LOS ANGELES, January 6, 2009 – BMI, the U.S. performing right organization, and the Sundance Film Festival will present two events at this year’s festival on Wednesday, January 21. The 11th annual composer/director roundtable, entitled “Music & Film: The Creative Process,” will be held on January 21 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., while the sixth annual Sundance Snowball will be held from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Both events will take place at the Sundance House at the Kimball Art Center (638 Park Avenue) and are open to festival badge-holders and invitation recipients only.

BMI has been an ongoing supporter of the film music program at the Sundance Film Festival as well as at the Sundance Composers Lab. Focusing on the dialog and relationship between composer and director, the panel is a cornerstone discussion at the festival on the role of music in film. Topics to be discussed will include: the formula for creating a successful film score and the foundation and development of an effective composer/director relationship. These questions and others will be answered during this revered festival event.

Panelists scheduled to speak include composers George S. Clinton (Austin Powers, Sundance Composer Lab Advisor), Clint Mansell (Moon), Chris Lennertz (Adam), Craig Richey (The September Issue), Duncan Sheik (Dare), Lili Haydn (Over The Hills & Far Away), Michael Bacon (Boy Interrupted), Anton Sanko (When You’re Strange & Against the Current), Marco d’Ambrosio (We Live In Public), T. Griffin (Children of Invention), Peter Golub (Frozen River, Sundance Composer Lab Director), Rolfe Kent (Sideways, Sundance Composers Lab Advisor), David Poe (Dare) and Ben Decter (We Live In Public).

Directors scheduled to speak include Michel Orion Scott (Over The Hills and Far Away), Duncan Jones (Moon), Max Mayer (Adam), R.J. Cutler (The September Issue), Dana Heinz Perry (Boy Interrupted), Dana Heinz Perry (Boy Interrupted), Ondi Timoner (We Live In Public) and Tze Chun (Children of Invention). The discussion will be moderated by Doreen Ringer Ross, Vice President, Film/TV Relations at BMI.



BMI will host the sixth annual Sundance Snowball on January 21 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The annual musical showcase adds an interactive performance element to this year’s festival as it evolves into an inventive, artistic, collaborative musical experience celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Sundance Composers Lab. The show will take on a party element with DJ Thomas Golubic and segue to performance with composer/musician Rolfe Kent’s “Magnificent Howling Audience Score-Shop.” The “Score-Shop” will include an experimental exercise with the audience in live-image scoring, a first for the festival. Special guests are expected. Past performers at the Snowball include Shelby Lynne, Keb Mo, Terence Blanchard, Minnie Driver, and The Aggrolites, among others. The event is open to festival credential holders, credentialed press and by special invitation.



For further information or press access for either event, please contact: Hanna Pantle, hpantle@bmi.com, or Marlene Meraz, mmeraz@bmi.com.



For more information on BMI events at Sundance as well as on-site coverage of the Festival, please visit www.bmi.com/sundance.



BMI

Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI) is an American performing right organization that represents more than 375,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 6.5 million works. BMI’s latest financial results, $902 million for its 2008 fiscal year, are the highest performing right collections for any copyright organization in the world. BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world for over 65 years. The U.S. corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.



Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is the premier showcase for U.S. and international independent film, held each January in and around Park City, Utah. Presenting 120 dramatic and documentary feature-length films in seven distinct categories, and 80 short films each year, the Sundance Film Festival has introduced American audiences to some of the most ground-breaking films of the past two decades, including sex lies and videotape, Maria Full of Grace, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Trouble the Water and Central Station. www.sundance.org/festival



Sundance Institute

Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a not-for-profit organization that fosters the development of original storytelling in film and theatre, and presents the annual Sundance Film Festival. Internationally recognized for its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Angels in America, Spring Awakening, Boys Don't Cry and Born into Brothels. www.sundance.org