Sundance Day Six: Focus Forward Competition winners

With the weight of critics' attention focussed on the big-name Premiere section and US Dramatic Competition at Sundance, it's easy to forget about the more low-key sections and events that are nevertheless bubbling away with talent.

A particularly good example of this was the Focus Forward Films competition event, which saw the great and the good from the world of documentary descend on a cinema in Park City to celebrate worldwide innovations and emerging filmmaking voices. The initiative commissioned 30 three-minute documentaries from established documentarians including Lucy Walker (Countdown To Zero), Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and Albert Maysles (Salesman) and invited other would-be filmmakers to enter their films for a chance to win a share of £127,000 ($200,000) in prize money.

As 86-year-old Maysles put it during the Q&A following the screening of the winners and a selection of the commissioned films: "This experience of seeing all these innovations is one of the most powerful and dazzling, at times, adventures in newness that I've ever had."

He was not far wrong as each three-minute short seemed to bring with it fresh revelations and an urge to learn more. It is tough to choose a personal favourite from the commissioned films, although Lucy Walker's animated The Contenders - shot in the style of a retro video game - probably just edges it for me. Her three minutes document how scientists who had spent years trying to map the structure of the Mason Pfizer Monkey Virus - which could help the fight against AIDs - got a shot in the arm from gamers playing the online game Fold It.

Other innovations charted by the established filmmakers included Lixin Fan's Operation Free Lunch - which documents a journalist's crusade to feed Chinese schoolchildren - Leslie Iwerks study of a fungi expert who could change the world, Mushroom Man, and Ross Kauffman's Fire With Fire, which shows how scientists are re-engineering HIV to combat leukaemia.

The winners of the competition were as follows:

CYBORG FOUNDATION

Rafel Duran Torrent
from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Grand Jury Prize - Cyborg Foundation, directed by Rafel Duran Torrent.

The film charts the development of the eyeborg, a gadget that was developed by Neil Harbisson and Adam Montadon. Harbisson was born totally colour blind and the eyeborg - which he wears all the time - translates colours to sounds so that he can experience them. The marriage of man and machine has resulted in Harbisson being the world's first officially recognised cyborg.

The Artificial Leaf

Jared P Scott & Kelly Nyks
from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

2nd Place - The Artificial Leaf, directed by Jared P Scott and Kelly Nyks

An exploration of scientist Dan Nocera's attempts to save the planet by recreating photosynthesis in a lab.

SLINGSHOT

Paul Lazarus
from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

3rd Place - Slingshot, directed by Paul Lazarus

My personal favourite of the winners left me eager to see the long-form documentary on the subject that TV veteran Lazarus is working on. His film charts the efforts of Dean Kamen - best known for inventing the Segway Personal Transporter - who has now taken on the challenge of trying to supply the world with safe water.

Bones Don't Lie and Don't Forget

Kim Munsamy from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

4th Place - Bones Don't Lie And Don't Forget, directed by Kim Munsamy

A study of work in Guatemala to document remains at the Forensic Anthropology Foundation in order to bring closure to those who have lost their loved ones.

Mine Kafon

Callum Cooper from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

5th Place - Mine Kafon, directed by Callum Cooper

A strong entry from UK director Cooper tracks the work of designer Massoud Hassan, who has come up with an inexpensive and innovative method of land mine clearance.

You can see all the films on the official site