Sundance: It's Not Just American Indies

While the name Sundance immediately is linked with the American Independent film movement, in the past number of years, international titles have found a home base in the ski resort of Park City. By creating competition sections for both narrative and documentary films from around the world, the Festival has not only expanded its scope but has forged a link between international producers, distributors and financiers across the globe in a real and tangible way. In terms of the marketplace, both American Indies and international films are kind of in the same boat....they both have to fight for recognition, theater space and media attention in the shadow of the relentlessly prolific Hollywood machine.

Sundance's new clout as a truly international film festival has allowed it to secure world and international premieres for all of the films competing in its Narrative and Documentary categories. This is something that only the festivals in Cannes, Berlin and Venice have been able to do. So, while it seems slightly illogical, a new Spanish film may open in Utah before it opens in Madrid, and the deal for it can be secured with a French sales agent and a Japanese television buyer next to the ski lifts in Park City. The world has truly shrunk and Sundance has become a nexus for independent cinema of all stripes and languages. Here are the international films premiering at Sundance this week:

 THE GUARD (Ireland)

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Abraxas / Japan (Director: Naoki Kato; Screenwriters: Dai Sako and Naoki Kato) - After botching a speech on career guidance at a local high school, a depressed Zen monk with a heavy metal past realizes that only music can revive his spirit. Cast: Suneohair, Rie Tomosaka, Manami Honjou, Ryouta Murai, Kaoru Kobayashi. International Premiere

All Your Dead Ones (Todos Tus Muertos ) / Colombia (Director Carlos Moreno; Screenwriters: Alonso Torres and Carlos Moreno) - One morning, a peasant wakes to find a pile of bodies in the middle of his crops. When he goes to the authorities, he quickly realizes that the dead ones are a problem nobody wants to deal with. Cast: Alvaro Rodríguez, Jorge Herrera, Martha Marquez, Harold Devasten, John Alex Castillo. World Premiere

The Cinema Hold Up (Asalto Al Cine) / Mexico (Director: Iría Gómez Concheiro; Screenwriters: Iria Gómez Concheiro and Juan Pablo Gómez) - Four childhood friends in Mexico's Guerrero colony toy with the idea of robbing a cinema. Each hopes that the heist will hurtle them past life's obstacles, only to realize that the caper risks the only thing they have: their friendship. Cast: Gabino Rodríguez, Juan Pablo de Santiago, Ángel Sosa, Paulina Avalos. World Premiere

A Few Days of Respite (Quelque Jours de Repit) / Algeria, France (Director and screenwriter: Amor Hakkar) - A pair of gay men who have escaped from Iran seek safe harbor in a small French village, where a lonely middle-aged woman offers aid. Cast: Marina Vlady, Samir Guesmi, Amor Hakkar. World Premiere

The Guard / Ireland (Director and screenwriter: John Michael McDonagh) - A small-town cop in Ireland has a confrontational personality, a subversive sense of humor, a fondness for prostitutes and absolutely no interest whatsoever in the international drug-smuggling ring that has brought a straight-laced FBI agent to his door. However, a surreal chain of events pulls him into the action. Cast: Don Cheadle, Brendan Gleeson, Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Fionnula Flanagan. World Premiere

Happy, Happy (Sykt Lykkelig) / Norway (Director: Anne Sewitsky; Screenwriter: Ragnhild Tronvoll) - A perfect housewife, who just happens to be sex-starved, struggles to keep her emotions in check when an attractive family moves in next door. Cast: Agnes Kittelsen, Henrik Rafaelsen, Maibritt Saerens, Joachim Rafaelsen. International Premiere

Kinyarwanda / Rwanda, USA (Director and screenwriter: Alrick Brown) - Based on accounts from survivors, Kinyarwanda tells the story of Rwandans who crossed the lines of hatred during the 1994 genocide, turning mosques into places of refuge for Muslims and Christians, Hutus and Tutsis. Cast: Edouard Bamporiki, Cassandra Freeman, Cleophas Kabasiita, Hadidja Zaninka, Kennedy Mazimpaka, Hassan Kabera. World Premiere

Lost Kisses (I Baci Mai Dati) / Italy (Director: Roberta Torre; Screenwriters: Roberta Torre and Laura Nuccilli) - A 13-year-old girl in the deprived outskirts of a sprawling Sicilian city becomes a local celebrity to her needy community when word spreads that she just might be able to perform miracles. Cast: Donatella Finocchiaro, Pino Micol, Giuseppe Fiorello, Carla Marchese, Martina Galletta, Tony Palazzo. International Premiere

Mad Bastards / Australia (Director: Brendan Fletcher; Screenwriters: Brendan Fletcher in collaboration with Dean Daley-Jones, Greg Tait and John Watson) - In a frontier town of northern Australia's Kimberley Region, an urban street warrior meets his match in a local cop. Performances and stories from real people in Kimberley are woven through the music of legendary Broome musicians, The Pigram Brothers. Cast: Dean Daley-Jones, Greg Tait, John Watson, Ngaire Pigram, Lucas Yeeda. International Premiere

Restoration (Boker Tov Adon Fidelman) / Israel (Director: Yossi Madmoni; Screenwriter: Erez Kav-El) - Aided by a young and mysterious apprentice, an antique furniture restorer struggles to keep his workshop alive, while his relationship with his own estranged son, who is trying to close down the shop, begins to disintegrate. Cast: Sasson Gabay, Henry David, Nevo Kimchi, Sarah Adler. World Premiere

The Salesman (Le Vendeur) / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Sébastien Pilote) - Car salesman Marcel Lévesque operates by the rules of a bygone era, turning on the charm to make his quota. But the increasing decline of his fading industrial town threatens to plummet this peddler of dreams into an unfriendly reality. Cast: Gilbert Sicotte, Nathalie Cavezzali. World Premiere

Ticket to Paradise (Boleto al Paraiso) / Cuba (Director: Gerardo Chijona Valdes; Screenwriters: Gerardo Chijona Valdes, Francisco Garcia Gonzalez and Maykel Rodriguez Ponjuan) - A teenage girl running away from her father's sexual harassment meets a young rocker who has escaped to Havana with his misfit group of friends. Set in 1993, during a period of acute shortages in Cuba, the local AIDS hospice begins to look like an unlikely refuge to the hopeless teens. Cast: Miriel Cejas, Héctor Medina, Dunia Matos, Jorge Perugorria, Luis A. Garcia. International Premiere

Tyrannosaur / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Paddy Considine) - For Joseph, a man plagued by self-destructive violence and rage, a chance of redemption appears in the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker with a devastating secret of her own. Cast: Peter Mullan, Eddie Marsan, Olivia Colman. World Premiere

Vampire / Canada, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Iwai Shunji) - On the surface, Simon seems like a fairly normal, average young man, devoted to his teaching job and ailing mother. Secretly, he is compelled to hunt through online chat rooms and message boards, searching for the perfect girl who will ensure his own survival. Cast: Kevin Zegers, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rachel Leigh Cook, Kristin Kreuk, Aoi Yu and Adelaide Clemens. World Premiere

World Cinema Documentary Competition

An African Election / Switzerland, U.S.A. (Director: Jarreth Merz) - The 2008 presidential elections in Ghana, West Africa, serve as a backdrop for this feature documentary that looks behind the scenes at the complex, political machinery of a third-world democracy struggling to avoid civil war and establish stability for good. North American Premiere

The Bengali Detective / India, U.S.A., United Kingdom (Director: Phil Cox) - Chubby, dance-obsessed private-detective Rajesh Ji and his motley band of helpers tackle poisonings, adultery and the occasional murder on the frenzied streets of Kolkata. World Premiere

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 / Sweden, U.S.A. (Director: Göran Olsson) - From 1967 to 1975, Swedish journalists chronicled the Black Power movement in America. Combining that 16mm footage, undiscovered until now, with contemporary audio interviews, this film illuminates the people and culture that fueled change and brings the movement to life anew. World Premiere

Family Portrait in Black and White / Canada (Director: Julia Ivanova) - In a small Ukrainian town, Olga Nenya, raises 16 black orphans amidst a population of Slavic blue-eyed blondes. Their stories expose the harsh realities of growing up as a bi-racial child in Eastern Europe. World Premiere

The Flaw / United Kingdom (Director: David Sington) - Within a few months in 2008, several American financial institutions failed, and before you knew it the U.S.A. was in the red. An imaginative blend of archive, animation and personal stories delivers a devastating indictment of the unfettered capitalism which has led to crippling, catastrophic income inequality in the land of the free. North American Premiere

The Green Wave (Irans grüner Sommer) / Germany (Director: Ali Samadi Ahadi) - Animated blogs and tweets tell the story of democracy under fire and hopes dashed as protesters are arrested, tortured and raped during Iran's tumultuous elections of June 2009. North American Premiere

Hell and Back Again / U.S.A., United Kingdom (Director: Danfung Dennis) - Told through the eyes of one Marine from the start of his 2009 Aghanistan tour to his distressing return and rehabilitation in the U.S., we witness what modern "unconventional" warfare really means to the men who are fighting it. World Premiere

KNUCKLE / Ireland, United Kingdom (Director: Ian Palmer) - An epic 12-year journey into the world of an Irish Traveler community, KNUCKLE takes us inside their brutal, secretive and exhilarating bare-knuckle fighting lives. Chronicling a history of violent feuding between rival families, the story focuses on two brothers as they fight for their reputations and the honor of their family name. World Premiere

Position Among the Stars (Stand Van De Sterren) / Netherlands (Director: Leonard Retel Helmrich) - The effects of globalization in Indonesia's rapidly changing society ripple into the life of a poor Christian woman living in the slums of Jakarta with her Muslim sons and teenage granddaughter. International Premiere

Project Nim / United Kingdom (Director: James Marsh) - From the Oscar-winning team behind Man on Wire comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who was taught to communicate with language as he was raised and nurtured like a human child. World Premiere

Senna / United Kingdom (Director: Asif Kapadia; Screenwriter: Manish Pandey) - The story of the legendary racing driver and Brazilian hero Ayrton Senna takes us on the ultimate journey of what it means to become the greatest when faced with the constant possibility of death. North American Premiere

Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure / Australia, U.S.A. (Director: Matthew Bate) - When two friends tape-recorded the fights of their violently noisy neighbors, they accidentally created one of the world's first 'viral' pop-culture sensations. World Premiere

Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Circuit Editor