The four winners were selected from among 12 finalists by members of an international jury which included: Gregg Araki, Jeremy Pikser, Erin Cressida Wilson, Martin Rejtman, Andrucha Waddington, Shekhar Kapur, and Anand Tucker.

These annual awards were created in 1996 to honor and support visionary film directors from four global regions
(Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Japan) in realizing their next projects. The four winners were presented with the award at the annual Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony on Saturday, January 26.
The winning director from each region will receive a $10,000 award and a guarantee from NHK to purchase the Japanese television broadcast rights upon completion of their project. NHK is Japan’s largest broadcaster with five 24- hour TV and three radio channels. In addition, the Sundance Institute staff will work closely with the award recipients throughout the year, providing ongoing support and assistance in seeking out opportunities to finance and distribute their projects.

The winning filmmakers and projects are:

Alejandro Fernandez Almendras for "HUACHO" from Chile; Braden King for "HERE" from the United States;
Aiko Nagatsu, for "APOPTOSIS" from Japan;
Radu Jude for "THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD" from Romania.

“We are thrilled by the quality and vision of this year's winning filmmakers, all of whom embody what the award is about. In an extremely competitive year, these projects stood out as truly original," said Alesia Weston, Associate
Director of the Feature Film Program, International.

“The Sundance/ NHK award is part of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program's year-round commitment to support singular voices in world cinema,” said Michelle Satter, Director, Sundance Institute Feature Film Program.

"We expect that the creativity and unique storytelling of this year’s four winners will resonate far beyond their countries of origin."

Past recipients of the award include: Andrucha Waddington, THE HOUSE OF SAND (Brazil); Miranda July, ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (USA); Lucrecia Martel, LA CIENAGA (Argentina); Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, WHISKY (Uruguay); Walter Salles, CENTRAL STATION (Brazil); Chris Eyre, SMOKE SIGNALS (USA); Gyorgy Palfi, TAXIDERMIA (Hungary) and Catalin Mitulescu, THE WAY I SPENT THE END OF THE WORLD (Romania).

Recent winners include: Lucia Cedron, LAMB OF GOD (Argentina), the opening night film at the 2008 International Film Festival Rotterdam ; Fernando Eimbcke, LAKE TAHOE (Mexico) premiering in competition at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival; and Alex Rivera (USA) will premiere his film SLEEP DEALER in competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Films from Emerging Filmmakers Including Miao Wang, Julianna Brannum and NC Heikin and Established Documentarians Frederick Wiseman, Pamela Yates, Albert Maysles and Isaac Julien to Receive Funds

The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program announced 30 film projects to receive a record number of financial grants from the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund. Out of 300 applications from more than 25 countries, the feature-length documentary films selected will receive a total of nearly $750,000 in support. The Sundance Documentary Film Program supports U.S. and international documentary filmmakers who explore the critical issues of our times with highly crafted storytelling and stylistic innovation.

"The Sundance Documentary Film Program is honored to support talented artists from around the world with funding at critical moments in their filmmaking to ensure the creation and completion of these important films,” said Cara Mertes, Director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. ”This is an exceptional docket of documentary films with major work from established and emerging filmmakers. The films funded today reflect the Documentary Film Program’s interest in helping filmmakers tell the stories of our changing world, including films with the potential to transform it."

The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund is a central element of Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program, which provides year-round creative support to nonfiction filmmakers through workshops, screenings, and activities related to the distinct stages of the filmmaking process. Grants are announced twice a year and submissions are accepted on a rolling basis and judged on their approach to storytelling, artistic treatment and innovation, subject relevance and potential for social engagement. The Sundance Institute Documentary Program considers new projects in the Development and Production/Post-Production phases. The film selection is juried by creative film professionals and human rights experts.

Films funded in this round include stories of the mineral wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China in the era of the Olympic games, global climate change from the perspective of Inuit villagers, and the unfolding story of race and retribution in Jena, Louisiana. Several films reference the impact of war at home and abroad with a focus on women’s experiences from female filmmakers. The docket also examines the personal stories of several ground-breaking subjects from influential artists to Native
American cultural activists.

PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT
Anne Makepeace- AS NATAYUNEANAS -WE STILL LIVE HERE (US)
Jessie Little Doe, of the Wampanoag nation, revives a silenced indigenous language that was out of use for more than 150 years.

Marc Francis and Nick Francis- CHINESE SAFARIS(UK)
Lusaka, Zambia is home to one of Africa's largest Chinatowns and is at the crossroads of China's strategic expansion into Africa.

Pamela Yates - GRANITO (US)
Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberta Menchu accuses Guatemala's ex-dictator, General Rios Montt, of genocide and uses the 1982 classic documentary film, When the Mountains Tremble, as forensic evidence to bring a case against him.

Albert Maysles - HANDHELD AND FROM THE HEART (US)
Albert Maysles returns to his Boston roots and reconnects with old friends, resulting in an autobiographical film reflecting on a 50-year love affair with documentary.

Thierry Michel- KATANGA, MINING BUSINESS (Belgium)
Key players in a new, industrial revolution in Katanga (Democratic Republic of the Congo) struggle against a war being waged by ruthless multinational corporations.

Julianna Brannum- LADONNA HARRIS: INDIAN 101 (US)
Comanche activist LaDonna Harris conveys a unique vision of leadership to a new generation of indigenous professionals.

Ozgur Dogan and Orhan Eskikoy- ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL (Turkey)
A year in the life of a Turkish school teacher in a remote town in Turkey. With a Kurdish class that can't speak Turkish, and the teacher who can't speak Kurdish, both are alien in the same land.

Rachel Libert- SEMPER FI: ALWAYS FAITHFUL (US)
Two retired Marines lead the fight for justice for U.S. soldiers exposed to dangerous toxic chemicals while stationed at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina.

Andrew Okpeaha MacLean- SWALLOWED BY THE SWALLOWED BY THE SEA (US)
In a small Inuit village on the remote barrier island of Shishmaref, Alaska, residents struggle with the devastating effects of erosion due to global climate change.

Carvin Eison and Christin Carvin- UMBRA: EMERGING FROM THE SHADOWS (US)
In Jena, Louisiana, nooses swing from the schoolyard oak tree and six black high school students are persecuted in ways that eerily evoke the past. The story illuminates the entrenched culture of racially motivated violence in America.

Will Sankhla- WE HAVE NO ORDERS TO SAVE YOU (US/India)
The youngest survivors of the 2002 Gujarati riots in India move into adulthood, facing choices that will affect their
future and the future of pluralism in India.

Rachael Turner and Alison Quirkel- WHERE WOMEN RULE (UK)
In the first women-only village in Kenya, women learn to thrive after entrenched violence and male domination.

PROJECTS IN PRODUCTION/POST----PRODUCTION

Tin Dirdamal- AGUA (Mexico)
In Cochabamba, Bolivia, four people connected to the first “water war” of the 21st century shed light on – and perhaps foreshadow – wars to come.

Fredrik Gertten- BANANAS (Sweden)
Nicaraguan banana farmers take multi-national banana industrialists to court over the use of banned pesticides in an historic case.

Miao Wang- BEIJING TAXI (China/US)
Three Beijing taxi drivers connect a morphing cityscape with citizen tales in the midst of dizzying change accelerated by the 2008 Olympic Games.

Frederick Wiseman- BOXING GYM (US)
In a community boxing gym in Austin, TX, the controlled use of violence is taught to men, women, and children of all social classes, races, ages, and ethnicities.

Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt- BRANDON AND THE CLIFFORD TWINS (US)
Three young Lakotas on the Pine Ridge reservation are swept into a high-stakes tribal election that hangs on
sovereignty, representation, and abortion politics.

Terry Jones, Laure Sullivan and Paul Wilson- CASINO NATION (US)
After a long and bloody struggle, the Seneca Nation of Indians is now in the casino business, and the tribe is changing forever. Casino Nation follows the conflicts the tribe faces as big money flows into this small sovereign nation.

Isaac Julien- DEREK JARMAN (UK)
A creative portrait of influential English filmmaker and fine artist, Derek Jarman.

Andres Habegger- FINAL IMAGE (Argentina)
Leonardo Henrichsen, an Argentinean cameraman, films his own murder during an attempted military coup in Chile in June 1973. The history of a continent unfolds through the images made by one man.

NC Heikin- KIMJONGILIA (France/US)
Survivors of North Korean concentration camps share wrenching, first-hand testimonies.

Margarita Martinez Escallon and Miguel Salazar- PEACEFUL WARRIORS (Colombia)
Amidst long-standing guerilla warfare throughout southern Colombia, the indigenous Nasa community strives to maintain their ideals of non-violent resistance.

Deann Borshay Liem- PRECIOUS OBJECTS OF DESIRE (US)
Swapped with another girl by her South Korean orphanage prior to adoption by an American couple, the filmmaker searches for her namesake and roots.

Annie Goldson- AN ISLAND CALLING (New Zealand)
The double murder of a gay couple in Fiji in 2001 reveals the social and political fractures in the postcolonial landscape of the Pacific.

Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers- TEAM LIONESS (US)
A group of female soldiers who went to Iraq as mechanics, supply clerks, and engineers, return home a year later as part of America's first generation of female combat veterans.

Jerret Engle- THE KITCHEN WARRIORS (US/South Africa)
Students in a township-run South African cooking school struggle to reshape their lives and pursue culinary careers.

IN BRUGES From First-Time Feature Director Martin McDonagh to Open Festival January 17 in Park City, Utah

Sundance Institute announced today the lineup of films screening at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival in the out-of-competition sections of Premieres, Spectrum, New Frontier and Park City at Midnight. The 2008 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17-27, 2008 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah.

As previously announced, the Festival opens on January 17 in Park City with the world premiere of IN BRUGES, written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker and award-winning playwright, Martin McDonagh. With an international cast starring Ralph Fiennes, Colin Farrell, and Brendan Gleeson, IN BRUGES tells the suspenseful, twisted tale of two London hit men ordered to take a forced vacation in Bruges, Belgium, and how their subsequent time in exile goes awry.

On Friday, January 26, the Closing Film screening in Park City signals the Festival’s final weekend. This year’s Closing Film is the world premiere of Neil Young's CSNY DEJA VU which examines Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's connection to its audience in both political and musical terms, and the relationship between Vietnam-era sentiment and today's political environment.

The Salt Lake City Gala on Friday, January 18 will feature the world premiere of THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD, directed by Sean McGinly and starring Colin Hanks, John Malkovich and Emily Blunt about a law school dropout who answers an advertisement to be a celebrity's personal assistant.

“It is impossible to describe in one word the full tapestry of films presented in this year's Festival, particularly in the out-of-competition categories,” said Geoffrey Gilmore, Director, Sundance Film Festival.“ In an enormously eclectic way these films reflect the role cinema can play as an international language transcending borders of class, race, culture, and religion."

"This is going to be a festival rich in talent," said John Cooper, Director of Programming, Sundance Film Festival. "Independent film has reached a new plateau, from the filmmakers who tell stories that are fresh and unique, to a lineup of the best actors working today. Sundance audiences are going to see a range of work: both from those pushing the envelope of established careers and those soon to be discovered this January."

A complete list of the films is available at Sundance
Institute's website at www.sundance.org/festival.

Access to the Short Film Program is Expanding Access to the Short Film Program Beyond the Festival to Include the iTunes Store, Netflix, and Xbox 360.

Sundance Institute announced today the program of short films selected to screen at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. This year the Festival Short Film Program comprises 83 short films representing 17 countries from 5,107 submissions, from U.S. and international filmmakers.

Submissions grew by more than 15% over last year. The 2008 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17-27 with screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah.

"Since the beginning we recognized short films as a viable art form and an exciting way to discover and launch new talent," said John Cooper, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. "We will continue to find innovative ways to extend the success and reach of this amazing work and build a world-wide audience for short-form films.”

"This year we received a record number of submissions, including some of the most dynamic work we've seen in years," said Trevor Groth, Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer. "We are really proud to present the entire shorts program, which represents a higher level of filmmaking craft than ever before. The work is extremely broad and ranges from outrageous animation to fascinating short documentaries, to original and wild comedies to outstanding dramas."

Short films screen in Festival theatres prior to a feature film or as part of one of the Festival's eight short film programs. As it has in the past, Sundance Institute will continue its tradition of streaming an exclusive selection of short films online, free of charge at the official website
www.sundance.org/festival. Every day of the Festival, one new short film will premiere online for 24 hours. Starting in 2006, The Short Film Program, both at the Festival and online, has been graciously supported by Festival Presenting Level Sponsor, Adobe Systems Incorporated.

In addition, Sundance Institute continues to support its mission of building audiences for short films by announcing one-of-a-kind partnerships to make a selection of Festival shorts available for purchase and download on three platforms: Apple's iTunes Movie Store, Xbox LIVE, the online entertainment network for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and the Netflix member Web Site.

Presented in collaboration with Sundance Channel, the shorts available online will launch simultaneously on all three platforms beginning January 18, 2008 and run through 2011. These films will be accessible to audiences far beyond the streets of Park City on www.sundance.org /festival, and on the iTunes Movie Store, Netflix, and Xbox 360. The selected program of shorts available on these platforms will be announced just prior to the beginning of the Festival.

"Sundance Institute and the Film Festival have spent eight quiet years in the online community supporting self-distribution for filmmakers. We cannot wait to get back onto iTunes with our new 2008 program. We’ve been getting requests all year from our past alumni, wanting to get in on the deal," said Joseph Beyer, Producer, Sundance Institute Online. “Adding Netflix and Xbox 360 creates an opportunity for short films that is unparalleled right now. It’s truly emerging as an entirely new marketplace."

Sundance Film Festival Short Films will be priced at $1.99 each with www.iTunes.com/sundance being the primary download-to-own platform for viewing on an iPhone, iPod, or widescreen TV with Apple TV. Netflix is making the Sundance shorts available to its subscribers at no additional fee through its instant watching feature, which offers thousands of films and TV episodes to be viewed instantly on PCs. Xbox 360 will offer yet another $1.99 download-to-own platform from Xbox LIVE Marketplace Video Store. More information can be found at www.xbox.com.

During the Festival, a Short Film Jury awards prizes based on outstanding achievement and merit in American and International Short Filmmaking. Over the years, the Sundance Film Festival Shorts Program has become a prime source for discovering filmmaking's newest voices, including Todd Haynes, Spike Jonze, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, David O. Russell, Tamara Jenkins, Nicole Holofcener, and Alexander Payne.

Maintaining its core mission of supporting filmmakers, Sundance Institute has partnered with industry leader and digital media aggregator Mediastile, Inc. to provide ongoing digital distribution and encoding services to the 2008 Filmmakers. As the Official Digital Clearinghouse of the Sundance Film Festival, Mediastile provides a digital on-ramp to content retailers for filmmakers around the world.

The short films selected for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival can be found at: http://www2.sundance.org/pdf/SFF08_ShortsProgram_Release_12052007.pdf

The Grand Jury Prize- Documentary: “Manda Bala” (Send A Bullet)
Directed by: Jason Kohn.

The Grand Jury Prize- Dramatic: “Padre Nuestro”
Directed by: Christopher Zalla.

The World Cinema Jury Prize- Documentary: “Enemies Of Happiness” (Vores Lykkes Fjender)
Directed by: Eva Mulvad and Anja Al Erhayem (Denmark)

The World Cinema Jury Prize- Dramatic: “Sweet Mud (Adama Meshugaat)
Directed by: Dror Shaul (Israel)

The Audience Award- Documentary: “Hear And Now”
Directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky.

The Audience Award- Dramatic: “Grace Is Gone”
Directed by: James C. Strouse.

The World Cinema Audience Award- Documentary: “In The Shadow Of The Moon”
Directed by: David Sington (United Kingdom)

The World Cinema Audience Award- Dramatic: “Once”
Directed by: John Carney (Ireland)

The Directing Award- Documentary: Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, directors of “War/Dance”

The Directing Award- Dramatic: Jeffrey Blitz, director of “Rocket Science”

The Excellence in Cinematography Awards- Documentary: Heloisa Passos for “Manda Bala” (Send A Bullet)

The Excellence in Cinematography Awards- Dramatic: Benoit Debie for “Joshua”

Documentary Editing Award: Hibah Sherif Frisina, Charlton McMillan, and Michael Schweitzer for “Nanking”

The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: James C. Strouse for “Grace Is Gone”

Special Jury Prize- Documentary: “No End In Sight”
Directed by: Charles Ferguson

Special Jury Prizes for Acting: Jess Weixler in “Teeth” and
Tamara Podemski in “Four Sheets To The Wind”

Special Jury Prize for Singularity of Vision to Chris Smith, director of “The Pool”

Special Jury Prize -The World Cinema Documentary Competition: “Hot House”
Directed by: Shimon Dotan (Israel)

The World Cinema Dramatic Competition Jury presented a Special Jury Prize to “The Legacy” (L’heritage)
Directed by: Géla Babluani and Temur Babluani (France)

Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking: “Everything Will Be Ok”
Directed by: Don Hertzfeldt

The Jury Prize in International Short Filmmaking: “The Tube With A Hat”
Directed by: Radu Jude (Romania)

Honorable Mentions in Short Filmmaking: “Death To The Tinman”
Directed by Ray Tintori
“The Fighting Cholitas”
Directed by: Mariam Jobrani
“Men Understand Each Other Better” (Mardha Hamdigar Ra Behtar Mifahmand)
Directed by: Marjan Alizadeh (Iran)
“Motodrom”
Directed by: Joerg Wagner (Germany)
“Spitfire 944”
Directed by: William Lorton
“t.o.m.”
Directed by: Tom Brown and Daniel Gray (United Kingdom)

Special Jury Prize- Documentary Short Film:
“Freeheld”
Directed by: Cynthia Wade

The Alfred P. Sloan Prize celebrates the work of emerging independent feature filmmakers tackling compelling ideas and issues in science and technology. The 2007 Alfred P. Sloan Prize: “Dark Matter”
Directed by Chen Shi-Zhen.
Prize: $20,000 cash award

Now in its eleventh year, the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award was created to honor and support emerging filmmakers with their next screenplays who possess the originality, talent and vision to be celebrated as we look to the future of international cinema. The winning filmmakers and projects are:

Lucía Cedrón, “Agnus Dei” (Argentina)
Caran Hartsfield, “Bury Me Standing” (United States)
Tomoko Kana, “Two By The River” (Japan)
Dagur Kári, “The Good Heart” (Iceland)