Shooting Spree: NYC Cameras Cover Sundance

My attempts to plug a video component into this year's Sundance coverage went miserably awry about five seconds into the experiment, when the tape I jammed into my camera backwards decimated my technology. As such, I'm sticking (or stuck, rather) with what I know for the next 10 days. But a few talented New York colleagues transplanted to Park City are picking up the slack with 21st-century coverage along the lines of vlogs, man-on-the-street chats and general point-and-shoot profundity:

--The gang at Zoom In Online -- including old-school Sundance gadfly Reid Rosefelt and versatile blogger/director Annie Frisbie -- is assembling a bundle of insider interviews at the site. It's a serial of sorts (sorry, no John Sloss until after the festival), but thoroughly engaging in its candor and rapport. By the same token, as I think I've established here previously, it's pretty hard to fuck up anecdotes from Mark Urman and Christine Vachon.

--I don't know if this speaks to their magnanimity or desperation, but I did a brief interview earlier today with indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez and Scott Westphal-Solary, who were stalking festival headquarters and, later, the opening press conference with a camera and even a fancy, iW-branded mic. Anyway, the videos should start up soon at their Park City site; I claim no responsibility for what came out of my mouth on three hours' sleep.

--Among my most anticipated festival viewings aren't even on the program: Infamous NY Film Festival video diarist Jamie Stuart is in town covering Sundance for Filmmaker Magazine. Expect the first this weekend.

Posted at January 18, 2007 6:22 PM