This evening, the 2008 Sundance Film Festival opens for business. By Saturday, the streets of Park City, Utah, will be mobbed with filmmakers, film lovers and those who love filmmakers. Isn't it convenient, then, that you can watch the festival - one of the most influential in the world - unfold from the warm glow of your computer, without having to worry about snow drifts or velvet ropes?
Indeed, for the next week you can find coverage of the festival, direct from Sundance Channel, the festival's official broadcaster, updated daily in the spotlight and featured videos of the href="http://www.youtube.com/browse?s=rf&t=t&c=1&l=&b=0 ">Film & Animation category. Look for filmmaker profiles, red carpet premiere coverage and interviews from the Sundance Channel's Park City studio, including an interview with the winning filmmaker from YouTube's first ever film competition, Project Direct.
Are you a filmmaker determined to brave the elements and head to Park City yourself? Let us know! A contingent of us YouTubers will be pounding the pavement, speaking on panels, watching films and talking to filmmakers, and we'd love to hear from you.
Ready to get started? Check out this classic moment from the 2004 Sundance Film Festival with Mr. Sundance himself, Robert Redford:
It's been almost a month since the results of Kenya's presidential election sparked protests and riots in the East African country. When sitting President Mwai Kibaki won over opposition leader Raila Odinga, claims of a rigged result sent hundreds of protesters into the street, sparking tribal warfare and governmental crackdowns on protesters. The violence has killed hundreds of Kenyans and displaced over 350,000 citizens. Today, Odinga called for rallies in 42 locations nationwide, leaving many bracing for more violence.
Just a few months before the election, Kenya's largest broadcaster, NTV Kenya, started a YouTube channel to broadcast news from around Kenya. Though Kenya's third-world economy affords less than 1% of its citizens broadband Internet access, NTV Kenya's YouTube presence has become a critical way for the Kenyan diaspora to connect with what's happening back home. The channel already has almost 3,000 subscribers and is one of the top 100 channels viewed in the last month on YouTube. The channel documents the death and violence, but it also broadcasts the efforts of the international community to rescue the nation from internal strife, as demonstrated by this playlist:
A conversation amongst YouTubers -- Kenyans and others -- has developed over the conflict there, and the National Democratic Institute (a global nonprofit that provides election assistance in Kenya and other fledgling democracies) has started a channel that documents the election efforts in Nairobi and beyond. This video of an election line in Starehe shows just how thirsty Kenyans were on December 27, 2007, to cast their votes:
While Kenya's future is uncertain, YouTube remains a window into the challenges the country faces – in other words, you don't need expensive satellite TV to catch the news from the region or footage of the chaos.
Wanna perform with the Foo Fighters at one of music's biggest events of the year? We've got a unique opportunity for some talented instrumentalists to become a part of the All-Time Foo Fighters Grammy Orchestra during next month's televised awards broadcast in Los Angeles. Intrigued? The band explains it all to you here:
However, don't delay! The deadline is just about a week away, so be sure to get your entry uploaded by midnight on January 20 -- especially you university students in a marching band or symphony orchestra. This could be your chance to represent your college during this once-in-a-lifetime experience. If you need some last-minute inspiration, check out these skilled players who have already taken a crack at it.
In case you hadn't noticed, this is the first presidential election in history in which voters have had the ability to videotape and post footage from the campaign trail and share it easily with others on a mass scale. Today, as voters in New Hampshire go to the polls for their first-in-the-nation primary, citizens from across the U.S. are weighing in on the race through YouTube -- and the discussion is fascinating.
Just like we did with the Des Moines Register in Iowa, we are partnering with a local media outlet, WMUR-TV, in Manchester, NH, to collect voter videos from Granite Staters. The idea is to give those of us who aren't voting today a front row seat to all the action. Here are some of the best videos that have been uploaded so far:
In fact, WMUR-TV is airing many of your videos during their primary news coverage, and their YouTube channel will continue to host videos that give a voter's-eye-view of the New Hampshire primaries all day today and for the rest of the week. You can also study up on the candidates on our You Choose '08 platform.
It may be freezing cold in Iowa right now, but that's not stopping voters from bundling up and heading out to caucus for their favorite candidates. This year, for the first time ever, you can join them on YouTube.
Along with Iowa's largest daily newspaper, The Des Moines Register, we're collecting voter videos from caucus-goers to give you a voter's-eye-view of what the caucuses are all about. From analysis to voter interviews to political raps, Iowans are making their voices heard on YouTube. You can watch these videos on the Register's YouTube channel and/or check out some of the best ones we've seen so far here:
And starting today, voters across the state will be uploading footage from the actual caucuses themselves (cameras are allowed inside), so if you've ever bemoaned the early influence of Iowa on the U.S. presidential nomination process, this is your chance to get an inside view of what takes place.
If you're not sure how the caucuses work, you need to go no further than our You Choose '08 platform, where several of the candidates have posted instructional videos on "how to caucus."
As Iowans kick off the nominating process, keep track of everything right here on YouTube -- and stay tuned for the next big political event of the season: the New Hampshire Primaries on Tuesday, January 8.
We're happy to ring in 2008 with a full-length concert by Radiohead on our home page; it's a private in-studio performance of the entire album, In Rainbows. This unique video is titled "Scotch Mist (a film with Radiohead in it)" and was taped a few weeks ago at the band's UK studio (and out and about in the neighboring countryside). Not only does it include an intimate rundown of songs from their new album, it tosses in Oxfordshire lad slow-mo antics along with a few animated surprises.
To all those who dare to leap into the new year on a bold note, happy 2008!
With 2008 upon us, it's a great time to participate in this New Year's program, which invites you to make a video answering one of four questions, including revealing what your personal theme will be for 2008. (And while you're there, you can watch a full-length concert from Simple Plan, Talib Kweli and YouTube OntheRise Rap winner Conceit, live from the Highline Ballroom in NYC.)
Many of you -– plus artists like Matchbox Twenty, Lupe Fiasco, Paramore and others -– heeded the call, and your videos now populate our YouTube/Google Maps Mashup. What's more, some of the best submissions will be showcased tonight on the Samsung Jumbotron in Manhattan's Times Square.
For those of you who haven't submitted: you're in luck. Submissions don't end just because 2007 does. You have until January 18 to upload your video and see it on a map with your fellow YouTubers.
