MUMBAI: Sundance Institute and Sundance Channel announced that the first selection of short films from the 2007 Sundance Film Festival are immediately available for download via The iTunes Store. The availability of these, and upcoming shorts, on iTunes signifies Sundance’s commitment to exposing filmmakers’ work to a broad audience by leveraging new technologies, as well as extending the reach of the Festival to include film lovers beyond Park City.

“It’s an exciting time for us to offer short filmmakers the opportunity to expose their work to audiences outside of the Festival through iTunes,” said John Cooper, Director of Programming, Sundance Film Festival. “The quality of this year’s shorts represents creative, independent filmmaking at its best and further strengthens our commitment to providing new avenues to showcase Sundance films.”

Fans will now be able to use iTunes to discover filmmaking’s newest voices, working in the short film format, freed from the constraints of traditional feature length storytelling.

Representing filmmakers from around the world — with subjects embracing a wide range of emotions, cinematic and storytelling styles — Sundance short films can be purchased and downloaded from iTunes for $1.99.

This year’s short films embody a diverse collection of voices recounting universal tales of redemption, acceptance and self discovery through innovative filmmaking styles that exemplify the range of the human condition. Whether humorous or heartbreaking, the showcased shorts exude a unique creative energy and aesthetic appeal that is traditional to Sundance films and filmmakers.

The available selections include:

Dramatic Shorts

• A Nick in Time – Director, Be’ Garrett
  
• Aftermath of Meadow Lark – Directors, David and Nathan Zellner
  
• Black and White Trypps Number 3 – Director, Ben Russell
  
• Bobby Bird: The Devil In Denim– Director, Carson D. Mell
  
• Conversion – Director, Nanobah Becker
  
• Cubs (UK) – Director, Tom Harper
  
• Death to the Tinman – Director, Ray Tintori
  
• Der Ostwind – Director, Kohl Glass
  
• The Grass Grows Green – Director, Jesus Beltran
  
• Happiness – Director, Sophie Barthes
  
• Infinite Delay – Director, Kadet Kuhne
  
• Interview – Director, Charles Burmeister
  
• Light Work I – Director, Jennifer Reeves
  
• Little Farm – Director, Calvin Reeder
  
• Move Me – Director, Jonathan Pulley
  
• The Tragic Story of Nling (Canada) – Director, Jeffrey St. Jules
  
• The Tube With a Hat (Romania) – Director, Radu Jude
  
• Songbird – Director, John Thompson

Additionally, Sundance will offer free podcasts for fans on iTunes, featuring a behind-the-scenes look at the Sundance Film Festival and its filmmakers, including a special interview with short filmmakers. Topics will range from independent video gaming to social networking to opportunities in documentary funding, in addition to live musical performances from Park City.