Strong Slate For Lottery At Sundance

Three new British films backed by the Lottery through the UK Film Council have been selected to screen at the Sundance Film Festival (15-25 January 2009), the leading showcase in the US for independent films.
The three films co-funded by the UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund, selected by Sundance from a record number of films submitted from around the world are: Armando Lannucci's In the Loop - screening in the Premiere section; Alexis Dos Santos' Unmade Beds - screening in World Cinema Dramatic Competition; and Dominic Murphy's White Lightnin' - screening in Park City at Midnight.
The New Cinema Fund supports emerging talent and established filmmakers working outside the mainstream and co-funded three of the five Lottery films at Sundance last year including the award-winning Man on Wire.
Lenny Crooks, Head of the New Cinema Fund said: "For the second year running Sundance has recognised the enormous creativity at the heart of the new wave of British filmmaking. We're especially pleased to have supported the creative teams behind the three New Cinema Fund backed films.
"Sundance is the key entry point into the US for independent films and can boost international sales potential. A strong slate of British films sends out a very powerful message."
In announcing his selection, Geoff Gilmore, Sundance Festival Director, said, "This year's films are not narrowly defined. Instead we have a blurring of genres, a crossing of boundaries: geographic, generational, socio-economic and the like.
"The result is both an exhilarating and emotive festival in which traditional mythologies are suspended, discoveries are made, and creative storytelling is embraced. This is a festival about which people in the future will say, 'Wow, that was a year a lot of new talent came out of it'."
(BMcC)