Advertisers are paying a record high $1.5 million on average for 30 seconds of commercial time during the Feb. 29 Academy Awards telecast on ABC. This surpasses the previous high of $1.4 million, which was set last year….Director Nelson Cabrera has come aboard bicoastal HKM Productions….Director Michael Cerny, formerly with Hollywood-based Mirella Film Company, has signed with BeachHouse Films, Santa Monica….Director Mike Nelesen has joined Twist, a Minneapolis-based production house headed by executive producer Jim Geib and director Rich Michell. Nelesen comes over from Best Buy’s in-house broadcast production group….London-based Finger Music has launched a stateside studio in West Los Angeles. Finger LA will be headed up by executive producer Dave Hodge. Finger Music is manned by executive producer John Murrell and composer Hein Hoven…. Corbis Motion, with U.S. corporate offices in New York and Los Angeles, has entered into an exclusive deal to represent footage from two films, Storm and Journey, out of Warren Miller Entertainment, Boulder, Colo. The pair of films feature winter sports adventure cinematography for which Warren Miller Entertainment has become world renowned….Editor Robert Lawson has joined Tampa Digital Studios, Tampa, Fla….
Michelle Satter To Be Honored At Sundance Film Festival Gala
The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced details for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s gala fundraiser, Celebrating Sundance Institute, which will take place on Friday, January 24, 2025 at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Utah. The event will be an evening in celebration of Michelle Satter, founding sr. director of artist programs at Sundance Institute, for her longstanding commitment to nurturing artists and cultivating independent film through the Sundance Labs, where visionary artists convene to develop groundbreaking projects through an in-depth creative process, for the past four decades. The annual Vanguard Awards will be presented during the evening to Sean Wang, writer and director of Dìdi, and Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, co-directors of Sugarcane, who premiered their films at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The annual gala enables the nonprofit to raise funds to support independent artists year-round through labs, grants, and public programming that nurture artists from all over the world. The 2025 event is made possible with the generous support of Google TV. The Festival will take place from January 23–February 2, 2025, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, with a selection of titles available online from January 30–February 2, 2025 for audiences across the country to discover bold independent storytelling.
“For over four decades Michelle has been devoted to truly championing independent storytellers,” said Amanda Kelso, acting CEO of Sundance Institute. “She has encouraged artists to own their voice, learn their craft, become fierce leaders, and develop their resilience in our changing ecosystem. Her life-long commitment to supporting artists, especially in underrepresented... Read More