With the democratization of filmmaking spreading worldwide over the last decade, it takes real ingenuity to stand out amongst the crowd. Rising animator and director Marieka Walsh broke through with her sand-animated stop-motion short film last year, which has since screened at over 40 festivals worldwide and has won the Australia Academy of Television Arts (AACTA) and Dendy Awards in its respective category.

It’s not that sand stop-motion hasn’t been done before; it’s just not done often because it takes an inordinate amount of time to do as well as a very particular set of skills to do it well.

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival wrapped this past weekend, with director Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale winning the festival’s Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for a drama. The film, which was shot on Kodak Super 16mm by cinematographer Rachel Morrison, was one of many independent movies produced on Kodak film and picked up for distribution.

“We feel privileged these innovative filmmakers chose Kodak film to create their unique stories.” says Kodak’s Judith Doherty. “Film is a superb medium for a wide range of productions and budgets. The Super 16mm and 35mm in both three-perf and two-perf formats offer a range of efficient and cost-effective options for capturing maximum image information for post production. And Kodak’s new color asset protection film provides all indie producers – regardless of origination medium – a way to future proof their projects, ensuring they are compatible with whatever distribution platform they get seen on today, or decades from now. We want filmmakers to know they don’t have to compromise their vision.”

Pull on your snow boots and wool cap, pick up some popcorn, and get ready to be wowed in theaters in Park City, Utah. The Sundance and Slamdance film festivals get underway this week, revealing a new collection of poignant dramas, heartwarming comedies, and enlightening documentaries. Not too far from the ski slopes, some of the year's most anticipated films are debuting for eager audiences.

You only have to look back as far as 2012 to see the impact that films premiering in the next few weeks can make. Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild electrified the crowds at last year’s Sundance festival. The powerful story of 6-year-old Hushpuppy, which premiered against the backdrop of snow drifts, is now basking in the golden glow of four Oscar® nominations, including one for Best Picture.

Eega Poster

Eega is a live animation feature film about murdered man who is reincarnated as a housefly and seeks to avenge his death. The film is completely insane, endlessly enjoyable, and absolutely unique according to twitchfilm.com.

Filmed in Hyderabad, India, Eega was directed by S.S.Rajamouli and produced by Sai Korrapati and D.Suresh Babu on the 'Chalana Chitra Varahi' banner. The budget crossed Rs 30 crore mark, a major share of which was spent on special effects. The combination of the creativity and the technology used is generating a lot of interest for this film. 90 minutes out of 137 minutes of the footage is in the form of Live Action Animation (LAA). The cinematography was done by K.K.Senthil Kumar, who generally shot on KODAK VISION3 200T Color Negative Film 5213 and KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219 with ARRIFLEX 435 Xtreme camera and Master Prime Lenses. Also, Scorpio cranes were used for the first time in history of Telugu cinema.

Rae Shaw (Photo by: Robin Diahkate)

Don't you just love Twitter? It allows us to interact with people around the world that share our passion.

If you follow us on , you may have noticed some of the poetry Rae Shaw (aka @soapandroses) has been tweeting. She is very adept at combining her affection for film and poetry.