14 DAY TRIAL // The Sundance Film Festival proved to offer fertile soil for Microsoft to show yet another example of its commitment to the HD DVD format, by bringing HD DVD interactivity to filmmakers. The Redmond company, together with the Sundance Institute, delivered independent films with the possibility of leveraging advanced interactive capabilities via the HDi Grant. The 2007 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Winner "Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)" was awarded the Microsoft HDi Grant on the stage of the 2008 edition of the independent film event. "Manda Bala" director Jason Kohn and producer Jared Goldman received the grant for their documentary.
"We put several years into making 'Manda Bala', and this grant lets us explore the digital canvas of HD DVD and HDi and express the work we've done in entirely new ways. Considering all the extra footage we have to work with and the award-winning capabilities of HDi on HD DVD, Jared and I are excited to get started."
The Microsoft HDi Grant is worth an estimated $100,000, and it essentially delivers the tools to produce a high definition version of the winning film, as well as complement the users' HD experience with the interactivity features made possible by the Redmond company's HDi technology. But in the end, the grant is by no means limited to transitioning a movie to HD DVD complete with full support that leads to the the finished product, but also cover additional scenarios involving alternative digital offerings. In this manner, "Manda Bala" will undergo a new stage of production to HD DVD, one that comes complete with Microsoft's implementation of the HD DVD format's advanced interactive layer - HDi.
"We've always believed that the creative community behind filmmaking would best define how HDi should be used, and this grant is meant to put the technology in the hands of the people who will explore its full potential. Sundance Institute has long been an important part of Microsoft's history with digital media technologies, and we look forward to continuing to work together to advance the spirit of independent film", revealed Jordi Ribas, general manager of the HD DVD Group at Microsoft.