Hailing a wider global perspective in American film-making and a compelling array of international work, Sundance festival director Geoff Gilmore unveiled the 64 Independent Film and World Cinema documentaries and dramatic films that will play in competition in the 2007 event, which runs from Jan 18 to 28.

"American film-makers are becoming much more self-aware," Gilmore said. "American films have evolved from an insularity to a more international perspective. Since 9/11 we've seen a globalisation in film in general and that's being reflected in a much broader aesthetic.

"What underscores this is that we've got five films financed by American money that are partly or wholly in foreign languages." The films are Adrift In Manhattan (Spanish), Four Sheets To The Wind (Native American Seminole), Padre Nuestro (Spanish), Never Forever (Korean), and The Pool (Hindi).

Director of programming John Cooper pointed to several films that were likely to generate early buzz. From the Independent Feature Dramatic Competition he highlighted Teeth, Mitchell Lichtenstein's feminist revenge saga about a woman who grows teeth inside her vagina; John Cusack's "transformative role" as a widower and father in James C Strouse's Grace Is Gone; and Dakota Fanning playing a rape victim in TheUntitled Dakota Fanning Project, AKA Hounddog. Cooper also singled outIndependent Documentary Competition entries Zoo, Robinson Devor's expose of seemingly normal peoplewho enjoy sex with animals, and Crazy Love from Dan Klores, about an obsessive love affair.

Hot international dramaticentries include Diego Luna in Jorge Hernandez Aldana's Mexican drama TheNight Buffalo, an intense tale ofrevenge co-written by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's regular collaborator GuillermoArriaga; Nick Broomfield's UK immigration saga Ghosts; Ian Iqbal Rashid's Canadian tale How She Move, about a girl who rediscovers 'Step' dancing afterher sister's death forces her to return to the ghetto; and Matthew Saville'sAustralia drama Noise, about ayoung police officer with afflicted with chronic ear rigning who is forced todeal with a suburban commuter train disaster.

Overseas documentaries of note include The Future Is Unwritten, Julien Temple's Ireland-UK biopic of The Clash founder Joe Strummer; Uli Gaulke's German story Comrades In Dreams about four cinephiles united by their belief in the transformative power of cinema; Norwegian film-maker Petr Lom's On A Tightrope, about Chinese orphans from the country's largest Muslim community; and Shimon Dotan's Israeli film Hot House, which explores how Israeli prisons have become terrorist breeding grounds.

"We've travelled a lot in the last three years to find the best of global cinema and it's a tremendous amount of responsibility to choose from so many submissions, but you just have to go with the films that work," Cooper said. "We also owe a responsibility to the audience and we have to show them an alternative to Hollywood. If you could see the seven of us arguing the merits of each film you'd see how intense the process gets. Some will inevitably get left on the floor and it's heartbreaking. This is always a bittersweet time."

"At the end of the day we have to make choices and we refuse to make the festival twice the size it already is," Gilmore added. "We don't want to be the size of Toronto. We're not necessarily showing works by established film-makers; we're bringing work that oftentimes come from out of nowhere. We've had more submissions this year than ever before and we're very aggressive about trying not to programme our festival from other festivals; that's not how you discover new work. You've got to go out into the global arena and talk to a range of different people because that's what opens us up to discovery, which is part and parcel of what Sundance has always been about. Then it becomes very gratifying to see new work enter the market place, although that isn't particularly our agenda."

The 2007 festival comprises122 features including 82 world premieres, 23 North American premieres and 11US premieres from 25 countries, with nearly 60 first or second-time featurefilmmakers.

The Premieres, Spectrum, Park City atMidnight, New Frontier and From The Sundance Collection categories will beannounced on Nov 30. The Short Film programme will be announced onWednesday, Dec 6.

The films were selected from3,287 feature submissions comprising 1,852 US and 1,435 international projects.By way of comparison in 2006 there were 1,764 submissions from the US and 1,384from overseas.Festival films screen in nine sections: Documentary Competition,Dramatic Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition, World CinemaDramatic Competition, Spectrum, New Frontier, Park City at Midnight, From theSundance Collection, and Premieres.

INDEPENDENT FILMCOMPETITION: DOCUMENTARY

Banished
Dir: Marco Williams
Explores the legacy of the 20thcentury expulsion of African American populations from three US towns.
World Premiere

Chasing Ghosts
Dir: Lincoln Ruchti
The 1982 Video Game World Championsreflect on success, life, and groupies.
World Premiere

Crazy Love
Dir: Dan Klores
Chronicles the obsessive relationshipbetween a married man and a single 20-year-old woman that began in 1957.
World Premiere

Everything's Cool
Dirs: Judith Helfand and Daniel B Gold
Global warming activists lobby governmentsto adopt alternative energy programmes.
World Premiere

For The Bible Tells Me So
Dir: Daniel Karslake
Examines how the Religious Rightinterprets the Bible to stigmatise the gay community.
World Premiere

Ghosts Of Abu Ghraib
Dir: Rory Kennedy
Celebrated documentarian and daughter ofBobby Kennedy investigates the 2003 Iraqi prison abuse scandal.
World Premiere

Girl 27
Dir: David Stenn
One of old Hollywood's biggest scandalscomes under the spotlight as Stenn explores the rape of an underage dancer at awild MGM party in 1937.
World Premiere

Hear And Now
Dir: Irene Taylor Brodsky
Brodsky follows her deaf parents as theyundergo cochlear implant surgery in order to hear unaided for the first time intheir lives.
World Premiere

Manda Bala (Send A Bullet)
Dir: Jason Kohn
The inherent violence and corruption ofBrazil informs the bizarre lives of a politician, a businessman and a plasticsurgeon.
World Premiere

My Kid Could Paint That
Dir: Amir Bar-Lev
A four-year-old girl has sold $300,000 dollars worth of paintings - but is she really a genius, a charlatan, or simply a pawn in her parents' bid for fame and fortune'
World Premiere

Nanking
Dirs: Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman
Recounts the heroic exploits of ahandful of Westerners as the invading Japanese army perpetrated atrocities onthe Chinese during the second world war.
World Premiere

No End In Sight
Dir: Charles Ferguson
Key participants offer insights into theBush Administration's policy on the Iraq War and Occupation.
World Premiere

Protagonist
Dir: Jessica Yu
A German terrorist, a bank robber, an 'ex-gay'evangelist and a martial arts student undergo similar epiphanies.
World Premiere

War Dance
Dirs: Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Child refugees from the Ugandan civilwar travel to the national music and dance festival.
World Premiere

White Light/Black Rain: TheDestruction Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki
Dir: Steven Okazaki
Explores the human cost of atomicwarfare.
World Premiere

Zoo
Dir: Robinson Devor
Uncovers the secret life of a seeminglynormal Seattle family man who met his untimely demise following intercoursewith a horse.
World Premiere

INDEPENDENT FEATURE FILM COMPETITION:DRAMATIC

Adrift In Manhattan
Dir: Alfredo de Villa
A grieving eye doctor, an aging artistand a young photographer confront their innermost demons in New York.
World Premiere

Broken English
Dir: Zoe Cassavetes
John Cassavetes' daughtermakes her feature directorial debut with the story of a lonely young woman whomeets an inspiring Frenchman.
World Premiere

Four Sheets To The Wind
Dir: Sterlin Harjo
A grieving Native American man disposes of his father's body in the family pond and sets off to start a new life Tulsa, Oklahoma. The film is a product of Sundance's June film-makers and screenwriters lab in 2004.
World Premiere

The Good Life
Dir: Steve Berra
The life of a 'mostly normal'manager of a smalltown arthouse cinema is shaken up when he encounters amysterious young woman. Ensemble cast includes Mark Webber, Zooey Deschanel, Bill Paxton and Harry Dean Stanton.
World Premiere

Grace Is Gone
Dir: James C Strouse
A young father takes his children on aroad trip after he learns that his wife has been killed in Iraq.
World Premiere

Joshua
Dir: George Ratliff
A Machiavellian eight-year-old Manhattanprodigy causes a stink when his newborn baby sister arrives home from thehospital. Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga and Michael McKean star.
World Premiere

Never Forever
Dir: Gina Kim
Vera Farmiga plays an American woman unable to conceive who begins an affair in a desperate attempt to save her marriage.
World Premiere

On the Road With Judas
Dir: J J Lask
Reality, fiction and the notions ofstorytelling intertwine in the story of a young thief and the woman he loves.
World Premiere

Padre Nuestro
Dir: Christopher Zalla
Fleeing a criminal past, Juan hops on atruck transporting illegal Mexican immigrants to New York City, where he meetsa man who is searching for his rich father.
World Premiere

The Pool
Dir: Chris Smith
A boy working in an Indian hotel becomesobsessed with a swimming pool in an opulent suburb of Goa and sets out to meetthe mysterious family that lives there.
World Premiere

Rocket Science
Dir: Jeffrey Blitz
Blitz' dramatic debut following his successful documentary Spellbound centres on a New Jersey teenager with a stammer who is thrust into the world of competitive debating when he falls in love with the star of the debate team. HBO produced and Picturehouse is releasing in North America.
World Premiere

Snow Angels
Dir: David Gordon Green
Acclaimed Arkansan film-maker returnswith a drama about the life of a teenager, his former baby-sitter, herestranged husband, and their daughter. Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Griffin Dunne and Amy Sedaris star.
World Premiere

Starting Out In The Evening
Dir: Andrew Wagner
A writer's solitary life is shaken upwhen an ambitious graduate student convinces him that her thesis will revivehis fame.
World Premiere

Teeth
Dir: Mitchell Lichtenstein
Feminist revenge saga about a highschool student who grows teeth inside her vagina when she becomes the object ofmale violence.
World premiere

The Untitled Dakota FanningProject, AKA Hounddog
Dir: Deborah Kampmeier
The 12-year-old A-lister plays aprecocious rape victim in the 1950s Deep South who finds solace in the Blues.
World Premiere

Weapons
Dir: Adam Bhala Lough
A series of seemingly randomyouth-related killings over the course of a weekend in American suburbia turnout to be related.
World Premiere

WORLD CINEMA COMPETITION:DOCUMENTARY

Acidente/Brazil
Dirs: Cao Guimaraes and Pablo Lobato
Lush cinematic poem weaves togetherstories and images from 20 cities in the Brazilian state of Menas Gerais.
North American Premiere

Bajo Juarez, The City Devouring ItsDaughters/Mexico
Dir: Alejandra Sanchez
Uncovers the corruption behind a spateof sexual abuse and deaths of young women in an industrial town near the USborder.
US Premiere

Cocalero/Bolivia
Director: Alejandro Landes
Charts the early campaign of Bolivianpresident Evo Morales to become his country's first indigenous head of state.
World Premiere

Comrades In Dreams/Germany
Dir: Uli Gaulke
Four diverse lives are united by theirunconditional love of cinema and their quest to bring the magic of the silverscreen to the everyday lives of those who need it most.
North American Premiere

Crossing The Line/UK
Director: Daniel Gordon
Recounts the clandestine life of JosephDresnok who, at the height of the Cold War, was one of the few Americans whodefected to North Korea.
North American Premiere

Enemies Of Happiness (VoresLykkes Fjender)/Denmark
Dirs: Eva Mulvad and Anja Al Erhayem
Follows Malalai Joya, a 28-year-oldwoman who became an elected official in Afghanistan's 2005 elections.
North American Premiere

The Future Is Unwritten/Ireland, UK
Dir: Julien Temple
The life and times of Joe Strummer,founder of the ground-breaking UK punk band The Clash.
World Premiere

Hot House/Israel
Dir: Shimon Dotan
Explores how Israeli prisons have becomethe breeding ground for the next generation of Palestinian leaders as well asthe birthplace of future terrorist threats.
North American Premiere

In The Shadow Of The Moon/UK
Dir: David Sington
Astronauts from the Apollo SpaceProgramme reflect on their trip to the Moon and the delicate state of our planet.
World Premiere

Manufactured Landscapes/Canada
Director: Jennifer Baichwal
Profiles the work of photographer EdwardBurtynsky as he chronicles how industry is transforming the global landscape.
US Premiere

The Monastery: Mr Vig And The Nun/Denmark
Dir: Pernille Rose Gronkjaer
An 82-year-old Danish virgin and aheadstrong Russian nun transform the former's run-down castle into an OrthodoxRussian monastery.
North American Premiere

On A Tightrope/Norway, Canada
Dir: Petr Lom
The lives of four orphans learning theancient art of tightrope walking serve as a metaphor for the struggle of China'slargest Muslim minority.
North American Premiere

Three Comrades (Drie Kameraden)/Netherlands
Dir: Masha Novikova
The worlds of three lifelong friends areshattered by Chechnya's bloody struggle for independence.
North American Premiere

A Very British Gangster/UK
Dir: Donal MacIntyre
A close-up look at the life of DominicNoonan, head of one of Britain's biggest crime families.
World Premiere

VHS - Kahloucha/Tunisia
Director: Nejib Belkadhi
A Tunisian guerilla filmmaker solicitsthe help of his village to make films and in turn introduces his people to thepower of cinema.
North American Premiere

Welcome Europa/France
Dir: Bruno Ulmer
Kurdish, Moroccan and Romanian young menstruggle to forge a better life in Western Europe.
North American Premiere

WORLD CINEMA COMPETITION: DRAMATIC

Blame It On Fidel (La Faute A Fidel)/France
Dir: Julie Gavras
A nine-year-old girl undergoesfundamental life changes when her parents become radical activists in Paris inthe early 1970s.
North American Premiere

Drained (O Cheiro Do Ralo)/Brazil
Dir: Heitor Dhalia
The manipulative owner of a pawn shoploses control when the perfect rump and a blocked-up toilet enter his life.
North American Premiere

Driving With My Wife's Lover (Ane-EuiAein-Eul Mannada)/South Korea
Dir: Kim Tai-sik
An unexpected bond develops between amild-mannered South Korean man and the cab driver who had an affair with hiswife.
North American Premiere

Eagle Vs Shark/New Zealand
Dir: Taika Waititi
The tale of two socially awkward misfitsand the strange ways they try to find love.
World Premiere

Ezra/France
Dir: Newton I Aduaka
A former child soldier from Sierra Leonetries to rebuild his life after civil war devastates his country.
World Premiere

Ghosts/UK
Dir: Nick Broomfield
Broomfield's latest film recounts thetragic tale of an illegal Chinese immigrant as she struggles relentlessly for abetter life in the UK.
North American Premiere

How Is Your Fish Today' (Jin Tian De YuZen Me Yang')/UK
Dir: Xiaolu Guo
A Chinese writer takes an inner journeythrough his fictional characters.
North American Premiere

How She Move/Canada
Dir: Ian Iqbal Rashid
Following her sister's death from drugaddiction, a teenager leaves private school and returns to her crime-filledneighborhood where she rediscovers 'Step' dancing.
World Premiere

The Island (Ostrov)/Russia
Dir: Pavel Lounguine
The bizarre conduct of a monk on aRussian Orthodox island community confuses his fellow residents but drawsvisitors from afar who hail him as a healer and visionary.
US Premiere

Khadak/Belgium, Germany
Dir: Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth
A Mongolian nomad confronts his destinyafter animals fall victim to a plague that threatens to eradicate his way oflife.
US Premiere

The Legacy/Georgia, France
Dirs: Gela Babluani, Temur Babluani
Three French hipsters embark on a roadtrip to reclaim the Georgian castle one of them has inherited.
North American Premiere

The Night Buffalo (El Bufalo De LaNoche)/Mexico
Dir: Jorge Hernandez Aldana
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's regularcollaborator Guillermo Arriaga co-wrote the story of a schizophrenic who plotsto destroy his cheating girlfriend and best friend before killing himself.
World Premiere

Noise/Australia
Dir: Matthew Saville
A young police officer plagued bychronic ear ringing is plunged into the chaos that follows mass murder on asuburban train.
World Premiere

Once/Ireland
Dir: John Carney
Modern-day musical set on the streets ofDublin about a busker and an immigrant as they rehearse a performance thatreveals their unique love story.
North American Premiere

Dreams Of Dust/Burkina Faso, Canada, France
Dir: Laurent Salgues
A Nigerian peasant fleeing a hauntedpast arrives in a dusty gold mine in Northeast Burkina Faso seeking work.
US Premiere

Sweet Mud (Adama Meshugaat)/Israel
Dir: Dror Shaul
A 1970s kibbutznik in southern Israeldiscovers that his mother's mental illness has distanced her from thecommunity.
US Premiere

A complete list of films andother information is available at www.sundance.org.