Thirty feature projects will receive a record number of financial grants from the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program amounting to almost $750,000.

Sundance Institute Documentary Fund administrators scrutinsed 300 applications from more than 25 countries and announced the chosen titles on November 21.

The line-up, which programme director Cara Mertes described an 'exceptional docket', includes renowned documentarian Albert Maysles account of his Boston roots in Handheld And From The Heart.

Among those films given grants in production or post-production are Frederick Wiseman's Boxing Gym, set in a gym in Austin, Texas, where controlled violence is taught to men, women and children, and Isaac Julien's portrait of the influential film-maker Derek Jarman.

Each film-maker will receive year-round support through workshops, screenings and other activities.