Sundance 2011: Day 5, the YouTube Connection

First, a couple clips, then some stories:

But I concede that — apart from Virginia being impossibly cute, adorable and brave — this teaser doesn’t say much about the “Life in a Day” feature. Let’s try one more:

As mentioned earlier, if you live in Ann Arbor, MI; Brookline, MA; Brooklyn; Chicago; Los Angeles; Madison, WI; Nashville; San Francisco or Seattle — you can attend a special local screening of a Sundance 2011 film.

For the rest of us, YouTube will make it possible to collectively share the world premier of the “Life in a Day” documentary as it’s screened in Park City, Utah.

All you need to do is go here, by 8pm ET, 7pm CT, 5pm PT on Thursday, Jan. 27: http://www.youtube.com/user/lifeinaday

Following the screening there will also be a live Q&A with the documentary’s director, Kevin MacDonald, along with a small group of specially-invited contributors to “Live in a Day”. (Impressive stats: this project drew more than 80,000 clips, and uses 1,125 of them. I’m sure the project probably shortened the lives of about 10 editors…)

Note, though, that the film WON’T be freely available on YouTube after that (it still has a theatrical run coming up this year), although you’ll be able to see a re-broadcast 7pm on Friday, January 28, in your local time zone.

But Sundance and YouTube have worked out something else that can keep you captivated through the rest of the long winter months.

Check out The YouTube Screening Room, which is showing a total of 12 shorts from Sundance 2011, plus four “career-starting” shorts from past festivals (!), and four shorts from the Sundance Directors Lab* (*no guarantee these won’t suck…). And they’ll add more on January 27 and February 3.

Meanwhile, here’s a loving tribute to 8-bit video game heros:

Want something a little more significant from your short films?

Okay, fine, check out skaters in Kabul!

Tomorrow, on the ground in Park City.