Sundance 2011: Two Must-have Festival Apps!

Sundance Film Fest app

Few events can cram as much entertainment into 10 days as the Sundance Film Festival. Given the logistics of trying to find one's way through it all during Park City's peak snow season, it's a relief to know there are myriad ways to survive and have a great time. For those that prefer the pocket-sized, interactive version, two helpful applications are now available for your SMART devices.

For the second year running, the Sundance Film Festival has developed its own app, with transportation info, survival tips, calendar planners for film and off-screen events, and ticket availability (updates will likely start when individual tickets go on sale on the 17th). Although it costs $4.99, this app is constantly being updated (seems like almost daily) with new content, including past festival shorts, filmmaker interviews, blog posts and photos. The shuttle schedule alone is worth its weight in gold...I'm sure the poor bus drivers who have to answer, "Does this bus go to [venue X]?" five bzillion times a day would agree.

Gowalla has also teamed up with the Sundance Film Festival to create a special Sundance event section, allowing visitors to check into festival venues using iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, or Palm devices.  Here are just a few of the event's "passport" stamps:

Users can log a photo, leave a note for a friend at a location to work out a meet-up, and create a personalized list of activities each day with the "Your Day at Sundance Film Festival" digest. You can even redeem your stamps and other app tokens for special prizes when you check in at select spots around Park City. (Film Fest Connect signed up today, so watch for us around town!)

Finally, don't forget to add Sundance to your Twitter feed using @sundancefestnow, @sundancefest, and the #Sundance hash tag. The Salt Lake Tribune also has detailed festival coverage--follow them daily on their @sundancelive feed.

This ought to be enough to keep you busy until the 20th. No? Well, stay tuned in, here, then!

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