Live Twitter from Crossing Europe Film Festival

LINZ, Austria, April 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- With the weekend of April 16th and 17th drawing near, renown arthouse film festival Crossing Europe reaches its culmination. In the course of six days this week, the film festival hosted by the Austrian city of Linz features about 130 exquisite auteur films, documentaries and short films from all over Europe. What's more, this year Crossing Europe is pioneering a new form of live coverage for the event - with Sara Vertongen as the "Twitterer in Residence" on http://twitter.com/silhouette_swb, as well as on Facebook, powered by main sponsor Silhouette Eyewear.

Sara Vertongen is 24, lives in Brussels, and has studied film and television in Belgium. She also brings first hand practical experience to Crossing Europe: "We shot our own short films at the university. Mine was a classic romantic story, a boy-girl-story told in just 3 minutes."

"We believe that twitter as the most popular microblogging service provides us all with the tools and the framework to participate – timely and actively – in events, even if we can't be there in person. A great many of the community of Crossing Europe, fans and supporters, are on twitter. Live coverage by an independent, insightful source on twitter is here to provide them with useful facts, a feel of what's going on, right now, as well as a back channel to share their own experiences, sentiments, and questions about Crossing Europe, as they arise," says Andreas Aschauer-Martinelli, brand director of Silhouette.

"Sara Vertongen has unrestricted access to all events related to Crossing Europe 2011, all film screenings and all after show events," Mag. Albert Ortig, CEO of supporting digital media agency Netural Communication, explains the idea.

Sara Vertongen is excited about her role as the "Twitterer in Residence" @silhouette_swb. "I obviously hope to see a lot of good movies, and I'm looking forward to meet lots of new people. I'm very happy about this opportunity. I'm going to explore it as much as I can."

Covering a complete film festival like Crossing Europe via an official, but independent twitter account is a new experience, and not only for @silhouette_swb: "I feel like a pioneer: No one ever twittered on a film festival before in this way."

SOURCE Silhouette Optical, Ltd.