2011 Sundance Film Festival Noncompetitive Categories

Here's the list of 2011 Sundance Film Festival offerings in the noncompetitive categories of Premieres, Documentary Premieres, Native Showcase, Spotlight, New Frontiers, Park City at Midnight, From the Collection, and NEXT <=>.

The NEXT <=> category, with the symbol meaning less equals more, is for low-budget films that pack a big-budget wallop.

Premieres

• "Cedar Rapids" - U.S.A. A wholesome and naive small-town Wisconsin man travels to big city Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to represent his company at a regional insurance conference. Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Sigourney Weaver.
• "The Convincer"- U.S.A. An insurance salesman, caught in a caper involving a rare musical instrument, sets off a series of dramatic consequences. Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Billy Crudup.
• "The Details" - U.S.A. When hungry raccoons discover worms living under the sod in a young couple's backyard, the pest problem sets off a wild and absurd chain reaction of domestic tension, infidelity, organ donation and murder by way of bow and arrow. Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Dennis Haysbert.
• "The Devil's Double" - Belgium. An extraordinary chapter in recent history providing a chilling vision of the House of Saddam comes to life through the eyes of the man who knew too much.
• "I Melt with You" - Canada, U.S.A. Four friends gather every year to celebrate their friendship. This year they are unexpectedly forced to confront a forgotten promise they made 25 years earlier. As they examine choices they've made, they realize that what they said they would do with their lives and what they have done are entirely different. Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe.
• "Life in a Day" - United Kingdom. "Life in a Day" is a historic global experiment to create the world's largest user-generated feature film. On July 24, 2010, professional and amateur filmmakers captured a glimpse of their lives on camera and uploaded the footage to YouTube.
• "Margin Call" -- U.S.A. Over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis, the key people at an investment bank struggle to decide how to handle an emergency business situation while examining the personal and moral implications of every action they take. Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore, and Stanley Tucci.
• "The Music Never Stopped" -- A father struggles to bond with his estranged son who has a brain tumor that prevents him from forming new memories. He learns to embrace his son's choices and to try to connect with him through the power of music. J.K. Simmons, Julia Ormond. This is the Salt Lake City gala film.
• "My Idiot Brother" -- U.S.A. After serving time for selling pot, Ned successively moves in with each of his three sisters as he tries to get back on his feet. His best intentions quickly bring the family to the cusp of chaos and ultimately the brink of clarity. Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel.
• "Perfect Sense" -- United Kingdom. A poetic love story about two people who start to fall in love just as the world begins to fall apart. Ewan McGregor, Eva Green.
• "Red State" -- U.S.A. A group of misfits encounters extreme fundamentalism in Middle America. Michael Parks, Michael Angarano, John Goodman.
• "Salvation Boulevard" -- U.S.A. An evangelical preacher who has captivated a city with his charm frames an ex-hippie for a crime he did not commit. Pierce Brosnan, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Greg Kinnear, Marisa Tomei.
• "The Son of No One"-- U.S.A. Two men in post-9/11 New York are forced to relive two murders they committed as young boys. Their lives start to unravel by the threat of the revelation of these shocking and personal secrets. Channing Tatum, Al Pacino, Katie Holmes, Tracy Morgan, Ray Liotta, Juliette Binoche. This is the festival's closing night film.
• "Win Win" -- U.S.A. When a disheartened attorney moonlighting as a high school wrestling coach stumbles across a star athlete, things seem to be looking up. That is, until the boy's mother shows up fresh from rehab and flat broke, threatening to derail everything. Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor.

Documentary premieres

• "Becoming Chaz" -- U.S.A. Born biologically female, Chastity Bono invites the viewer into a deeply personal journey as he transitions from female to male, embracing his true self, which is Chaz.
• "Bobby Fischer Against the World" -- U.S.A. The drama of late chess-master Bobby Fischer's career was undeniable, as he careened from troubled childhood to World Champion and Cold War icon to a fugitive on the run.
• "Granito" -- U.S.A. A documentary film intertwines with Guatemala's turbulent history and emerges as an active player in a nation's struggle to heal itself and serve up justice.
• "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" -- U.S.A. Director: Morgan Spurlock. A documentary about branding, advertising and product placement is financed and made possible by branding, advertising and product placement.
• "The Interrupters" -- U.S.A. From the Academy Award-winning director of "Hoop Dreams" comes a story of ex-gang members who are now protecting their communities from the violence they themselves once employed.
• "Reagan" -- U.S.A., United Kingdom. The film examines the enigmatic career of one of the revered architects of the modern world: icon, screen star and two-term president, Ronald Reagan.
• "Rebirth" -- U.S.A. Weaving together five stories of individuals whose lives were profoundly altered by the 9/11 attack with unprecedented time-lapse footage of ground zero composed over 10 years, what emerges is a chronicle of grief's evolution and a nation healing.
• "These Amazing Shadows" -- U.S.A. The history and importance of the National Film Registry unfolds in a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself.

NEXT <=>

• "Bellflower" -- U.S.A. A ballad for every person who has ever loved and lost, with enough violence, weapons, action and sex to tell a love story with apocalyptic stakes.
• "The Lie" -- U.S.A. A man overwhelmed and disappointed with life tells a lie to avoid going to work ... what could possibly go wrong?
• "Lord Byron" -- U.S.A. When he's not pursuing women, Byron is smoking weed and loafing around. But he's grown restless in his middle-age and feels the need to escape -- he just doesn't know where to go.
• "The Off Hours" -- U.S.A. A passing truck driver brings an unfamiliar sense of optimism to a woman working the night shift at a quiet diner, reminding her it's never too late to become the person you always wanted to be.
• "Prairie Love" -- U.S.A. When a mysterious vagrant living out of his car amid the snowy plains discovers a nearly frozen local with a pen-pal girlfriend, he sees an opportunity to change his lonely existence.
• "Restless City" -- U.S.A. An African immigrant survives on the fringes of New York City. Music is his passion, life is a hustle and falling in love is his greatest risk.
• "Sound of My Voice" -- U.S.A. A young couple infiltrates a cult that meets in a basement in the San Fernando Valley.
• "to.get.her" -- U.S.A. Five girls come together for one fateful night where anything goes. They all had secrets, but their friendship was the only thing they knew to be true.

Native Showcase

• "GRAB" -- U.S.A. Three families in the Laguna Pueblo tribe prepare for Grab Day, when they throw groceries from a rooftop to the community waiting below -- an annual communitywide prayer of abundance, thanks and renewal. Documentary, narrated by Parker Posey.
• Indigenous Shorts -- A program of short films from around the world by Native American and indigenous filmmakers. The seven short films that will be presented together as part of the Native Showcase will be announced Dec. 6.

Spotlight

• "Attenberg" -- Greece. Marina, a young woman living with her father in a decaying, seaside factory town, acquires a new perspective on the mysteries of human nature after she meets a stranger.
• "Elite Squad 2" -- Brazil. Captain Nascimento of Rio de Janeiro's special operations police unit has a new enemy: widespread corruption within the city.
• "I Saw the Devil" -- South Korea. A young secret agent tracks a brutal serial killer who murdered his fiancee.
• "In a Better World" -- Denmark. The lives of two Danish families become intertwined as an extraordinary but risky friendship develops.
• "Incendies" -- Canada, France. A mother's last wish sends Jeanne and Simon, twins living in Canada, on a journey to the Middle East in search of their tangled roots.
• "Kaboom" -- U.S.A. A science-fiction story centered on the sexual awakening of a group of college students.
• "Letters From the Big Man" -- U.S.A. An artist and government hydrologist surveying a remote part of southwestern Oregon befriends a sasquatch man and must take bold steps to protect his privacy, as well as her own.
• "Meek's Cutoff" -- U.S.A. In 1845, three families who have hired mountaineer Stephen Meek to guide their wagons over the Cascade Mountains get lost and face hunger, thirst and a lack of faith in their instincts for survival. Michelle Williams, Paul Dano.
• "Old Cats" -- Chile. An old woman who realizes that her mind is quickly deteriorating desperately tries to hide this condition from her daughter, who waits keenly for any sign of senility in order to take her apartment.
• "Submarine" -- United Kingdom. Fifteen-year-old Oliver Tate has two big ambitions: to save his parents' marriage and to lose his virginity before his next birthday.
• "Uncle Kent" -- U.S.A. A pothead cartoonist in Los Angeles spends a weekend trying to sleep with his visiting house guest, a woman from New York he met on Chatroulette.

Park City at Midnight

• "The Catechism Cataclysm" -- U.S.A. After becoming disinterested with the church, a priest tracks down his old classmate, a former metalhead whom he idolized in high school. When the two embark on a canoeing trip together, all hell breaks loose.
• "Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same" -- U.S.A. A shy greeting card store employee unknowingly falls for a lesbian space alien while two government agents closely track their romance.
• "Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel" -- U.S.A. Tracks the triumphant rise of Hollywood's most prolific writer-director-producer, the true godfather of independent filmmaking. Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, James Cameron, Roger Corman.
• "Hobo with A Shotgun" -- Canada. A hobo hops from a train with dreams of a fresh life in a new city, but instead finds himself trapped in an urban hell. When he witnesses a brutal robbery, he realizes the only way to deliver justice is with a shotgun in his hands and two shells in the chamber. Cast: Rutger Hauer, Molly Dunsworth.
• "The Oregonian" -- U.S.A. After surviving a brutal car accident, a simple farm woman limps down the road into the nightmarish unknown.
• "Septien" -- U.S.A. A reclusive sports hustler returns home to his family farm after years of absence to reunite with his two eccentric, unhinged and emotionally damaged brothers.
• "Troll Hunter" -- Norway. A group of student filmmakers get more than they bargained for when tangling with a man tasked with protecting Norway from giant trolls.
• "The Woman" -- U.S.A. When a successful country lawyer captures and attempts to "civilize" the last remaining member of a violent clan that has roamed the Northeast coast for decades, he puts the lives of his family in jeopardy.

New Frontier

• "Jess + Moss" -- U.S.A. Without immediate families that they can relate to, and lacking friends their own age, second cousins Jess and Moss have only each other. A series of visceral vignettes conjure memories of companionship and sexual awakening during a summer shared together on their Kentucky farm.
• "The Mill & the Cross" -- Poland, Sweden. A visually vibrant work that fortifies rich painterly compositions with digital effects, bringing Peter Bruegel's 1564 painting, The Way to Calvary, to real life. Cast: Rutger Hauer, Michael York, Charlotte Rampling.
• "The Nine Muses" -- An allegorical fable divided into overlapping musical chapters, this film retells the history of mass migration to post-war Britain through the suggestive lens of Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey.
• "!Women Art Revolution" -- U.S.A. One part of a transmedia project that includes the interactive video installation RAW WAR presented at New Frontier, this seminal documentary depicts the history of women artists who have used art as an activist practice to fight oppression and protest gender and racial exclusion, creating what many historians feel is the most significant art movement of the late-20th century.
• "The Woods" -- U.S.A. A satirical nod to ethnographic film fashions a critique on media technology dependence, when eight young Americans move deep into the woods to start their own utopia.

From the collection

• "Slacker" -- U.S.A., 1991. Roger Ebert called the film "a movie with an appeal almost impossible to describe, although the method of the director, Richard Linklater, is as clear as day."