Other Sundance Trustees in attendance included Participant Films founder Jeff Skoll and CEO Jim Berk, investors Suhail Rizvi and Omar Amanat, Adobe founder John Warnock, actor Glenn Close, and Redford producing partner Jake Eberts. WL Editorin- Chief Nancy Bagley led the Washington contingent together with Leonsis, Koch, and the Kicking It executive producers. Prominent Washingtonians included MPAA chief Dan and Rhoda Glickman, Rep. John Conyers, Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty with wife Michelle Fenty, Celebrity Service International COO Nicole Bagley, George and Georgia Stamos, Peter and Adrienne Barris, Jean-Marie Fernandez, Lori Morris, and Norma and Russ Ramsey (who, together with former Charles Schwab CEO David Pottruck, decided to invest and join the executive producer team after attending the premiere). Additional entertainment notables included actors Danny Glover and Tim Daly, musical legend Jackson Browne, ESPN Films Keith Clinkscales and John Skipper, publishing maestro Gerry Byrne, media personality Lawrence O’Donnell, UTA star agent Keya Khayatian,

Warner Brothers’ Rossanna Wang, celeb yoga master Baron Baptiste, producer Mailer, singer Sasha Lazard, authors Terrence Ward, Idanna Pucci and Evelyn Weber, and artist Diana Cohen. Skoll, like Leonsis, is a champion of documentary film’s power to affect change. Later in the week he hosted his Skoll Social Entrepreneurs Presentation breakfast. It was part of the new “Stories of Change” program, which was created by the Sundance Documentary Film Program in partnership with the Skoll Foundation to encourage collaboration between entrepreneurs and documentary filmmakers and fund film projects that result from those connections. As the evening was billed as a salute to Washington filmmaking, it was fitting that Kicking It producer Leonsis and director Koch were honored. “Yes, I am a Washington filmmaker,” said Koch as she addressed the crowd, “there is such a thing.” She added, “Los Angeles and New York have the established markets for production, but Washington has what they both want: substance.” At the end of her speech, Koch presented Shehabi with a Sundance director’s jacket. Each film accepted to Sundance receives only one. The night showed that meaningful ideas, cause-related activities and movies about issues that matter from a city where issues turn into legislation are Washington’s currency. Pollywood means change.

Sundance Institute Trustee Pat Mitchell There are many reasons why people make the pilgrimage to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival every year: 16 screens showing the best independent features from morning till midnight; meeting the people who make them and hearing behind-the-scenes stories that are often as compelling as those on the screen; and of course, the ‘scenes’ outside the screenings: opportunities to schmooze, exchange business cards (or autographs), and pick up swag bags the ambush marketers give out in an attempt to build their brands off the Sundance brand. There’s always a lot to celebrate, too, and this year was no exception. At the dinner party of the festival we celebrated Ted Leonsis, Susan Koch, and the generous team of friends and supporters who got the documentary Kicking It made and to Sundance. The food, from Iron Chef Cat Cara, was one of the most memorable meals of my life, and the crowd was a VIP gathering of creative types, execs, philanthropists and political leaders. It was a typical guest list for a Washington Life event,and typical of the fans and supporters who love Sundance, even if they only know part of the story.

As a longtime trustee of the Sundance Institute, I never lose an opportunity, even at a festival party, to reflect on how different the independent film world is today than it was when Robert Redford started the Sundance Institute. For the first time, Redford offered emerging directors, screenwriters, and playwrights a place to come and be mentored by the best in the business, and to develop their scripts and films away from the pressure of the commercial marketplace. Those labs are still the epicenter of the Institute’s work, even though we’re best known these days for the popularity of the film festival. But it wasn’t always so popular. When Redford started the festival in order to give independent films a means to be seen and appreciated, there wasn’t exactly a huge crowd rushing from the ski slopes to the theatres. He tells of standing on the streets in the snow trying to entice people on their way to ski or to a local Park City bar to come inside a theater and watch an independent film. Today, there’s fierce competition for every seat in the house. But it’s worth the price of admission, which goes to support the Institute’s programs, and provides critical support to independent filmmakers like the ones we celebrated at the Washington Life Pollywood dinner. Sundance is fortunate to have friends like WL and the charming Nancy Bagley and Soroush Shehabi ... and so am I. Thanks for another memorable birthday!