2014 Sundance Film Festival competition line-up announced

It may sound hard to believe, since the 2013 awards season is only just getting started, by the 2014 Sundance Film Festival is only a month away. Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute announced the competition line-up today.

This year, the festival celebrates its 30th anniversary. Those attending will have their hands full as 118 feature-length films will be screened between Jan. 16 and Jan. 26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

“That the Festival has evolved and grown as it has over the past 30 years is a credit to both our audiences and our artists, who continue to find ways to take risks and open our minds to the power of story,” Redford, who founded the Sundance Institute, said in a statement. “This year's films and artists promise to do the same.”

The 118 films represent 37 countries and include 54 projects from first-time filmmakers, 34 of which will be in competition. There were 12,218 submissions in total the organizers had to pick from, including 4,057 features. That’s 72 more submissions than 2013.

The U.S. Dramatic Competition has 16 films, many packed with some incredible star power, even though they are independent productions. Peter Sattler’s Camp X-Ray features Kristen Stewart, while Sam Shepard appears in Jim Mickle’s Cold in July. Justin Simien’s Dear White People centers on four Ivy League black students who go to an African American themed party organized by white students.

God’s Pocket by Mad Men’s John Slattery features Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christina Hendricks, while Anna Kendrick and Lena Dunham appear in Joe Swanberg’s Happy Christmas.

The two other competition categories are U.S. Documentary, World Cinema Dtramatic and World Cinema Documentary. Another category is called NEXT <=>, which features innovative projects from new filmmaker who bring digital technology and creative stories together.

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