The Sundance Film Festival kicks off Thursday, and while it will be this writer's first trek to Park City, Utah (follow all the action on Deal Central and Twitter), it will be a welcome return for many filmmakers.
Chief among them is Kevin Smith, whose career was launched after his $27,000 black-and-white debut feature "Clerks" took Sundance by storm in 1994.
See Slideshow: Sundance 2011: The Films We're Dying to See
This year, Smith is bringing his most ambitious film yet, "Red State," a political horror movie starring 70-year-old Michael Parks in what is sure to be one of the most talked-about performances over the coming weeks.
While many believe that The Weinstein Co. has the inside track on acquiring "Red State" thanks to its founders' long-standing relationship with Smith, the candid director has already announced plans to select a distributor immediately after its first screening via auction, with eBay bids also welcome.
Sundance director John Cooper noted that the festival is "known for that magic in the theater that helps films get sold and drives prices up." Cooper said he's "seeing more civility in how films are bought and sold. Sometimes it feels rushed and frantic, but it doesn't need to be. While some films will be picked up faster, the trend of late has been more thoughtful buying."
Miranda July's "Me and You and Everyone We Know" was a festival darling in the past, and this year the quirky artist will be showing audiences "The Future," in which she and Hamish Linklater play a couple whose decision to adopt a stray cat changes their perspective on life.
After winning the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in 2008, "Man on Wire" director James Marsh returns with another buzzworthy documentary, "Project Nim," which chronicles the life of a chimpanzee who was raised and nurtured like a human child as part of a groundbreaking experiment in the 1970s.
Brazilian filmmaker Jose Padilha has been at Sundance several times in recent years, and this year he'll be promoting "Elite Squad 2," a crime-ridden sequel to the most successful film in Brazilian box office history. Padilha is also serving as a juror for the 2011 World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Acclaimed "Hoop Dreams" director Steve James is also back with "The Interrupters," a documentary about former Chicago gang members who disrupt violence in their neighborhoods as it happens.
Sundance selected Jason Eisener's short film "Treevenge" back in 2008, and the genre director returns with his feature debut "Hobo With a Shotgun," which is already shaping up to be one of the hottest titles at the festival. Rutger Hauer will be looking to recapture his mojo in this blood-soaked nod to the grindhouse movies of the 1970s and '80s.
Six years after the haunting success of "Mean Creek," writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes returns with "The Details," which boasts star power in the form of Tobey Maguire and Elizabeth Banks.
