Sundance Film Festival

From explorations of cultural trends and political movements to examinations of deeply personal issues that define individual lives, documentary films offer unique opportunities to understand our world in new ways. These films represent the spectacular variety - both thematically and stylistically - of the best new work in American nonfiction filmmaking.

American independent cinema yields some of the most exciting and highly anticipated films in the world. This section represents the diverse aesthetics, subjects, and perspectives that constitute the vision and creativity of American independent filmmakers.

The World Cinema Competition presents a selection of the best international dramatic and documentary films and offers a window into the thematic and aesthetic concerns of innovative artists around the globe and stimulates creative dialogue between . This Competition reflects the Sundance Film Festival's commitment to championing the independent spirit in filmmakers worldwide, while retaining its original focus as the premier showcase for American filmmakers.

The last decade has seen an explosion of interest in American documentaries. Yet American audiences enjoy few opportunities to view documentaries from beyond their own borders. For the fourth year, the Sundance Film Festival proudly presents a selection of extraordinary documentaries from talented nonfiction storytellers around the world. This program invites us to glimpse the staggering scope and complexity of the human experience.

The World Cinema Competition: Dramatic offers audiences a window into the thematic and aesthetic concerns of artists across the globe. We present these exceptional works as a way of supporting creative dialogue among divergent cultures and honoring the independent spirit in both emerging and established filmmakers everywhere.

To showcase the diversity of contemporary cinema, the Sundance Film Festival's Premieres category offers a selection of the latest work from established American and international directors and world premieres of highly anticipated films.>> PREMIERES

A tribute to the abundance of compelling new voices and the creative spirit in independent filmmaking, the Spect rum program expands this year to present out-of-competition dramatic and documentary films from some of the most promising new filmmakers from the U.S. and around the world. >>SPECTRUM

Park City at Midnight films amuse, surprise, or shock the bleary-eyed viewer and offer a lively last stop on the nightly social circuit or a final dose of cinematic nourishment for the film obsessed. A treat for true cinephiles and casual filmgoers alike, this section presents an eclectic mix of horror, over-the-top comedies, surreal tales, explicit animation, and bizarre stories that defy categorization.>>PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT

While the films that comprise the Frontier program hail from locations around the world, they share a single impulse - to experiment. These works push at the perimeter that circumscribes present-day cinema. Utilizing innovative aesthetic approaches, Frontier films challenge, provoke, and invigorate the cinema status quo.>> FRONTIER

Established as a joint partnership of Sundance Institute and the UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Sundance Collection at UCLA is a groundbreaking archive devoted to the collection and preservation of independent film. Thanks to the contributions of individual filmmakers as well as the generous support of donors like Sony Pictures Classics, Strand Releasing, Lions Gate Films, Miramax Films, and New Line Cinema, the Collection has enjoyed a steady growth over the past nine years. >> FROM THE COLLECTION

Fueled by artistic expression and free from narrative and other conventions of feature-length films, shorts have the freedom to transcend boundaries of traditional storytelling. Shown before features or combined in feature-length presentations, the Sundance Film Festival's shorts program has become a prime source for discovering filmmaking's newest voices. >> SHORTS