Sundance Festival Goes Mobile With Roamware Sponsorship

Roamware, a global market leader in mobile roaming solutions has agreed to become an exclusive sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival Global Short Film Project, announced in New York recently by actor, director and President of the Sundance Institute, Robert Redford.
Roamware will sponsor the Sundance Institute and GSM Association initiated pilot project that will see the premier of five exclusively ‘made for mobile’ short films from six new and established independent film makers at the world’s largest annual mobile event, the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona on February 12, 2007.
"We're honoured to be part of the Sundance Institute's exciting vision of how artistic short films can gain a greater audience through the mobile phone," said Bobby Srinivasan, CEO of Roamware. "We believe that, with our new 'media call' service, distribution of creative films, such as the ones commissioned by Sundance Institute, will become an everyday part of our calling experience. When you then add the ability to share all the related content about the film such as reviews, user commentaries, music and messaging during a phone call, you've created a unique and powerful experience for that movie audience."
Roamware provides value-added voice and mobile multimedia roaming solutions to more than 250+ mobile networks, including Orange, Vodafone, Telefonica and many others. The company’s solutions enable operators to serve over 650 million mobile consumers world-wide in over 100 countries. The company has recently launched a new suite of consumer value-added services that combine media content with communication for richer personal interactions.
“We are delighted to welcome Roamware as a sponsor of the Global Short project,” said Bill Gajda, Chief Marketing Officer of the GSM Association. “Our hope is that these five films will, in time, have been seen by more people via the mobile medium than any other form of cinematic entertainment. To that end, Roamware’s support of this programme - which has generated tremendous excitement in both the mobile and the entertainment industries - is warmly welcomed.”
The six filmmakers featured in the Sundance Film Festival Global Short Film Project will be in Barcelona for the world premiere of the films at the 3GSM World Congress. They are Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris 'Little Miss Sunshine', Jody Hill 'The Foot Fist Way', Justin Lin 'Better Luck Tomorrow', Maria Maggenti 'Puccini For Beginners', and Cory McAbee 'The American Astronaut'. All filmmakers have had films premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
The Sundance Institute will exhibit in the new Mobile Entertainment Hall (Hall 7) at the Congress, where the short films will be available for download to mobile phones in a variety of ways.
(DS)