Backstage at Sundance : Party_Crashers

Filmmaker Michel Gondry on the Drums - at his own Premiere Party

amy brock — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:40:00 GMT

Matthew Caldwell
Creative Director - HP Newsgram

The French love Jazz. And they play it well.

French filmmaker Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Science of Sleep) surprised the crowd at his own premiere party on Sunday. People had gathered to celebrate the premiere of his new film "Be Kind, Rewind," and were treated to a surprise performance by the film's director/screenwriter.

He was also accompanied by a fantastic French piano player (who’s name we failed to get). The two played several traditional jazz songs for the delighted onlookers.

There’s a big buzz about Mr. Gondry’s new film Be Kind, Rewind. The film stars Jack Black and Mos Def as video store clerks who, through a freak accident, end up erasing their rental tapes. To make up for the lost movies, they recreate popular films like Ghostbusters, Driving Miss Daisy and Robocop themselves.

See Michel Gondry play the drums and more, in the popular HP Commercial.

Star power, days 1 & 2

amy brock — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:43:00 GMT

Angela LoSasso
Web Content Manager, Imaging and Printing Group, U.S.

We love film. We love providing the technology and know-how to power the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. But we’re human, too. We love to do a bit of stargazing while were here. Check out the photos of the folks who’ve hit the premieres and happenings in Park City so far…

Photo courtesty of Wire Image/ Pimentel	Actor Colin Farrell attends the “In Bruges” Press Conference.
Photo courtesty of Wire Image/ Pimentel	Actress Maria Bello attends the premiere of “The Yellow Handkerchief”.
Photo courtesty of Wire Image/ Jeff Vespa	Photo courtesty of Wire Image/ Fred Hayes

Sundance Film Festival Juror and actress Sandra Oh at the Sky 360 by Delta Lounge Wire Image Portrait Studio (left) and at the Jury brunch (right).

Photo courtesty of Wire Image/ Jeff Vespa

Actress Patricia Clarkson and a playful director/star Stanley Tucci of “Blind Date” at the Sky 360 by Delta Lounge Wire Image Portrait Studio.

Photo courtesty of Wire Image/ Pimentel

Actress Kristen Stewart at “The Yellow Handkerchief” premiere.

Photo courtesty of Wire Image/ Pimentel

Actress Paz de la Huerta, actress Saffron Burrows, and Robert Redford at the premiere of Amy Redford’s film, “The Guitar”.

Technorati tags: sundance, sundance film festival, 2008 sundance film festival, hp, hewlett packard, Robert Redford, colin farrell, sandra oh, maria bello, patricia clarkson, stanley tucci, kristen stewart

Live duet performance by the stars of the film Once - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova

amy brock — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 14:15:00 GMT

Matthew Caldwell
Creative Director, HP Newsgram

[Editor's Note: Since we first filmed the exclusive duet with Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, the film "Once" was recognized with The World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. If you haven't queued up the duet yet, we strongly encourage you to do so. And when the film hits a theater near you, we suggest you get in line as soon as possible!]

One of the most popular films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival is Once. It’s a unique pseudo-musical story about a Dublin busker (Glen Hansard) and an immigrant Czech rose-peddler (Marketa Irglova) who meet and make beautiful music together.

The two leads of the film, the curly-haired and witty Hansard and the shy yet complex Irglova, are a breed apart because they’re full-time musicians who were asked to star in a feature film.

This double talent (acting & singing) provides them with double exposure at Sundance as they play music gigs almost every night, while their film Once plays during the day. (In fact they even got up on stage after their film premiere and melted the audience with a melodic duet. Some people are calling this one of the finest moments in this year’s festival).

Their double talent might be why the press can’t get enough of them, and you can’t walk 10 paces without seeing a photo of Hansard (who’s also in the popular Irish band The Frames).

HP has been proud to feature the musical side of Sundance this year, and we invited Hansard & Irglova to sing a duet for us. When they accepted, we were excited overjoyed.

With a calm ease, Hansard and Irglova joined us in a snowy groove of trees outside festival headquarters. Glen unpacked his beat-up, yet charming, guitar and microphones were applied to their lapels.

When our soundman asked them to sound check, in an instant they broke into a full-fledged refrain from one of their hit songs, and it literally made me weak in the knees – the sound of their voices being so powerful and lush. I was in awe.

About halfway through the performance several songbirds hovered then landed on a branch, just above Hansard’s head and sang along.

See their myspace page – The Swell Season

(* Special thanks to Belinda Tijerina, David Llamas, Venita Hawkins-Bird and Jim Smith who saw Hansard & Irglova perform at ASCAP’s Music Café.)

sundance, sundance film festival, sundance film 2007, hp, hewlett packard, simon townshend,

Hot Ticket: Sundance Celebrates Music & Film

amy brock — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:41:00 GMT

Matthew Caldwell
Creative Director, HP Newsgram

What do you picture of when you think cinema? Perhaps images, actors, or a plot?

Did music come to mind?

After all, what would a movie be without its musical score?

Movie music was the focus of Sunday night’s event: “Sundance Celebrates Music & Film” also known as “Composer’s Night”.

Sundance organizers invited several performers who composed music for films appearing in this year’s festival to perform on stage.

Performers and their films were:
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irlglova for the film Once

Photo by Joy Reyneke - © WireImage.com

Craig Wedren for The Ten
M. Ward for The Go-Getter

The crowd was upbeat and enthusiastic for Glen Hansard, from the band The Frames, and his many inspiring tunes, especially when he sang the theme song from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”.

Next followed Craig Wedren, who performed several interesting numbers but to me seemed to be less well-received by the audience.

The headliner of the night was M. Ward. He came on around 10 p.m. and performed several songs from his popular albums Transfiguration Of Vincent, Transistor Radio and Post-War.

His amazing guitar playing and rough, rich voice had the packed house in a complete hush. Ward created the musical score for the film The Go-Getter which was filmed in his formerly home state of Oregon (Eugene, to be exact).

For some, the thrill of the night came when he was joined by The Go-Getter co-star Zooey Deschanel. The two sang several numbers ranging from a jazzy-bluesy love song with with Zooey on the keys, to duets that had a 1940s flavor.

The admiring crowd, including Winona Ryder, ate it up and gave a rousing round of applause when the night wrapped up around 11:30 p.m.

sundance, sundance film festival, sundance film 2007, hp, hewlett packard, simon townshend

Park City’s No Name Saloon

amy brock — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:02:00 GMT

Chris Rocha & Candice Nobles
Marketing Program Manager & Director of Marketing for Snapfish

If you are in Park City or planning to attend the Sundance Film Festival in the future, there is one place you need to visit, the No Name Saloon on Main Street.

Because it is here you will find the last standing few locals that didn’t leave town due to the festival. Of course the bar will be filled with your LA and SF film connoisseurs, but underneath it all you will come across some friendly mountain folk, biker bandits, and barflies.

We had such a good time, there’s a good chance we’ll go back again to soak up the warm and inviting atmosphere. The No Name Saloon is decorated very tastefully as you can see from this image .

Don’t forget to bring your camera so you can capture some good memories to take back home with you. If you are in the mood for food, we heard the No Name Saloon is famous for their buffalo burgers. We caught a glimpse of the food and it looked incredible.

sundance, sundance film festival, sundance film 2007, no name saloon

Opening Night Gala

amy brock — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 16:32:00 GMT

Matthew Caldwell
Creative Director, HP Newsgram

After traveling all day to get to Park City, partygoers were just thrilled to be at Sundance, and it showed (the open bar didn’t hurt either) …

I was lucky enough to score a ticket to the invite-only, opening night party.

The setting: The Legacy Lodge on the mountain. Picture a ski lodge, and fill it with DJs, lots of dancing, multiple open bars, and lots of interesting people. Not exactly the “star crowd” -- this party was much too big and probably scared away anyone in that elite class. Instead it was filled with assorted festival attendees enjoying the libations, dancing to the local band, and loving all the freebies.

The official Sundance Film Festival photo backdrop was set up for all partygoers to have their photo snapped by helpful HP employees (using our HP Photosmart R967 and HP Photosmart R927 digital cameras. Seconds later, the photos were kicking out from an assembly line of compact, portable photo printers. Throughout the night, people gathered around the tables and pored over the photos until they spotted themselves. Laughter usually followed.

Famous designer Todd Oldham decorated the venue, creating freaky-surreal collages of festivals from years past with all set on orange. Oldham was actually in the crowd proudly glancing at his work.

The music and drinks flowed until the wee hours. A great time was had by all, with big expectations for days to come.

Matthew Caldwell
Creative Director, HP Newsgram

sundance, sundance film festival, sundance film 2007, hp, hewlett packard, todd oldham