Sundance Film Festival - Festival Central

Will the Sundance short filmmakers from 2008 actually do better financially than their feature film colleagues?

After the lackluster sales of features this year, Sundance has put most of their short film selection (including Ken Wardrop's "Farewell Packets of Ten," pictured) for sale on iTunes, Xbox, and Netflix.

As The Circuit reported back in December, short filmmakers stand to make some cash:

According to Sundance online producer Joe Beyer, some veterans of the 2007 short films program have seen revenue in the "tens of thousands of dollars," even after iTunes and the Sundance Institute took their fees. 

Anne T. explores why this kind of distribution hasn't taken off for features yet.

On the heels of its Sundance win and in front of its Berlin screening, Sharon Swart reports that "Ballast" has been picked up by IFC:

North American rights were scooped up by IFC in what was described as "a six-figure deal plus gross participation and a real P&A commitment," according to one of the dealmakers.

Pic, the feature helming debut of visual f/x artist Lance Hammer, had three other bidders.

IFC will put "Ballast" through its "day-and-date" pipeline, which incorporates theatrical, VOD and cable distribution.

Full report here.

The Shootout crew gives Alex Rivera a camera to document his premiere day at Sundance.

Sundance juror Quentin Tarrantino and Austin Film Society's Rebecca Campbell at the Awards Party.


"Donkey Punch" actress Jamie Winstone (daughter of actor Ray) with "Baghead" actress Elise Muller at the Texas Filmmakers Party.


"Frozen River" producer Chip Hourihan phones it in after winning the Grand Jury prize on Saturday.

In B. Ruby Rich's Sundance wrap, it's "Sleep Dealer" that rises to the top (though it's mentioned at the bottom):

But the feature film that captured my attention, hands down, was Sleep Dealer, a science fiction view of a dystopian future by first-time director Alex Rivera. It was my favourite kind of sci-fi: just enough into the future for things we recognise to have become grotesque, untenable, dangerous. On the US-Mexico border, new factories harvest human energy by connecting to nodes implanted in human workers. There are armed drones and cyber-memories, computer hackers and scary reality TV shows.

Rivera's film was the opposite of the big-money movies that made the headlines ($10m for Hamlet 2, for instance), but it didn't sit with the quiet narrative dramas, either. With two awards - for screenwriting, and for contribution to science - it may have a future. I hope so. It is films like Sleep Dealer that give hope for Sundance's future. Rivera revives the promise of an American independent cinema that can intervene in our world, imagine the worst, hope for the best - and entertain like mad along the way.

Full story here.

"Sleep Dealer" plays in Berlin next.