Clark fills out Slamdance card

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Drea Clark has been named executive director of the Slamdance Film Festival, set for January 17-25 in Park City, Utah.

Clark, who has worked with the festival in numerous capacities since 1998, will oversee the year-round direction and activities of Slamdance, manage all aspects of festival preparation and production and serve as chair of narrative feature competition programming.

"She's a natural leader, a favorite with staff members and filmmakers and a real visionary who's able to step back and keep the big picture top of mind, at all times," festival co-founder and president Peter Baxter said. "She knows where we want Slamdance to go and how to get us there."

Before joining Slamdance, Clark was executive director of the Music Video Production Assn. She also is a member of the faculty at USC, teaching music video production.

One of Clark's first tasks is relaunching Slamdance.com on December 5, when the 2008 fest's narrative and documentary lineup will be announced. The redesigned site will feature more interactive capabilities for filmmakers and more video content. Slamdance alumnus and indie filmmaker Heidi Van Lier is creating 20 behind-the-scenes podcasts.

"We want Slamdance.com to be a one-stop information shop for independent filmmakers and a year-round virtual experience of what the festival offers," Clark said.

Source: news.yahoo.com