Ivar Zeile

I led a team of aspiring filmmakers from the Sundance Film Festival’s Technical Department in creating three promotional identity trailers for the 1999 festival event. This rare and prestigious commission, green-lighted by Robert Redford and shot on 35mm film, was the culmination of a decade of my time working for Sundance in several different capacities including Festival Runner, Print Traffic Department Coordinator, Film Presentation Manager, Sundance Resort Projectionist and Film Critic. My time with Sundance was very special, offering unprecedented access to the emerging world of independent film and filmmakers, coinciding with some of the most exciting developmental years in the festival’s history. The experience was a direct inspiration towards my ability to formulate and implement the Supernova Digital Animation Festival in 2016 for Denver Digerati as a new, exciting niche to explore through a distinguished festival construct. The materials below include quality transfers direct from 35mm film of the trailers as well as a snapshot of associated materials from proposal to marketing.

Email was a relatively new tool for communication at the time of the Sundance trailer project. My associates Jeff Winograd, Jeff Orgill and I all lived in different states during our time working at the Sundance Film Festival, only coming together in January for ten days each year. Our correspondence and formulation of a proposal for the project materialized as an interesting study for the use of this new method of communication and idea-sharing. I kept the significant portions of the dialogue intact for future reference, not knowing exactly how this form of communication would fully transform the future.

Sundance Festival Trailer Commission Communication Archive