The Sundance Institute has announced the majority of its 2008 festival line-up - with the films selected for the US and World cinema dramatic and documentary competitions chosen from a record number of submissions.
This year's competition is putting a particular emphasis on new work, with 32 of the 64 films vying for awards made by first-timers.
Director of Programming John Cooper said: "The amount of high-quality work submitted from a diverse range of filmmakers made our jobs difficult this year. The Competition programme is funny, spirited, human, and at times uncharacteristically optimistic about the world we live in."
There's also plenty of new work on display in the festival's non-competition segments - Premiere, New Frontier, Park City At Midnight and Spectrum - with a further 25 involving firsts-timers. Even the opening night film, In Bruges, is helmed by a directorial newcomer, Martin McDonagh.
Festival director Geoffrey Gilmore said: "It is impossible to describe in one word the full tapestry of films presented in this year's Festival, particularly in the out-of-competition categories.
"In an enormously eclectic way these films reflect the role cinema can play as an international language transcending borders of class, race, culture, and religion."
Although there will be plenty of new blood on the slopes from January 17 to 27, there's still room for plenty of established talent. Veterans in the Premieres section include the likes of Bruce Willis, Brian Cox and Ewan McGregor, along with festival regulars such as Toni Collette and William H Macy.
The festival will close with the world premiere of Neil Young's CSNY Deja Vu, which examines Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's connection to its audience in both political and musical terms, and the relationship between Vietnam-era sentiment and today's political environment.
For the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, 121 feature-length films were selected including 87 world premieres, 14 North American premieres, and 12 US premieres representing 25 countries. These films were selected from 3,624 feature film submissions composed of 2,021 US and 1,603 international feature-length films.
These numbers represent an increase from last year, when 1,852 US and 1,435 international featurelength films were considered.
You can read about the Sundance line up so far here, or browse by strand: Premieres, World Competition, US Competition, Spectrum, Park City At Midnight and New Frontiers.
We'll be bringing you details of the short film line up as soon as it is released, as well as a full feature preview of what to look out for in the coming days.
