Wired News:

PARK CITY, Utah -- Sundance is the Super Bowl of film festivals, at least in terms of advertising. During the 11 days of the Sundance Film Festival, held each January, this tiny ski town grows thick with corporate logos -- on banners, tote bags, vans, ski hats and, of course, on movie screens.

This year, tech companies are among the most prominent, with HP, Sony, Microsoft and LG Electronics each paying an undisclosed amount to sponsor the festival. Overall, about one-fourth of Sundance's official sponsors come from the tech industry.

HP set up Wi-Fi hot spots in six sites around town, so computer users can lounge and check their e-mail. Sony, no newcomer to Sundance, sneaked its name into the festival catalog about 80 times -- once for each film that was shown in digital form. And LG, an electronics company, placed plasma screens in every festival venue, and some unofficial ones, too, hanging about 50 of the super-thin monitors around town.

For Doug Cole, HP's director of entertainment marketing, Sundance is a chance to listen to independent filmmakers -- he said the company receives productive feedback from those who use HP technologies. And he described HP's marketing push at Sundance as "an incredible value," costing about the same as it does to produce a 30-second TV spot.

"We were attracted to the essence of what Sundance stands for -- empowering the creative thought process," Cole said. "That's a universal, whether it is helping your kids with homework or creating an independent film. The thought process should be supported and celebrated, and HP provides technology to make it simpler."

In addition to sponsoring the festival, HP launched a new contest, You Take Five, that will put an amateur photographer on the set of Project Greenlight, a reality show in which amateur filmmakers create their first feature.

"Our partnership with Project Greenlight brings together the best of technology and entertainment to inspire and empower a new generation of filmmakers and photographers," said Carly Fiorina, HP Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Technology today is helping to democratize creativity. Through the 'YOU Take Five!' contest we hope to uncover many new and exciting artists."

This year, I am living vicariously through friends who are attending Sundance. The film my brother produced a few years ago, Teknolust, gave me an excuse to go hang out with him and to meet the star of his movie x 4, Tilda Swinton. (Tilda stars as a biogeneticist who clones herself three times. She plays the role of the biogeneticist, Rosetta, and her three clones, Ruby, Marine and Olive.)

That year, I pledged to myself that, regardless of whether my brother had a film showing at Sundance, I would attend the festival at least every other year. Now it's been three. Perhaps next year we will go well before the festival and create a Rugged Elegance guide of Park City, so that everyone who attends Sundance 2005 will make sure they hit all the best hotels, restaurants, shops and services in town.

Perhaps I can get HP or Sony to sponsor Park City's "Rugged Elegance Guide To Places of Taste." Now, we're talking!

~Jennifer

P.S. After a year long production, this past Tuesday, we finally went to press on the premier edition of San Francisco's "RE Companion" Collection. Orders are being taken now. Product will be shipped in three weeks -- in time for Valentine's Day.