Yahoo! is opening the doors to the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, giving independent film fans access to one of the year’s most highly anticipated industry events. Yahoo! is the Official Sponsor of the Short Film Program at this year’s Festival, which runs January 19 - 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah.
The general public will have access to nine short films from this year’s Festival by visiting sundance.yahoo.com, powered by Yahoo! Screen. Festival fans everywhere will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite of those nine short films. Fans will also get behind-the-scenes access to film and entertainment news, celebrities in attendance, and the biggest stories of the festival through Yahoo! Movies and omg!.

“Our programming efforts at this anchor event span across the network,” says Ross Levinsohn, EVP Americas. “They include providing behind-the-scenes access to the Sundance Festival on the Yahoo! Movies Sundance Blog, the latest celebrity news on omg!, and red carpet interviews on omg! NOW, our #1 rated celebrity news and entertainment video series. Our unique Festival film-related content and on-the-ground reporting, builds out Yahoo! as the online destination for the Festival.”

Yahoo! Screen is hosting short films premiering at Sundance
Beginning today and lasting through January 27, Yahoo! Screen will host a selection of short films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and chosen in close collaboration with the Festival and Yahoo! Movie editors. Film aficionados will have the chance to vote for their favorite, and on Saturday, January 28, at the Festival’s Official Awards Ceremony—Yahoo! will present the winning filmmaker with the inaugural Yahoo! Audience Award and $5000. Plus, the winning film will be given prominent placement on Yahoo!. All of the additional featured films will remain accessible on Yahoo! Screen for six additional weeks.
Throughout this celebration of independent cinema, Yahoo! Movies is providing exclusive film-related content and original news daily from our on-the-ground correspondents in Park City. omg! NOW host Kristen Aldridge will take her audience past the velvet ropes, providing insider access from Main Street to the hottest parties and biggest premieres.
The following short films are among those available now on Yahoo! Screen. So check out the site, watch the shorts, and vote for your favorite:

• ’92 Skybox Alonzo Mourning Rookie Card: Jim and Dave, two brothers who don't like each other very much, are forced to come together when their dad dies in Kansas City. Dave is pretty sure he has an Alonzo Mourning Skybox Series rookie card, but Jim has other ideas.
• Aquadettes: A meditation on life, death, and synchronized swimming.
• The Arm: To keep up with social pressure in a technologically advanced world, Chance starts a texting relationship with Genevieve—a girl he meets at a yogurt shop. But tragedy forces Chance to realize that he was never in a relationship at all.
• Debutante Hunters: In the low country of South Carolina, some true southern belles reveal their more rugged side, providing a glimpse into what drives them to hunt in the wild.
• Dol (First Birthday): A gay Korean American man yearns for a family life that is just out of reach.
• Henley: Meet nine-year-old Ted Henley, budding motel manager and roadkill entrepreneur.
• Long Distance Information: Father always told us, “Never talk to strangers,” . . . But surely we have to phone home sometimes?
• Odysseus’ Gambit: During his lifetime, each man plays cosmic chess against the devil.
• Una Hora por Favora: A woman hires a day laborer for an hour and gets more than she bargained for.

Visit Yahoo! Screen and vote for your favorite short!

Exploring the Yahoo! homepage just got a lot more fun. To kick off the new year, the Brand Marketing team is rolling out a series of Y! Bang animations that will appear on the homepage, periodically replacing Yahoo!’s familiar purple logo. Along with reflecting the lively energy of the brand, the animations will be timed to celebrate notable occasions and raise awareness for meaningful causes.

“Among other things, the Yahoo! brand is fun, and these animations are a representation of that,” says Connor Smith, Brand Marketing Associate in the Global Brand Marketing team.

Connor and the Brand team plan to develop close to 40 animated designs for 2012. The current animation is for Chinese New Year. In this animation a rabbit hops into the scene, pauses, and then bolts out as a dragon walks in.

“The animation is a tongue and cheek reference to the Chinese zodiac- 2011 is the year of the rabbit, and 2012 is the year of the dragon” explains Connor.

Clicking on the animation will bring you to a relevant Yahoo! page, providing a deeper user experience, whether it be more fun or more facts. The Chinese New Year animation will link to a page on Chinese astrology within Shine’s horoscope section. Some of the more cause-related animations, such as the breast-cancer awareness and World Aids Day designs, will provide additional Yahoo!-generated information on the issues.

Click here to view the Chinese New Year logo which appear on Yahoo! from midnight to midnight on January 23rd. Stay tuned for the next animation – this time for the Superbowl -- on the Yahoo! homepage.

Spotlight on women’s use of technology and the Internet to create positive change.

The Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Program, along with Yahoo! Maktoob, and in partnership with Vital Voices, is hosting a summit on January 18 at the Fairmont Nile City. Change Your World! Cairo 2012 will spotlight how women across the Middle East and North Africa are using technology, the Internet, and various social and digital media platforms to create positive change in the world.
Moderated by award-winning journalist and human rights activist Mona Eltahawy, the summit will focus on four primary areas: women's leadership in governance and politics, women's rights/human rights and social justice, journalism, and entrepreneurship.
Confirmed participants include:

• Maria Al Masani, social media pioneer and founder of Yemen Rights Monitor;
• Fida Ouri, deputy director of NISAA FM in the West Bank, one of the first all-women, non-political radio stations in the Arab world;
• Shereen Allam, Egyptian entrepreneur, co-owner of Eco-tek and founder, Association for Women's Total Advancement and Development;
• Lara Ayoub, Jordanian digital media pioneer and digital media director, Al Ghad and Al-Waseet
• Dalia Ziada, Egyptian women’s rights activist and blogger who has been hailed by the international media as one of the most influential women in the world;
• Lamees Dhaif, Bahraini journalist and human rights activist.

"Women across the Middle East and North Africa are using the Internet, technology and social media to learn, lead, inspire, connect, and change the world. We are hosting this summit to shine light on extraordinary women, facilitate an ongoing exchange of ideas, and identify areas where companies can use their technology and platforms to amplify women’s voices,” said Ebele Okobi, director of Yahoo!’s Business & Human Rights Program.

Follow the event on #changeyourworldcairo and @YahooBHRP.