The British Invade Sundance

Coinciding with the slew of British actors and actresses to star in television shows this season, thespians from across the pond are also appearing in a number of movies showing at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

The Times in London reports that with 11 British films and documentaries and 12 short films from the U.K., the number of British films being shown in the festival is outranked only by the number of American films. While some productions are wholly British, such as "In Bruges," starring Ralph Fiennes and Colin Farrell and "The Escapist," featuring Fiennes' brother Joseph and Brian Cox, British actors like Sir Ben Kingsley and Emily Blunt also appear in some of the American Sundance films.

U.K. Film Council member John Woodward said, "This year's Sundance festival is a fantastic showcase for British talent -- proving that we have some of the best new film-makers around. Not only is it a triumph for the U.K. but it's also great exposure for our film-makers on the international stage."

The 11 British full-length films appearing in the festival were chosen out of 125 entries, themselves narrowed down from 3,624 films seen by the festival's programming team.