Sundance Film Festival Preview; Mortified on TV

We get an advance look at the Sundance Film Festival with the festival director John Cooper. Sitting in his office surrounded by cork boards with colorful index cards, he describes how they choose the line-up and reflects on some of the trends and highlights for this year. The 2012 Sundance Film Festival begins Thursday, January 19 and runs through January 29.

John Cooper

Photo by Colby Crossland

Plus, creator and co-producer of the stage show Mortified talks about how they've expanded from doing lives shows with people reading diaries and childhood writings on stage to creating a web series, two books and now a TV series. The Mortified Sessions airs on the Sundance Channel Mondays at 8pm and involves David Nadelberg in conversation with celebrities like Ed Helms and Margaret Cho while they go through revealing, and at times embarrassing, childhood artifacts.

David Nadelberg

Photo by Carl Bringas

Today's Banter Topics:

- The battle between Hollywood and Silicon Valley over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences changes Oscar rules for Documentary Films

- Highlights from the TV Critics Association presentations

Banner image: Jill Orschel