Photos: Sundance pans in on tech

The 10-day Sundance Film Festival, put on by Robert Redford's Sundance Institute, takes place annually in Park City, Utah. During last year's festival, some 45,000 film aficionados ascended on the otherwise quiet ski resort town. This year's festival kicked off on Thursday, Jan. 19, and runs through Sunday, Jan. 29. This picture was taken downtown on Sunday morning, Jan. 22, before the crowds came out in full force.

Walt Mossberg, personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, moderated a panel discussion on Saturday, Jan. 21, about "Cinema on the move: New mobile technologies and the next wave of filmmaking."

Weblogs Inc. founder Jason Calacanis (center) moderated a panel discussion Sunday on "Podcasting, Vlogging and the Freedom of Speech." Other panelists, from left to right, included video podcaster Anni Rudegair (aka Soccergirl), Webcasting pioneer Ken Rutkowski, Atom Entertainment founder Mika Salmi and "Four Eyed Monster" filmmaker Susan Buice.

Sundance festival-goers take advantage of free Internet access at the Digital Cafe, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard. The cafe is located in the festival's Film Center, which is also home to panel discussions and forums, hands-on workshops, and an array of cameras and projectors.

To the left is a still from the "The Tribe," an 18-minute short directed by Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain, right, and one of 50 short films streamed on the Sundance festival Web site. The Tribe is described by Sundance as "an unorthodox, unauthorized history of the Jewish people." It points out the irony that the Barbie doll, the Aryan-looking symbol of the ideal American woman, was created by a Jewish woman.

Here we see a still shot (left) from "The Pity Card," a 12-minute film directed by comedian Bob Odenkirk (right), of "The Ben Stiller Show" fame. The film depicts a guy who recalls his mistake of taking a first date to the Holocaust Museum.