JibJab Media, the company whose election parodies were viewed online more than 80 million times during the 2004 election, has produced three new animated trailers, now screening at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah.
The 30- to 40-second long shorts are screening before every movie at the festival and feature absurd characters tossing off the shackles of "The Man" and striking out on their own. A LINE PAINTER, DOG CATCHER and DEMOLITION EXPERT find out just how dangerous it can be when you're "Independent."
After the festival, the trailers will be available online exclusively at JibJab.com.
"It was an incredible honor to be invited to help brand this year's festival," said the co-founders of JibJab, brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis. "There is no better place on Earth for independent creators to get exposure to the film industry than Sundance and we're grateful to have this opportunity."
JibJab's animated short, AHNULD FOR GOVERNOR, was accepted into the Sundance Online Film Festival last year. In the summer of 2004, John Cooper, director of programming at the Sundance Institute, invited them to produce the trailers. "I have been a fan of JibJab for years. I love their irreverence and zany, fast-paced use of imagery. Going into the process this year I caught myself saying `We need to find someone like the JibJab guys to do the trailers'; then I thought to myself, `Why not them?' I met Gregg at the Sundance Producers Conference and the rest is history."
The 2005 Sundance Film Festival started Jan. 20, one day after JibJab's latest political satire, SECOND TERM!, launched on Yahoo! and JibJab.com. The animated musical stars George Bush and a host of dysfunctional domestic and world leaders singing about the next four years.
Gregg and Evan Spiridellis launched their Website (
www.JibJab.com ) from a garage in Brooklyn in 1999. Since then they have built a worldwide following for their quirky and irreverent brand of humor, and moved their studio to Santa Monica, California.
