 For $ 20 @,@ 000 , made up of gambling <unk> , his girlfriend 's credit card , and money his father set aside for him for college , Anderson made <unk> & Coffee ( 1993 ) , a short film connecting multiple story lines with a twenty @-@ dollar bill . The film was screened at the 1993 Sundance Festival Shorts Program . He decided to expand the film into a feature @-@ length film and was subsequently invited to the 1994 Sundance Feature Film Program . At the Sundance Feature Film Program , Michael <unk> @-@ Jones served as Anderson 's mentor ; he saw Anderson as someone with " talent and a fully formed creative voice but not much hands @-@ on experience " and gave him some hard and practical lessons . 
