From the Sundance press release: The Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary was presented to We Live in Public, directed by Ondi Timoner. The film portrays the story of the Internet’s revolutionary impact on human interaction as told through the eyes of maverick web pioneer, Josh Harris, and his transgressive art project that shocked New York. The Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Dramatic was presented to Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire, directed by Lee Daniels and written by Damien Paul.…

In a manner of speaking. This film was made by the awesome duo of Jesse Epstein (Shooting People) and Natalie Difford (Chicken & Egg Pictures) with music by the equally awesome Ionic from Force Theory.

Not that the big Kodak party wasn’t great, but the smaller condo parties were really fun. Got the chance to hangout with other filmmakers and talk about our projects. 

The pitch sessions felt pretty relaxed and relatively informal, but still nerve-racking a bit. Basically there are round tables and meetings last about 15 minutes. Then you rotate to another table.   Each person had about 1 minute to talk about their project, but some people talked longer and that made people towards the end have about 30 seconds. Most helpful thing was hearing more about what the different commissioners are looking for. They were receptive to press packets, and…

With less industry presence than in the past, and less swag, this year Sundance feels more relaxed. Michael Liss –Heeb Magazine reporter, and Vail Film Festival programmer & director of development says “the lines have been redrawn a bit, it’s a little less flashy, a little less people, less money, but that just turns it around to being back about the films again.” on the way to the party — it was a warm year -Jesse

I knew there’d be more! Congrats to Nerina Penzhorn (Saint Jude) and Gabriel Miller (A Clear Decision) who had their Current TV shorts selected for screening at Slamdance today. Click on the links to watch their films right now. UPDATE: Still more!  Shooter Giovanni Paolo Autran shot and edited The Little Thief or El Ladroncito that also screened at Slamdance, written and directed by Yamin Segal. Here’s Autran’s Shooter profile: www.shootingpeople.org/cards/nomadicfilms And his company’s website: www.nomadic-films.com And here is the…

Slamdance draws to a close today so I wanted to give a big shout out to Shooters who had films screening in the festival. Congratulations to all of you – if there are any Shooters I have missed please email me at ingrid *at* shootingpeople.org so I can add your names. Circles of Confusion Pheobe Tooke, Writer/Director Regional Premiere / 2008 / USA / 11 Minutes A meditative, experimental musing about loss after Hurricane Katrina. King Surfer (Sanza Hanza) Nadia…

Here are a few more photos from the party – courtesy of Sandra Whipham and Beadie Finzi. The BRITDOC rockers: Jess Search and Beadie Finzi Diana Holtzberg (Films Transit International) and Bruni Burres (International Center for Transitional Justice) and others help themselves to the Afghan feast Paul Taylor and John Dower Mike Lerner (Executive Producer of Afghan Star) and Jess Search We loved our 1st Amendment Lager! Daoud Sediqi, host of Afghan Star Sandra Whipham (Associate Producer of Afghan Star)…

I am currently downloading all 10 of the Sundance shorts available free on iTunes to watch over the weekend. Unless I am being very thick, it is not terribly clear how to access them via the Sundance website but if you go to the iTunes store and click on Movies and then Short Films you’ll see a banner for Sundance 09 at the top of the page.

Indieroad are presenting some of this year’s Slamdance films online (you do have to pay to stream them). Check them out now – it will be just like you were at the fest! UPDATE: Sorry, I just noticed that the films no longer seem to be available for purchasing – not quite sure why as I thought they were available for the duration of the fest (which ends today). What will happen with all these films now, particularly the shorts?…