New Frontier sitting with Lincoln Schatz, one of the New Frontier artists panel member and Lisa Tsou, assistant general counsel for Internet Brands, a consumer community generating marketing site–panel attendee.

The panel covers the convergence of Art and Technology; Schatz is a software artist who systhesizes the action of the mind and memories; his vast collection of video composits and recomposits creating overlapping and opportunistic narratives–just like I’m doing right now, as I talk to him….

I’m not sure where the pizza is going to be, but somewhere in New Frontiers. That’s the rumor anyway.

Sundance loves short films. They say so and if you’re here you can see a lot of quality shorts. Same is true if you’re not here. For the first time Sundance is making their shorts program available for free worldwide (for both viewing and downloading).

You can start watching at www.sundance.org. Starting Monday you can download them at iTunes (www.itunes.com/sundance) presented by the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Channel. With 71 shorts chosen from among 4440 entries, odds are good there’s more than one worth watching.

Up later Sundance shortfilmmaker Be’ Garrett talks about his process on A Nick in Time.

Listen in on an exclusive interview with On the Road With Judas Director J.J. Lask as he talks about the labors of making his Sundance Drama Competition film. Millimeter contributor Darroch Greer asks the questions.

To listen to the podcast interview click here.

(To download: Right Click, Save As)

Check out our entire Sundance Podcast Archive.

Independent filmmaker Jacob Rosenberg is sharing his wealth of experience with Premiere Pro in the Adobe/HP hands on session at New Frontier on Main. Under Rosenberg’s tutalage, participants are getting a chance to test drive Adobe Creative Suite 2/Production Studio on HP xw4400 Workstations. He’ll no doubt cover new Production Suite features you might have heard of such as Cliff Notes and Dynamic Link–and if he doesn’t you can ask him about it after. more

Here’s more of today’s technical workshop lineup at New Frontier, where you can also check your email in peace, see the Online Shorts film festival, enjoy the DJ, and see some great video installations. Oh and drink free coffee.

1pm Kevin Baillie, Visual Effects/CG supe at The Orphanage will lead a session on effects for Superman Returns

2pm Scott Anderson, Visual Effects Supe at The Orphanage will lead a session on digital workflow for Superman Returns

3:00 Flash Professional 8; hands on session

3:00 Filmmaker Jacob Rosenberg teaches about using Adobe and Cineform to do Hollywood style workflows and DI on indie films

4:00 Adobe Soundbooth; hands on session

5:00 Interactive Flash for Filmmakers

11:00 at New Frontier on Main: Veteran publicist Reid Rosefelt will lead a free publicity workshop for filmmakers. Publicity is not usually free.

If you’re near New Frontier on Main, you can hit the tuturial session on Premiere Pro and or one on Remote Collaboration. Looks like they’re getting a bit of a Sundance-start going (late) so you can stillo make it.

Remote Collaboration covers Adobe Acrobat Connect, Acrobat Reader and Production Studio for both HD and Flash based collaboration. If you don’t live in the same town (or LA neighborhood) as your collaborators, don’t miss this.

If you want to get hands-on at Sundance, Shu Lea Cheang’s Mobiopera at New Frontier is for you. Here’s the description: Mobile phone users at the festival will jointly script and shoot a narrative soap-travaganza as they wait in line and move about Park City. If your phone can shoot you are invited to co-script and shoot soapisodes for a collective narrative. Involves daily live casting and culminates in a MobiSlam VJ/DJ Party. Check in at www.mobiopera.mobi.

In related news, the Sundance Institute has announced a pilot project in collaboration with the GSM Association to create short films for viewing on mobile phones. The Sundance Film Festival Global Short Film Project commissioned six festival alumni to create five short films, crafted exclulsively for mobile phone distribution. Filmmakers include Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Justin Lin, Maria Maggenti, Cory McAbee, and Jody Hill. more

Right after the opening press conference, the crowd crossed the street to the New Frontier on Main venue for the opening reception. Over the past several years, this venue became the place to see demos of digital production tools, panel discussions on technical topics, various filmmaking workshops, and the online shorts festival.

Last year, the venue got classy lighting and décor. This year it has changed even more dramatically, with a DJ, a Krups coffee bar and video art installations mixed among the technology demos, panels and workshops. It also has a mission: Sundance describes it as a place that “celebrates the convergence of film and art as an emerging hotbed for new ideas and experimentation.” At the reception, Redford talked about artists who were using new technology and the moving image to explore new concepts of narrative structure. more

At the official Sundance kickoff press conference, Robert Redford was, as he always is, conversational and politely unequivocal. He‘s always been open about his constitutional convictions and the role filmmakers play in speaking truth to power, whether that‘s studio, corporate, or governmental power.

This year, Sundance has made an explicit case for the importance of independent documentaries by choosing to open the festival with Brett Morgen‘s Chicago 10, a fascinating multimedia documentary about key events of the anti-Vietnam war movement. more