June 17, 2009 — The 2009 Sundance Film Festival generated an overall economic impact of a record $92.1 million for the State of Utah, supported close to 2,000 jobs, generated over $18 million in media exposure and provided millions in tax revenue according to a recent economic and demographic study conducted by the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the David Eccles School of Business (BEBR).

This year's especially auteur-heavy Cannes Film Festival may read like a greatest-hits compilation.  Festival director Thierry Fremaux says: "Great auteurs make great films. So in 2009, it's normal to find people like Quentin Tarantino, Lars von Trier, Pedro Almodovar, Jane Campion or Marco Bellocchio (in the lineup)," Fremaux says. "Over the past 60 years, Cannes has regularly accommodated Bergman, Fellini, Antonioni, Kurosawa, etc. The tradition is respected."

KARAOKE, the first Malaysian feature film to be screened at Cannes in 14 years, will be screened at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Cannes Film Fest 2009–Shot in five weeks in Sofia and Istanbul, Kamen Kalev's debut Eastern Plays, a look at Sofia's underground youth life, screens at Director's Fortnight before its fall release in Bulgaria.

Sundance Institute today announced Trevor Groth has been named Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, effective immediately. A 16-year veteran of the Festival, Groth had been a Senior Programmer handling both narrative and documentary feature selection and leading the Festival's Short Film Section. In his new role Groth will head up the  six person programming team that is responsible for curating the Festival's on-screen and off-screen events. He succeeds John Cooper who in March was named Director of the Festival.