The Sundance Institute and Japanese broadcaster NHK have selected eleven finalists for the 2002 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards. The winners, one from each of four global regions (Latin America, Europe, USA and Japan) will take home a cash award of $10,000 and a guarantee from NHK to acquire the Japanese television broadcast rights upon completion of the project. Winners will be announced at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony at Park City, Utah next January.

"Instilled with unique storytelling ability, each of the finalists for the 2002 Award has the potential to speak to people from around the world, " said Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Feature Film Program.

Established in 1996, the annual awards are bestowed on filmmakers deemed as emerging new voices in international cinema. Past winners from Latin America include Brazil's Walter Salles for Central Station and Argentina's Lucrecia Martel for La Cienaga and Daniel Burman for Every Stewardess Goes To Heaven.

US winners include Chris Eyre for Smoke Signals and Rodrigo Garcia for Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her. Other past winners are Tomasz Wiszniewski of Poland for Where Eskimos Live and Japan's Mitsuhiko Yazaki for Go Heatman.

The finalists for the 2002 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award are:

EUROPE
The Bleating Of Sheep, Gjergj Xhuvani (Albania) --;
The Sea, Baltasar Kormakur (Iceland) -;
Strangers, Malgorzata Szumowska (Poland) -

LATIN AMERICA
Cronicas, Sebastian Codero (Ecuador) -;
The Middle Of The World, Vicente Amorim (Brazil) -;
Tokyo Boogie Pablo Casacuberta & Yukihiko Goto (Uruguay) -

USA
$9.99, Tatia Rosenthal -;
The Sleep Dealer, Alex Rivera -;
The Best Thief In The World, Jacob and Josh Kornbluth -

JAPAN
Survivors, Kenji Nakanishi -;
The Man Who Wipes Mirrors, Seisoku Kajita