The Sundance Institute has announced its programme of short films for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
This year 83 short films, will screen, representing 17 countries and chosen from 5,107 submissions, which were up by 15 per cent on last year.
The UK has a particularly strong contingent this year, representing 11 of the 42 international films. Among them are veterans Simon Ellis - who recently won the top award at Bristol's Encounters Festival for Soft - and Tom Harper - whose previous filmCubs made waves at film festivals including this year's Sundance. They're joined by newcomers, including Yasmin Fedda, whose Breadmakers has already won the Scottish Short Documentary Award at Edinburgh Film Festival this year.
Ireland's short film also continues to be recognised, with Ken Wardrop - who brought Undressing My Mother to the festival in 2006 - this year having two documentary films in contention.
Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming John Cooper said: "Since the beginning we recognised short films as a viable art form and an exciting way to discover and launch new talent.
"We will continue to find innovative ways to extend the success and reach of this amazing work and build a worldwide audience for short-form films."
Senior Programmer Trevor Groth, added: "This year we received a record number of submissions, including some of the most dynamic work we've seen in years.
"We are really proud to present the entire shorts program, which represents a higher level of filmmaking craft than ever before.
"The work is extremely broad and ranges from outrageous animation to fascinating short documentaries, to original and wild comedies to outstanding dramas."
Short films screen in Festival theatres prior to a feature film or as part of one of the Festival's eight short film programs. As it has in the past, Sundance Institute will continue its tradition of streaming an exclusive selection of short films online, free of charge at the official website. Every day of the Festival, one new short film will premiere online for 24 hours, sponsored by Adobe Systems Incorporated.
In addition, Sundance Institute continues to support its mission of building audiences for short films by announcing one-of-a-kind partnerships to make a selection of Festival shorts available for purchase and download on three platforms: Apple's iTunes Movie Store, Xbox LIVE, the online entertainment network for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and the Netflix member Web Site.
Presented in collaboration with Sundance Channel, the shorts available online will launch simultaneously on all three platforms beginning January 18, 2008 and run through 2011.
Sundance Film Festival Short Films will be priced at $1.99 each.
During the Festival, a Short Film Jury awards prizes based on outstanding achievement and merit in American and International Short Filmmaking. Over the years, the Sundance Film Festival Shorts Program has become a prime source for discovering filmmaking's newest voices, including Todd Haynes, Spike Jonze, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, David O. Russell, Tamara Jenkins, Nicole Holofcener, and Alexander Payne.
