Friday marked the beginning of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival -- one of the most prominent independent film festivals in the world -- in Park City, Utah.

Among the attendees will be Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford; contributing filmmakers, such as Steve Buscemi; and Penn State senior film majors Michael Altman and Jay Buim.

In the summer of 2004, Altman and Buim worked as interns on the independent film -- and official Sundance entry -- The Squid and the Whale.

The semi-autobiographical film is about the way The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou co-writer Noah Baumbach and his brother dealt with the divorce of their parents, played in the film by Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney.

They were two of roughly 20 interns who worked 12-hour days, five days a week for five weeks, doing various jobs for the filmmakers.

"At some level it was like summer camp," Altman said.

"We were hanging out with all these people our age and we were all just doing what we love," he added.

Buim's duties included working with the production's sound team.

"I had a ton of fun," he said. "They let me [operate the boom microphone] for a couple shots. ... Then once, towards the end of the shoot, the [sound] mixer's girlfriend had a baby and he couldn't make it, so they let me mix a scene."

Much of Altman's responsibilities on the film included driving around New York to pick up various cast and crew members.

"They let me keep a 15-person van, so that I could pick people up and take them to the shoot," he said. Some of the people he picked up included well-known actors.

"I remember thinking, 'Before this I was [interning] in a production office; before that I was at school. Now I'm here in this situation, driving with Jeff Daniels for an hour, making conversation, asking him how he's getting into his role.' It was unbelievable," Altman said

Altman also played a direct role in the production of certain scenes. In one instance, he was driving a van rigged with microphones, capturing audio for the car in front of them while a scene was being filmed in that car.

"It was intense," he said. "I was like, 'I can't [mess] this up.' The car in front me made a right turn when the light had just turned red and also there was this woman with a baby carriage, crossing the street. I'm like, 'I know [the producers] don't have a lot of money. I gotta hold this up,' so I just kept with the car -- and the lady, I didn't hit her, but she was coming at me -- and afterwards the [Assistant Director] was like, 'Good work, Mike.' "

Buim was also required to do a lot of driving for the production.

"Every day I was driving this 20-foot truck through Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, all the narrow streets with two cars on either side," he said.

"There was some broken mirrors; I hit a couple cars," he said laughing. "It was nuts. We just drove away."

Maura Shea, senior lecturer of film and video at Penn State, said working on a "quasi-independent" production such as The Squid and the Whale can be an eye-opening experience for film students.

"Some people really find out what they want to do," she said. "That they love producing, hate producing. ... Rarely do [interns] get to run a camera, but [from observing] you might learn that's what you want to do."

Although The Squid and the Whale does not yet have distribution, Altman and Buim are optimistic that the film will find a distributor at Sundance and get a modest United States release. Winning a prize at the festival, where it will compete against 15 other films in the dramatic competition, would greatly raise its profile.

Altman and Buim said they are excited to see some of the hundred or so films being screened at the festival, especially The Squid and the Whale, since they have yet to see a final cut of the film and, among other things, are curious to see if the scenes they were in as extras made it in.

Although they will be attending a few screenings at the Sundance Film Festival, they are also there to do work for the filmmakers as well.

"We're not exactly sure what they'll need us for yet," Buim said, but he added that they will be working the door for a party held for The Squid and the Whale cast, crew and potential distributors.

Shea said this is the first instance she can remember where students of hers worked in any capacity on a film that is in competition at the Sundance Film Festival.

She said it is a good opportunity for both Altman and Buim.

"The biggest thing they'll get out of it is the chance to see a lot of other films that relate to what they're doing now," Shea said.