After spending over a month doing color correction on every frame of the 55-minute flick, I can safely say that this has to do with the projector. After talking with the organizers it sounds like it had to do with limitations of the venue, but its still a shame to hear that they couldn't come up with a better quality projector for such a high profile event.
If you get the chance, check out Eye Trip or any of the rest of this year's films in HD- either at a screening with an HD projector, on Blu Ray, or iTunes HD... though even the traditional DVDs look great on your average TV, projector, or computer, which should help to give all the viewers a better appreciation for the action and cinematography in all the films.