Director Phil Lind has joined U.K. and U.S. production house HOME.corp for representation. He has spent a dozen years managing U.K. Channel 4’s on-air promotions, building a reel of high profile promo campaigns. His latest promotes chef Gordon Ramsay’s new TV series Gordon Behind Bars. This marks his last spot for Channel 4 as Lind was recently been appointed creative director at ITV Creative where he will lead the broadcaster’s in-house team….Portland, Ore.-based production company Mmmmm Society has added director James Westby to its collective of directors, animators, photographers and writers. Westby’s commercial work includes spots for Adidas and the University of Oregon, along with music videos for Storm Large (“8 Miles Wide”) and Oracle (“Wake”). His feature credits include Film Geek, The Auteur (which premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival), and Rid of Me (a 2012 Tribeca debutante), which won best narrative feature honors at the Traverse City Film Festival, was acquired by Phase 4 Films, and is slated to premiere on Showtime in July….
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More