The Sundance Institute's general manager, Jill Miller, has been named the media-arts representative on the Utah Arts Council's board of directors.

"Jill brings a level of experience and industry know-how from Sundance that will be a great asset to the board and to our programs," said Margaret Hunt, the council's executive director, in a statement.

Miller said, in the same statement, that when she met with Hunt, "it soon became clear the goals of the Arts Council and Sundance overlap. There is a natural opportunity for collaboration, personally and professionally."

Miller has been at Sundance since 1991, and has been the general manager since 2001.

Here is the second half of the Sundance '08 slate: The Premieres, Spectrum, New Frontier and Park City at Midnight.

Get your 3D glasses now for that U2 concert film.

First out of the chute with criticism of Sundance's competition slate is Jeffrey Wells, on his Hollywood Elsewhere blog:

As usual, one looks for catchy or provocative subject matter, a proven director, veteran actors...anything that pops through among the Sundance grim-itude. You certainly need to be on the lookout for any film that appears to use chronic downerism as a badge of artistic sincerity or authority. Road movies, marginal lifestyles, bizarre dysfunctional behavior, warring family units, shattered dreams, sex with the wrong people for the wrong reasons, etc. Sundance spelled backwards = funky depression.

That said, Wells holds out hopes for a few titles: "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," "Sunshine Cleaning," "American Teen" and "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson." Unfortunately, the one World Cinema title Wells latches onto, the Brazilian thriller "Elite Squad," was pulled from the festival slate at the last minute.

Here they are, the 64 films in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival competition categories.

Also up at sltrib.com: This feature about philanthropists, some of them from Utah, putting their charitable money into socially conscious documentaries - two of which made it into the festival.

Robert Redford likes to quote Jimmy Durante's old line, "Everybody wants to get into the act."

That would probably by Redford's reaction to this news, that the Whistler Film Festival - which starts Thursday in the British Columbia ski town - is looking to turn itself into sort of a Canadian Sundance, complete with an institute for film.

Pre-registration for individual tickets for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival is underway.

Welcome all my friends to the show that never ends...