This year, glitz and glamor reigned, but sponsorships paved the way
Sundance has come to a close for another year. On Saturday night the festival held its annual awards ceremony and closing party. Roughly 5,000 people packed into Park City's massive Basin Recreation Fieldhouse. They were there to see which films stood out and to celebrate another successful year for Sundance. Also represented at the events were major sponsors.
Maria White wins for The Debutante HuntersYahoo! was deeply involved with the Short Films at this year's festival. The Short Film Program of 64 outstanding films was presented by them, complete with a special awards ceremony on January 24th. Seven films received awards that night from jurors Mike Judge, Dee Rees, and Shane Smith. The Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking, presented with a check for $5,000 from Yahoo!, went to Fishing Without Nets, a film about Somali pirates from their perspective.
Additionally, Yahoo! hosted nine short films on their site and asked the public to watch and vote between January 19th and 27th. This audience award was presented at the closing awards ceremony by Trevor Groth, director of programming at the Sundance Film festival, and Yahoo!'s Holly Bowyer. Groth and Boyer presented the award and a $5,000 check from Yahoo! to Maria White for her short The Debutante Hunters. White thanked the voters during her acceptance speech and said, "We had thousands and thousands of people see our film we never expected to see it."
Other standouts during the awards ceremony were Searching for Sugar Man and Beasts of The Southern Wild. Both films took home multiple awards including Grand Jury prizes in their respective categories. Perhaps
Beyond the seriousness of the awards presenters like Mike Birbiglia, Edward James Olmos, and Tim Heidecker of Tim & Eric Show fame, provided some much needed levity. A common theme of theirs was poking fun at some of the Festival's major sponsors. Most notably was Birbiglia, whose Sleepwalk With Me won the audience Best of NEXT award, concerning Acura. "Because," said Birbiglia, "We all know that the first thing you do when making an independent movie is choose your luxury sedan.
The closing night party started shortly after the conclusion of the ceremony. Winners walked about with a glazed look in their eyes. I stood in line behind screenwriter Derek Connolly, who took home the award for U.S. Screenwriting for Safety Not Guaranteed, when Mike Birbiglia walked over and congratulated him. Connolly told me that the whole thing felt surreal and, "Things probably couldn't be any better than they are right now."
Perhaps the most lively people at the party were the members of the Sundance volunteer corps. This year the festival had more than 1,850 orange-vested individuals to help make the whole thing possible. Some were happy to be done with their duties. Others were happy to be able to rub elbows with celebrities in an unofficial setting.
While Sundance is still primarily about the films and the people who make them possible, brands play an important role. In part they make financing this huge undertaking a little easier, and provide people with keepsakes to remember the festival. People enjoy spending time in the HP Sundance House, taking a picture with the Stella Artois girls or chilling with Yahoo! Brands have become an important part of the festival.
-- Jeff Kwiatek
