Films

Director Jesse Peretz isn't worried about how to get his film, "My Idiot Brother," noticed at Sundance.

Every seat at all four Sundance Film Festival screenings is sold out. That's seats for two screenings in the festival's largest venue, the Eccles Theatre (1,400 seats); one at Salt Lake City's Tower Theater (480 seats); and one at Peery's Egyptian Theater (800 seats).

And at least one online entertainment writer has singled out "My Idiot Brother" as his pick for first film to get a distribution deal.

"The weight of expectations is definitely starting to stress me out," said Peretz, 42, calling from a studio in New York City. "I'm incredibly happy for the movie, and happy people are taking an interest in it. I just hope it lives up to the hype."

Something always haunted director John Michael McDonagh about a short film he did in 2000.

One minor character in his ghost story, "The Second Death," seemed to have a lot more life in him.

"It revolves around a pub, and at one point there is a local policeman who is obnoxious," said McDonagh, coming to Sundance for his first feature film, "The Guard," which tonight opens the Ogden leg of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

You might suspect that Matthew Chapman likes to stir up religious controversy because it's his birthright.

The filmmaker/author/journalist is, after all, the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, the naturalist who shook the Christian world with his theory of evolution.

But it was a closer relative who inspired Chapman to write and direct "The Ledge," which plays at Sundance in Ogden on Sunday.

"My initial interest in religion came not from being Darwin's great-great-grandson, but having an uncle who is gay," said Chapman, 60, a British-born filmmaker who makes his home in New York City.

If you've noticed fewer Hollywood megastars in this year's Sundance Film Festival lineup, you've got a good eye.

And if you've spotted more innovative films with modest budgets, again, you are uncommonly observant.

Those were among John Cooper's goals when the longtime Sundance employee took the reins and became the festival's director in March 2009.

"I was kind of brave in my foolishness," said Cooper, now preparing for his second festival as head honcho. "I was not afraid of risk, or trying things. If it doesn't work, it's only a festival, and a lot of it is about having fun, or it should be."

The Sundance Film Festival has announced its remaining feature films for the 2011 event, Jan. 20 to 30 in Park City, Ogden, Salt Lake City and Sundance. Organizers announced films in competition Wednesday, and, on Thursday, revealed the films not in competition. The later list featured more well-known actors, especially in the Premieres category.