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By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Posted Tuesday, January 16th, 2007 - Comments Off on Sponso®ing Sundance 2007: con and p®o
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Sponso®ing Sundance 2007: con and p®o

IT ISN’T MUCH, but it’s better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan: Over at indieWIRE, Anthony Kaufman leads the perennial charge against commercialism in the Wasatch range, as he composes “5 ironies of Sundance,” among which are the fact that experimental work will be shown on Park City’s Main Street at Sundance 2007. “Does it not strike anyone odd that Main Street, home to the horrible hawking of everything from movies to pet-food [sic], is the permanent home of Sundance’s new avant-garde space, New Frontier on Main[?] To see the Martha Colburn installation, you must suffer through countless filmmakers carrying masks, sandwich-boards [sic], bullhorns, etc, in [addition] to the rabble trying to get into some party at Cicero’s [sic] or Harry O’s, etc…sundance07_arcadefire.jpgI’ll never forget my days hiking up Main Street, trying to avoid the chaos as I try to catch some obscure entry from South Korea or Singapore.” Plus, harsher words against idle swagolatry®: “What the hell is gifting, and how has this new verb become such an integral part of the entertainment business[?] I just got an email for the “Gifting Lounge,” a place that has decided to take the high road and disguise its gross gluttonous impulse by giving celebrities a gift card so they can ‘select their own swag in the privacy of their own home.'” Also today: the Sundance Institute pr’s a few additional corporate sponsors to the festival itself, bringing the total to 20, including AOL, ABSOLUT®, EW, HP, KRUPS, VW, Adobe, Delta, AmEx, DIRECTV, Blockbuster, Aquafina, NY Times, Ray-Ban, L’Oreal Paris, Sony Electronics, Inc., Stella Artois®, Turning Leaf Vineyards, the Utah Film Commission and CESAR® Canine Cuisine. Sayeth Ken Brecher, Executive Director, Sundance Institute: “The sponsors are critical to the success of the Sundance Film Festival. Their continued support and dedication, enables Sundance Institute to present the work from the most diverse and original filmmakers from around the world. We are grateful to be able to work with a group of companies that support the mission and goals of Sundance Institute, and recognize the importance of art in today’s world.” [Full P.R. below.]


2007 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL RECIEVES [sic] SUPPORT FROM 20 CORPORATE SPONSORS DEDICATED TO SUPPORTING ARTISTS AND INDEPENDENT FILM
New Festival Sponsors include: AOL, ABSOLUT®, KRUPS, and Ray-Ban
Park City, UT—The Sundance Institute announced today the 20 sponsors of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, including four new additions: AOL, ABSOLUT®, KRUPS, and Ray-Ban. These four newcomers join a distinguished group of companies who are dedicated to supporting independent artists and the presentation of more than 700 screenings by over 200 filmmakers at the 2007 Festival. Their support also extends to the year-round programs of the nonprofit Sundance Institute. Many of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival sponsors are introducing innovative activities and are providing services designed to support and enhance the Festival experience of filmmakers and festival-goers alike. Some of those activities include: editing workshops by Adobe, free internet at all official Festival venues by HP, limited edition pocket sized Festival Schedule from Entertainment Weekly and complimentary transportation for filmmakers provided by VW. The 2007 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 18-28 in Park City, the Sundance Resort, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, Utah.
“The sponsors are critical to the success of the Sundance Film Festival. Their continued support and dedication, enables Sundance Institute to present the work from the most diverse and original filmmakers from around the world. We are grateful to be able to work with a group of companies that support the mission and goals of Sundance Institute, and recognize the importance of art in today’s world,” said Ken Brecher, Executive Director, Sundance Institute.
As a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute, the Sundance Film Festival operates with the support of corporate sponsors as well as that of private foundations, nonprofit associations and guilds, government agencies, and individual donors. Behind the scenes, Festival sponsorship dollars make possible many of the services provided to filmmakers during the Festival. These contributions also support the Festival and Institute’s infrastructure, including: marketing, volunteer services, transportation, and communications.
2007 Sundance Film Festival Sponsors
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival sponsors help sustain Sundance Institute’s year-round programs to support independent artists, inspire risk-taking and encourage diversity in the arts. This year’s Festival Sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors—Entertainment Weekly, Volkswagen of America, Inc., HP, Adobe Systems Incorporated, and AOL; Leadership Sponsors—American Express, Delta Air Lines, and DIRECTV; Sustaining Sponsors—ABSOLUT®, Aquafina, Blockbuster Inc., CESAR® Canine Cuisine, KRUPS, L’Oreal Paris, The New York Times, Ray-Ban, Sony Electronics, Inc., Stella Artois®, Turning Leaf Vineyards, and the Utah Film Commission.
In addition to the behind-the-scenes support of the Festival, sponsors work closely with Festival planners to offer a wide rage of amenities and venues for filmmakers and festival-goers alike, including:
PRESENTING SPONSORS
Entertainment Weekly
· Celebrates its 16th year as a sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival–the longest standing supporter and sponsor of the Festival.
· Sponsors the Premiere section of the Festival.
· Supports the creation of the Festival’s Daily Planner, a unique and essential tool for filmmakers and festival attendees to keep up with screening times, venues, panels, and events.
Volkswagen of America, Inc.
· Presents one lucky 2007 filmmaker with the “VW Relentless Driver Award”.
· Provides a fleet of over 40 automobiles to transport filmmakers, actors, and Festival staff.
· Sponsors the Audience Awards for U.S. Independent Dramatic and Documentary Competition Films.
Hewlett-Packard Company
· Provides computers and wireless zones at all official Festival venues and offices.
· Presents the new “Meet the Artists” section on the Sundance Film Festival website at www.sundance.org, featuring Q&A interviews with the artists behind the films at the 2007 Festival.
· Creates an interactive photo journal to provide all competition filmmakers the opportunity to upload personal photos that capture their minute by minute Sundance experience.
· Partners with the Sundance Channel on their Snapshot Diaries initiative. Filmmakers and cast members from Festival films will use HP cameras to capture their Sundance experience.
Adobe Systems Incorporated
· Sponsors the Festival’s Short Film program which includes screenings, awards and parties.
· Presents free streaming of more than 40 of the shorts from the Festival at www.sundance.org.
· Hosts demonstrations of editing systems at the New Frontier on Main to provide amateur and professional filmmakers the opportunity to experience the power and ease of Adobe’s editing software.
AOL
· Creating a private space on Main Street for interviews with artists participating in the Festival Moviefone Unscripted series providing the millions of daily visitors to AOL with access to the filmmakers, artists and actors.
· Hosting a public venue open to all Festival attendees, providing an opportunity to experience the new free services being offered by AOL.
LEADERSHIP SPONSORS
Delta Air Lines
· Provides Sundance Institute with flight vouchers to fly all staff and filmmakers to the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
· Partners with official Festival photographer, WireImage, to host a private lounge Festival portrait studio, for filmmakers and actors in the Festival.
SUSTAINING SPONSORS
Stella Artois®
· Returning to the Lower Patio of Sundance House at The Kimball Art Center, Stella Artois® is hosts a daily Happy Hour from 4:00p.m. to 7:00p.m. that is open to all Festival Credential holders 21 and over.
Turning Leaf Vineyards
· Hosts the Leaf Lounge on Main Street for the fourth year in a row. In the lounge, open daily from 3:00p.m. until 9:00p.m., Turning Leaf is serves complimentary Turning Leaf Vineyards Wine and light hors d’oeuvres . Open to all Festival Credential holders 21 and over.
KRUPS
· Hosts a full service coffee bar at the Rabbit Hole Lounge at New Frontier on Main.
Sundance Film Festival:
The Sundance Film Festival is the premier showcase for U.S. and international independent film. Held each January in Park City, at the Sundance Resort, in Salt Lake City, and in Ogden, Utah, the Festival is a core program of the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit cultural organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981.
Presenting 125 dramatic and documentary feature–length films in nine distinct categories and over 70 short films each year, the Sundance Film Festival has introduced American audiences to some of the most innovative films of the past two decades. The official website of the Sundance Film Festival, www.sundance.org shares the Festival experience beyond the streets of Park City with a global audience through the streaming of short films, filmmaker interviews, and current news and box office information.
Sundance Institute:
Dedicated year–round to the development of artists of independent vision and to the exhibition of their new work, Sundance Institute celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2006. Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, the Institute has grown into an internationally recognized resource for thousands of independent artists through its Film Festival and artistic development programs for filmmakers, screenwriters, composers, playwrights and theatre artists. The original values of independence, creative risk–taking, and discovery continue to define and guide the work of Sundance Institute, both with U.S. artists and, increasingly, with artists from other regions of the world.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
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