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Canon U.S.A. Celebrates the Creativity of Indie Filmmakers as a Returning Sponsor of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival

MELVILLE, N.Y. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — January 22, 2015 — Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, announced today the company will return as a Sustaining Sponsor to the 2015 Sundance Film Festival (January 22 – February 1, 2015). Nestled in the mountains of Park City, Utah, the Sundance Film Festival celebrates the best of independent film; as part of the Festival sponsorship, Canon will offer a special slate of programming dedicated to the filmmakers who push creative boundaries behind the camera.

Canon is pleased to share that at least 52 of the 188 films premiering at this year’s Festival – over 27 percent – were shot using Canon equipment, up from the approximately 20 percent last year. Eli Roth’s Knock Knock, Amy Berg’s Prophet’s Prey, The Overnight, The Wolfpack, Misery Loves Comedy, Cartel Land, Call Me Lucky, Fresh Dressed, How to Dance in Ohio, Most Likely to Succeed, The Hunting Ground, Tig, and The Nightmare are a few of the many shot-on-Canon projects set to screen during the festival.

“We are honored that so many creative filmmakers have chosen our equipment to bring their visions and stories to audiences. We look forward to supporting them and connecting with them at the Sundance Film Festival,” said Yuichi Ishizuka, president and COO, Canon U.S.A., Inc. “Sundance provides us with the opportunity to directly interact and support many up and coming filmmakers, and we are excited to return as Sustaining Sponsors to this year’s festival.”

In 2015, Canon will invite Sundance Film Festival filmmaker attendees to flex their creative muscle at the Canon Creative Studio (427 Main Street; open Saturday, January 24-Monday, January 26, from 11am-6pm). At this daily hub – exclusive for cinematographers, directors, producers, and crew – guests can explore how Canon supports all aspects of filmmaking – from production design, to image capture, through edit and workflow. The space features an equipment demonstration area with on-site staff to walk guests through Canon’s full line of Cinema EOS cameras and lenses, including the new Cinema EOS C100 Mark II.

The Canon Creative Studio also features informal panel discussions with top Sundance filmmakers, including horror-great Eli Roth (Hemlock Grove, Hostel), VFX legend Robert Legato (The Wolf of Wall Street, Hugo), and award-winning cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Cake, Fruitvale Station).

The Canon Live Learning team will offer hands-on workshops with Canon’s latest filmmaking tool,— the EOS C100 Mark II camera with Dual Pixel CMOS Auto Focus — including a demonstration of this camera on a DJI Ronin 3-Axis Stabilized Handheld Gimbal System.

The Canon Creative Studio will serve as host to the Canon Crew Party (details below) on Sunday, January 25. This will mark Canon’s third annual celebration of filmmakers who work behind the lens of the 2015 Sundance Festival films.

Canon’s Festival activities will culminate on Monday, January 26 with a special hosted screening of Bending the Light as part of Canon's corporate presentation and not an official selection of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. This documentary honoring the artistry of creating a lens and the visual artists who use them from acclaimed director Michael Apted (The ‘Up’ series, The World is Not Enough, Gorillas in the Mist). The 60-minute film explores the relationship between master craftsmen who shape lenses and the masters of light who use these lenses for image capture – each an artisan in their own right. Bending the Light features never-before-seen footage from inside Canon’s lens factory in Japan and intimate interviews with award-winning photographers and cinematographers, including Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSC (Get on Up, The Help), who will participate in a Q&A immediately following the screening.

Below is the full schedule of events for Canon's activities at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. All events take place at Canon Creative Studio (427 Main Street) unless otherwise noted.

     

Saturday, January 24th

11am-6pm

Canon Creative Studio

A daily hub for filmmakers, the Canon Creative Studio will feature craft conversations with cinematographers, directors, and industry experts, a touch-and-try display of Canon equipment, and a place to relax with coffee, snacks, and Wi-Fi®.
 

12pm

Canon Live Learning | Hands On with the Cinema EOS C100 Mark II Camera

The new EOS C100 Mark II camera is a versatile tool for independent filmmakers, no matter the size and scale of the project. Canon’s Loren Simons offers an experiential demo of the camera’s three standout features: outstanding low-light sensitivity, smooth Dual Pixel CMOS Auto Focus, and remote control networking capabilities.
 

Instructor: Loren Simons (Sr. Product and Sales Trainer, Canon USA)

 

1pm

Panel | The Female Perspective: Women in Cinematography

A group of inspirational cinematographers gather for an illuminating conversation about their craft and women in this creative art. The three will discuss how they got their start in the business, their creative inspirations, their mentors, and how they work behind the camera.
 
Panelists:

- Rachel Morrison (DP, Dope, What Happened, Miss Simone?)

- Laela Kilbourn (DP, How to Dance in Ohio)

- Dagmar Weaver-Madsen (DP, Unexpected)

 

Moderator: Paula Bernstein (Filmmaker Toolkit Editor, Indiewire)

 

2pm

Panel | The Sky’s The Limit: Drone Cinematography and the Future of Filmmaking

Unmanned aircraft are the future of aerial cinematography, but it’s still the Wild West in the sky. In this panel, industry experts will break down what to know before you fly and the must-have tools to take your next film to new heights.
 
Panelists:

- Willis Chung (Producer and Expert Pilot, DJI)

- Tim Smith (Sr. Film and Television Advisor, Canon USA)

- Michael Chambliss (Western Region Business Representative, ICG IATSE Local 600)

 

Moderator: Naida Albright (Canon Industry Advisor)

 

3pm

Panel | The Overnight’s John Guleserian on the Cinema EOS C500 Camera

Indie comedy The Overnight brings cinematographer John Guleserian back to Park City for his fourth consecutive year. The acclaimed DP behind Sundance tour de forces Like Crazy and Song One discusses why he chose the Canon Cinema EOS C500 camera for his latest feature.

 
Panelists:

- John Guleserian (Cinematographer)

- Tim Smith (Sr. Film and Television Advisor, Canon USA)

 

Moderator: Paula Bernstein (Filmmaker Toolkit Editor, Indiewire)

 

Sunday, January 25th

11am-6pm

Canon Creative Studio

A daily hub for filmmakers, the Canon Creative Studio will feature craft conversations with cinematographers, directors, and industry experts, a touch-and-try display of Canon equipment, and a place to relax with coffee, snacks, and Wi-Fi.
 

12pm

Canon Live Learning | Hands On with the Cinema EOS C100 Mark II Camera

The new EOS C100 Mark II camera is a versatile tool for independent filmmakers, no matter the size and scale of the project. Canon’s Loren Simons offers an experiential demo of the camera’s three standout features: outstanding low-light sensitivity, smooth Dual Pixel CMOS Auto Focus, and remote control networking capabilities.
 

Instructor: Loren Simons (Sr. Product and Sales Trainer, Canon USA)

 

1pm

Panel | Cut the Comedy: The Capture and Edit of Misery Loves Comedy

Presented in partnership with Adobe, this panel explores the making of Sundance documentary Misery Loves Comedy. DP Adam McDaid and Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor Rob Legato – who served as a consulting editor for this film – take us behind the scenes for an illuminating conversation about the workflow of Canon’s Cinema EOS C300 camera with Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

 
Panelists:

- Adam McDaid (Cinematographer)

- Rob Legato (Consulting Editor)

- Mike Kanfer (Sr. Business Development Manager, Adobe)

- Tim Smith (Sr. Film and Television Advisor, Canon USA)

 

Moderator: Paula Bernstein (Filmmaker Toolkit Editor, Indiewire)

 

3pm

Panel | Behind the Screams: Eli Roth on the Making of Knock Knock with EOS-1D C

 

Park City At Midnight was made for horror kings like Eli Roth, whose latest spine-tingler Knock Knock stars Keanu Reeves, Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas. Roth and his team discuss shooting with the Cinema EOS 1D C and why this DSLR was a dream for capturing his nightmarish script.

 
Panelists:

- Eli Roth (Director)

- Antonio Quercia (Cinematographer)

- Aaron Burns (Actor)

- Tim Smith (Sr. Film and Television Advisor, Canon USA)

 

Moderator: Paula Bernstein (Filmmaker Toolkit Editor, Indiewire)

 

4pm-7pm

Canon Crew Party

Canon's third-annual celebration toasts the filmmakers of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
 

Monday, January 26th

11am-6pm

Canon Creative Studio

A daily hub for filmmakers, the Canon Creative Studio will feature craft conversations with cinematographers, directors, and industry experts, a touch-and-try display of Canon equipment, and a place to relax with coffee, snacks, and Wi-Fi.
 

12pm

Canon Live Learning | Hands On with the Cinema EOS C100 Mark II Camera

The new EOS C100 Mark II camera is a versatile tool for independent filmmakers, no matter the size and scale of the project. Canon’s Loren Simons offers an experiential demo of the camera’s three standout features: outstanding low-light sensitivity, smooth Dual Pixel CMOS Auto Focus, and remote control networking capabilities.
 

Instructor: Loren Simons (Sr. Product and Sales Trainer, Canon USA)

 

1pm

Panel | Get Real: Documentary Filmmaking with Cinema EOS Cameras and Lenses

We gather some of the brightest and boldest non-fiction storytellers to tell the tales of their real-life films and talk about their tech tools of choice for documentary work.
 
Panelists:

- Crystal Moselle (Director/DP, The Wolfpack)

- Thaddeus Wadleigh (DP, The Hunting Ground)

- Bradley Stonesifer (DP, Call Me Lucky)

- Tim Smith (Sr. Film and Television Advisor, Canon USA)

 

Moderator: Paula Bernstein (Filmmaker Toolkit Editor, Indiewire)

 

3pm

Canon Presentation | Bending the Light Special Screening and Q&A

Location: New Frontier Microcinema (573 Main Street)

Canon hosts a screening of Bending the Light as part of Canon's corporate presentation and not an official selection of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, a documentary honoring the artistry of creating a lens and the visual artists who use them from celebrated director Michael Apted. A lively Q&A will follow the screening with featured cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSC, spotlighting his creative process, the craft of cinematography, and the Canon Cinema EOS lenses and cameras that help bring his stories to life.

 

Panelist: Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSC

Moderator: Paula Bernstein (Filmmaker Toolkit Editor, Indiewire)

 

4:30pm-6pm

Canon Closing Cocktail Hour

Festival attendees are invited back to Canon Creative Studio after the Bending the Light screening and Q&A to demo Canon gear.

Canon is pleased to partner with Indiewire, the leading news and information source on independent film, Hollywood, and TV for movie and TV fans, the industry, and filmmakers, to deliver exclusive content and share up-to-date happenings from the Canon Creative Studio. Throughout the Festival, Indiewire will feature a series of interviews with cinematographers called “How I Shot That,” presented by Canon. To read the series, please visit http://www.indiewire.com/tag/how-i-shot-that.

To find out more about Canon’s Festival activities, please visit our Cinema EOS website or follow us on Twitter and Vimeo. Join the conversation with #CanonCreativeStudio.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Mexico) markets. With approximately $36 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2014�nbsp; and is one of Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies in 2014. In 2014, Canon U.S.A. has received the PCMag.com Readers' Choice Award for Service and Reliability in the digital camera and printer categories for the 11th consecutive year. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas Headquarters secured LEED® Gold certification, a recognition for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance green buildings. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA. For media inquiries, please contact pr@cusa.canon.com.

�nbsp; Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.

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