The X-Dance Festival will be held January 12-15, 2002, coinciding once again with the Sundance Film Festival. Located at Harry O’s, the centerpiece of Park City’s historical Main Street, the festival will include: ^ – Screenings of top action sports film, including several world premieres, Saturday, January 12th to Monday, January 14th from 4-11pm @ Emma’s Cafe
under Harry O’s Nightclub ^ – Open forums after each screening with filmmakers and featured athletes ^ – Daily demos of the hottest action sports video games on consoles provided by Activision and XBOX ^ – Panels that explore topics such as music licensing, film financing, cinematography, and marketing for action sports films
The X-Dance Festival was launched during the 2001 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, where twenty-two of the world’s best action sports films were screened to consistently packed houses. The festival also included panels on action sports filmmaking, featuring seasoned pros and legends from the extreme sports world, and the X-DANCE Awards Ceremony and Closing Party, which was attended by thousands of fans and celebrities who watched clips from the award-winning films, danced to the beats of P.O.D. and world-renowned DJ Paul Oakenfold, and witnessed Freestyle Motocrosser Carey Hart jump from the balcony onto the stage to accept his awards for Best Stunt and Best Film. Web-cast live on Warner Brothers On-line, the X-DANCE SPECIAL drew nearly a million hits.
X-Dance 2002 will include an incredible selection of films by industry stalwarts like Standard Films, Matchstick Productions, Teton Gravity Research, Mack Dawg, Blue Field, Bam Margera, Poor Specimen, and many others. The latest action sports video games will also be on-site, featuring athletes like Tony Hawk, Shaun Palmer, and Matt Hoffman. At the closing party, where awards will be presented by esteemed stars from the extreme sports world, internationally renowned VJ Vello Virkhaus will mix an adrenaline-fueled set culled from this year’s film entries, and set to the thumping beats of cutting-edge artists. Also performing that evening are Goldfinger and DeepSky, along with DJ sets by Ezra, Akiko and Wish FM. Come revel in the fun. It will blow your mind.
The success of last year’s X-Dance Festival demonstrated the natural synergy between music, film, video games and action sports. X-Dance has found a perfect fit in Park City, home to an enormous audience living at the intersection of these lifestyles, and host to members of the film industry desperate to find the next big thing. They need to look no further. They will find it here at X-Dance 2002.
X-Dance was founded by actor Brian Wimmer, award-winning director Kevin Kerslake, athlete and soundtrack producer Mark Wheadon and journalist Ann Wycoff. Both Wimmer and Wheadon grew up at Sundance and wanted to integrate their passion for action sports with film. They teamed up with Kerslake, who has directed commercials and music videos for the likes of the Rolling Stones, R.E.M., Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana. Last year Kerslake directed Quiksilver’s surf film “Continuum” and presently is prepping an action sports film for IMAX. Co-founder Ann Wycoff, a producer and journalist, has worked for Conde Nast Publications for the last 5 years-her writing focuses on adventure travel, athletes, lifestyle trends and celebrities. Together, they all created X-Dance, the ultimate celebration of action sports culture.
For more info, call 310-291-1255 or get a whole schedule of events at the X-Dance web site.
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