Burtynsky doc, more Canadian flicks to compete at Sundance

Last Updated: Friday, December 1, 2006 | 6:47 AM ET

CBC Arts

A strong slate of Canadian movies will screen alongside the latest independent films from around the world at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

Manufactured Landscapes, Canadian filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal's chronicle of photographer Edward Burtynsky, will compete in the documentary category of the festival's world cinema competition, organizers announced Wednesday.

Baichwal, an acclaimed documentarian, won the Toronto: City Award for best Canadian feature film for Manufactured Landscapes at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.

The film will vie for Sundance's world documentary prize against 15 films hailing from South America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Competitors include:

• Cocalero, a film about Evo Morales's historic campaign to become the first indigenous president of Bolivia.
• Crossing the Line, the story of Joseph Dresnok, an American who defected to North Korea at the height of the Cold War.
• Enemies of Happiness, the tale of female Afghani member of parliament Malalai Joya's historic 2005 victory in her country's first democratic parliamentary election in more than three decades.
• The Future is Unwritten, a film about the life and music of punk rock legend Joe Strummer.

Also competing in the category is the Norway-Canada co-production On a Tightrope, about four orphans learning the ancient art of tightrope walking.

Canadian productions are also in the running in the dramatic film category of the world cinema competition, including How She Move, about a high school girl who becomes involved in step-dancing, and Rêves de Poussière (Dreams of Dust), a France-Canada-Burkina Faso co-production about a Nigerian peasant looking for new work in a dusty gold mine and hoping to forget his past.

As usual, Hollywood stars will also descend on Sundance, with actors such as John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Parker Posey, Gena Rowlands, Heather Graham and Dakota Fanning appearing in films screening in the dramatic film category of the festival's independent film competition, which recognizes U.S.-made features.

Documentaries by U.S. filmmakers this year range from Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, an inside look at the abuses that occurred at the infamous Iraqi prison, to Everything's Cool, a global warming documentary that follows in the footsteps of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, which premiered at Sundance last year.

Overall, 64 films will compete in the independent film and world cinema competitions.

According to Telefilm Canada, three other Canadian films will also be headed to Sundance: Sarah Polley's Away from Her, S. Wyeth Clarkson's Sk8 Life and the Toronto film fest zombie hit Fido, directed by Andrew Currie.

Organizers will announce the short film program on Dec. 6.

Founded in 1981 by Hollywood icon Robert Redford to shine a light on independent filmmakers, the Sundance Film Festival has grown to become one of North America's most influential annual film industry events. 

The upcoming edition runs Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Sundance, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah.