As the premier digital media company, Yahoo! has always been committed to supporting the creative community.  As part of this ongoing support, we are excited to announce that Yahoo! is the Official Sponsor of the Short Film Program at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival!  Mark your calendars for January 19-29, 2012 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.  You bring the popcorn and soda -- we'll bring the movies!

As a sponsor, Yahoo! will premiere a select number of short films from the Festival on Yahoo! Movies, a leading online movie destination that reaches 27.5 million users per month.  Consumers will also be able to vote for an audience award, which will be presented to the winning filmmaker at the Short Film Awards party taking place during the Festival.  Stay tuned, as we will be announcing more details of our sponsorship at a later date.

We announced the news today at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.  Ross Levinsohn, executive vice president of Yahoo! Americas, hosted an on-stage dialog with Robert Redford, founder and president of Sundance Institute, as well as Ben Silverman, founder and CEO of Electus. The discussion focused on the power of storytelling and its role in creating premium content.  For more information about Yahoo! at the Cannes festival, visit yadvertisingblog.com or advertising.yahoo.com.