Sundance Channel Launches User-Generated Eco-Contest 'What's The Big Idea?'

NEW YORK, April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Sundance Channel invites you to share your suggestions to help green the planet in a national contest entitled "What's The Big Idea?" presented by Lexus. The contest, in which consumers submit a one-minute short film featuring their most inspired eco-solutions, helps to kick off the premiere of Sundance Channel's original series "Big Ideas for a Small Planet," which launches on April 17 as part of THE GREEN, a new weekly destination focusing on environmental topics. The creator of the winning short film will be awarded a cash prize of $10,000 to help make their "Big Idea" a reality, and a one-year lease of a Lexus hybrid car.

Contestants will submit their one minute "Big Idea" short via sundancechannel.com/thegreen between April 1 and April 30. The submissions will be narrowed down to 25 short films which will be posted on sundancechannel.com to be viewed and voted on by users. The five films receiving the most votes will be reviewed by a panel of environmental experts who will pick the winner; pieces will be judged on creativity, overall theme, feasibility and presentation.

Each week THE GREEN on Sundance Channel will present original series and documentary premieres about the earth's ecology and concepts for "green" living that balance human needs with responsible care for the planet. The destination is hosted by award-winning journalist Simran Sethi and community advocate and MacArthur Fellow Majora Carter, two dynamic leaders who have distinguished themselves with revolutionary ideas in such areas as civic planning and global business practices.

Every Tuesday night beginning April 17, each edition of THE GREEN begins at 9:00pm with the original program "Big Ideas for a Small Planet," a documentary series presenting forward-thinking designers, products and processes that are on the leading edge of a new green world. "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" is produced by Scout Productions ("Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" NBC/Bravo and The Fog of War).

Each episode of "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" is paired with a thematically complimentary documentary premiere; titles for the first four weeks of the block are: A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (April 17); Waste=Food (April 24); Crapshoot: The Gamble with Our Wastes (May 1); and Art from the Arctic (May 8). THE GREEN will also present original interstitial series, with individual segments airing throughout the block. The interstitial series include: "Eco-Biz"(TM); and "The Ecoists."(TM)

Robert Redford's THE GREEN on Sundance Channel is sponsored by Lexus and Citi Smith Barney.

Under the creative direction of Robert Redford, Sundance Channel is the television destination for independent-minded viewers seeking something different. Bold, uncompromising and irreverent, Sundance Channel offers audiences a diverse and engaging selection of films, documentaries, and original programs, all unedited and commercial free. Launched in 1996, Sundance Channel is a venture of NBC Universal, CBS and Robert Redford. Sundance Channel operates independently of the non-profit Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, but shares the overall Sundance mission of encouraging artistic freedom of expression. Sundance Channel's website address is http://www.sundancechannel.com/.