Sundance competition includes Canadian films

The organizers of the Sundance Film Festival unveiled their 2011 competition lineup on Wednesday, with a documentary peek inside the New York Times, actress Vera Farmiga's directorial debut and several Canadian filmsvying for the top prizes.

The Sundance Institute announced the contenders in the dramatic and documentary categories for U.S. and world filmmakers, with more than four dozens titles in the running.

"Indie film is healthy and alive right now though that's for sure," festival director John Cooper said in a live online chat Wednesday afternoon.

"There's such a diversity in the program from On the Ice which is from the Inuit nation to Benavides Born which is about a young girl power lifter!"

So far, Canadian entries in the prestigious annual showcase for independent film include two dramatic features and one documentary.

The Salesman (Le Vendeur), directed and written by Sbastien Pilote, and Vampire, (a Japanese-Canadian co-production) directed and written by Iwai Shunji, are among 13 competitors in the world dramatic category.

Julia Ivanova's Family Portrait in Black and White, a Canadian-Ukrainian co-production, is one of a dozen titles to screen in world documentaries.

The drama Higher Ground, Oscar-nominee Farmiga's first stint in the director's chair, is one of 16 films making its world premiere in the U.S. dramatic competition. The others are:

Cooper said submissions to the festival surpassed the 10,000 mark for the first time. Organizers received 10,279 films, including 3,812 fictional features and 1,637 documentaries.

'Exciting, fun, crazy, engaging'

Meanwhile, the U.S. documentary competition includes 16 titles, including examinations into the rise of hip hop band A Tribe Called Quest (Beats, Rhymes and Life), the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco (We Were Here) and the behind-the-scenes portrait of the New York Times newsroom (Page One: A year inside the New York Times)

Organizers also announced that instead of screening just one opening night film to kick off the 2011 edition, they would instead show one narrative film and one documentary from both the U.S. and world cinema programs, as well as an offering from the shorts categories.

"The festival is a challenge to narrowly define. It is all at once exciting, fun, crazy, engaging, visceral, and sometimes even painful," Cooper said in a statement.

"The films, conversations, encounters are there to experience. And that's what makes Sundance so magical."

The festival's out-of-competition selections will be announced Thursday.

The 2011 Sundance Film Festival takes place Jan. 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City,Ogden and Sundance, Utah.