For ten-plus days, the celebrity news burst forth from the Sundance Film Festival like bulletins of escalating medal counts from a Winter Olympics. The first sentence always included the name “Robert Redford” or a famous movie star, and then you had your choice of (a) a local Park City watering hole turned exclusive private club, (b) phenomenal swag, (c) bonus celebrities, and/or (d) a sighting which included either unusual behavior or insider info.

What’s hard to remember in all this media blitz is that Sundance is a technology story of the first water and only becoming more so.

I had the unexpected good fortune to moderate the opening panel at Sundance, and as such, got a touch of the stardust myself. An insider badge. Occasional public recognition walking down Main Street in Park City. Lodging at Sundance headquarters. Access to premieres and their follow-on Q&A’s with the directors and starring casts. And let me disclose it here – actual Hollywood swag.

Before anyone gets carried away, let’s remember I said “a touch of stardust.” Here’s the naked truth: I got an airport shuttle instead of a town car. A tiny seat in coach as opposed to a complimentary private jet. Two premieres I had to negotiate for. And a dozen CD’s from artists featured on movie sound tracks instead of big-time bling or a week-long stay at an elite spa.

Hey, I’ll take what I can get! And I’m pleased to say that what I really got was to meet a horde of independent filmmakers, who will do anything to make a film, and to do that have to live and breathe technology. From cameras to post-production to final cut, their lives are a tribute to ever-evolving tech.

This year – for the first time ever – a third of the films accepted were shot with digital cameras, while over half of the films were ultimately screened in digital, making you wonder if these films were actually films at all.

Just three years ago, there were 2,300 entries to Sundance, and this year? 4,600. Exactly double. All because of an unrelenting stream of new technology, which shows no signs of letting up.

This was pointed out best by Cam Archer, the 24-year-old filmmaker who was enjoying an impressive third acceptance at Sundance and the debut of his first feature film. While you might expect him to focus on the big time, he fairly burst listening to the banter about the new (and expensive) high-definition cameras and post-production set-ups to suit. He was near apoplexy when he finally declared it didn’t matter what you were using – you simply had to go out and make movies. He could hardly wait for the day a friend’s cell phone might let him shoot 13 minutes of continuous video. The point wasn’t the technology. It was to make movies.

And he fessed up on the spot: He had used his tiny Mac and some big storage units to edit his feature. The struggle was … to finish it. He had some 24 different versions – an option simply not available to filmmakers in the past.

It was clear that Cam didn’t see movies in theatres as being definitive of success. This young man had a vision that seemed unimaginable to most. He honored every screen on which a human might view his work, even those which have yet to be imagined. And the distribution channel? Quite obviously, the Internet.

While movies are technology – through and through – they are at their core human expression. Which makes Cam right. The only thing to do is begin … and let nothing, including technology, stop you.

I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.