it felt like we were making an indie film with this show. And I think when you watch it, it's got very much that vibe. Like, there's no natural commercial break during the episode. It takes its time. It doesn't feel like it needs to overwhelm the viewer with exposition in the first 10 minutes.

"It's very confusing at first. It just really trusts that the audience is going to stay with it. You'll figure it out."

Twitter: @ScottDPierce How to Sundance

When • Jan. 19-29

Where • Park City and at venues in Salt Lake City and the Sundance resort in Provo Canyon.

Passes and ticket packages • On sale at sundance.org/festivals. Many are sold out, but some are still available.

Individual tickets • On sale to Utah residents, Jan. 11-13, then available to everyone. Tickets are $25 for the first half of the festival in Park City (Jan. 19-24), $20 for Salt Lake City screenings and for the second half in Park City (Jan. 25-29).

Information • sundance.org/festivals