Attendees at a fund-raiser for the Interface Charitable Foundation inspired by
Stop Hunger Now at the Green Lodge at the Sundance Film Festival last Saturday weren't surprised when Paris Hilton didn't show up in person.

The celebrity is famous, among other things, for being late.

But the crowd was delighted when Hilton appeared on Skype Video.

Hilton commented on the Video: "Skype Rocks."

A bit later at the party hosted by philanthropist Scott Lazerson, now of the Interface Charitable Foundation and former executive director of the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, there was another surprise. Hilton popped into the room to encourage attendees to reach deep into their pockets to help the charity.

J.R. Savet, CEO of SMG PR, the Los Angeles entertainment marketing public relations firm, who organized events in the Green Lodge linking celebrities with green causes, said the fund-raiser was a success, bringing in checks totaling in "the mid-six figures."

He organized two other events involving Skype Video.

One involved super-star Olivia Newton-John, who called in from Los Angeles with her husband "Amazon" John. She was really was in LA, said Savet.

Newton-John was executive producer of "Big River Man," winner of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival's World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary.

The film is about about Slovenian endurance swimmer Martin Strel, "who swims rivers--the Mississippi, the Danube, and the Yangtze to date--to highlight pollution in the world."

Savet said Newton-John was "tickled by the Skype technology."

And John Maringouin, the director, told the group that this movie could not have been made without Skype, which he used for business meetings and to coordinate the movie's production from Eastern Europe to the Amazon.

Finally, at another event, Oscar nominee and recording artist "Bird" York in LA and famed violinist Lili Haydn performed in the lodge.

"Thanks to Skype, we all shared our feelings about change and hope over Skype,"said Savet.

Photo credit: Michael Bezjian