Category: Keynotes

Strand Releasing was formed in 1989, and its goal has been to fuse quality art films with commercial product. They have produced ten feature films including Gregg Araki’s The Living End, Grief, Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss, Psycho Beach Party, and more. They have distributed the works of such renowned international artists, and they have a vibrant home media library with over 300 titles from their 22 years in business.

Josh is cofounder and CEO of Gowalla. Prior to Gowalla, he was co-founder and CEO of Blinksale, an online invoicing service, as well as Firewheel Design, an award-winning digital and mobile design consultancy.  An avid skier and snowboarder, he lives in Austin, TX with his wife and two young daughters where he enjoys live music and breakfast tacos.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has appeared in a number of films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival including Manic (2001), Brick (2005), Mysterious Skin (2004), 500 Days of Summer (2009), and Hesher (2010) and his short film Sparks played in 2009.  His project hitRECord.org was featured at the 2010 Film Festival’s New Frontier performances and installations.

Russ B. Collins has served as executive director of the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor since 1982. The restored 1920s-era movie palace is a participating venue of Sundance Institute’s Art House Project and Sundance Film Festival USA.

Red Flag Releasing is an independent distribution company owned by Paul Federbush and Laura Kim. The former Warner Independent Pictures executives shepherded films such as March of the Penguins, Good Night, and Good Luck and Paradise Now. Federbush also worked as a production executive on Slumdog Millionaire.

Mike Plante started Cinemad as a film zine in 1998, which continues as a blog and podcast at iblamesociety. He has worked at Sundance Institute since 2001 in a variety of roles and had some strange times working at CineVegas. He also helps run Cinemad Presents, a distributor bringing unusual films to unusual venues.

Josh Grau (@grauface) leads sales development for Brand Solutions at Twitter. He focuses on developing large-scale event-based programs for marketers and works closely with movie studios to develop Twitter-specific marketing strategies for major releases. Prior he headed business development for YouTube Branded Entertainment, and Director of Marketing for ESPN and CBS.

As chief innovation officer at Universal McCann, Marc Ruxin leads the agency’s global innovation practice across businesses and disciplines, working with traditional media companies on brand integrations, social media, and working with VCs and emerging media technology startups to create scalable digital marketing opportunities for clients. Ruxin writes about music and film at snooze button, and technology and media on HuffPo, among others.
“What we’ve got here is (a) failure to communicate…,” the warden in Cool Hand Luke said to the prisoner 45 years ago.