credit Image courtesy of Anthony Bregman
Ignore the Ugg-clad starlets. Duck the paparazzi. Leave your snowboard at home. Beyond the Sundance Film Festival’s hype and snow lies a geeky wonderland. During the 10-day fest that starts Thursday, sleepy Park City, Utah, will be filled with films and presentations about science, technology, alt.culture and zombies. Like these:Sleep DealerSleep Dealer, the first feature from Alex Rivera, the director of the brilliant short Animaquiladora, paints a futuristic, politically charged portrait of the Mexican corner of the global village. A sweatshop worker, a journalist who blogs her memories and a government contractor who fights battles via remote control are drawn together after the global war on terror spins its weaponry south of our border. Sleep Dealer’s tagline: "The near future. Like tomorrow."
credit Image courtesy of New Line Cinema
Be Kind Rewind =
description Michel Gondry sneaks his upcoming film for the Sundance crowd. It’s about a man who sets out to recreate the films he accidentally destroyed. Anyone who misses Be Kind Rewind in Park City can watch Mos Def and Jack Black do their thing in theaters beginning Feb. 22. 
credit Image courtesy of Veit Helmer
Absurdistan =
description Veit Helmer’s brilliant Tuvalu was a near-silent, surrealistic exploration of the clash between the traditional and the modern. His new film Absurdistan, a Rube Goldberg-inspired romantic comedy, follows the aftermath of a strike: The women withhold sexual favors until their men fix the water pipes. Can a lovelorn inventor fix the problem? 
credit Image courtesy of Peter Galison and Robb Moss
Secrecy =
description In the information age, squashing sensitive materials has become a must for the powers that be. The documentary Secrecy, by Robb Moss and Harvard’s Peter Galison (a MacArthur fellow and expert on the history of science), takes a look at the government’s dark corners to reveal the endless tug between safety and democracy. 
credit Image courtesy of Graydon Carter
Gonzo =
description After shaking up Sundance with his Oscar-nominated Enron doc a few years ago, Alex Gibney sets out to demystify another misunderstood cultural phenomenon. In Gonzo, he takes on Hunter S. Thompson, the crazed reporter whose brilliant rants made it impossible for readers to take political, sports and travel writing seriously again. 
credit Image courtesy of John Modell and Catherine Owens
U2 3-D =
description Those who couldn’t get tix to the Vertigo tour can now experience the next best thing: Bono and the Edge popping off the screen. Advance word on U2 3-D is explosive: One reviewer called this National Geographic project "the future of concert films." It’ll open in 3-D-equipped theaters later this month. 
credit Image courtesy of Morgan Spurlock
Where in the World Is Osama bin laden? =
description Morgan Spurlock, the Big Mac daddy of Super Size Me fame, goes native in his investigative flick Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? The blogosphere’s already buzzing: Did Spurlock land a one-on-one with the world’s most-wanted man? 
credit Image courtesy of Austin Chick
August =
description With disaster movies in vogue, it was only a matter of time until someone tackled the dot-com crash. In August, Austin Chick’s fiction about a doomed startup, Josh Hartnett plays the dashing entrepreneur and, as this photo confirms, David Bowie looks smart in a bespoke suit. 
credit Image courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
Time Crimes =
description We propose a Sundance time-travel movie category: We can’t get enough of having our brains twisted. Time Crimes follows a guy who, after seeing a naked woman in the woods, ends up in a way-back machine and then must piece together his own increasingly fractured history. Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo’s film won top honors at Fantastic Fest and already has plenty of buzz. 
credit Image courtesy of Jonathan Bogner
Trailer Park of Terror =
description Zombies rule Park City again. The Slamdance low-budget flick Trailer Park of Terror, directed by music video legend Steven Goldmann (Shania Twain, Bruce Springsteen, et al.), was adapted from a popular comic book series and features a trailer-trash zombie babe with, according to the website, "a killer body." Boy, howdy! If that’s not undead enough, George Romero is bringing his new Diary of the Dead to Sundance, and Bruce LaBruce premieres Otto – a fable about gay, politically active, scenester zombies. 
credit Image courtesy of Tule River Films
Downloading Nancy =
description Anyone who watches horror films knows: Consumer electronics kill. Downloading Nancy takes a clue from the Ringu series. The inspired-by-true-events drama follows a suicidal housewife (Maria Bello) who jumps into a sadistic relationship with a man she met on the internet (Jason Patric). Pain, betrayal and kinky sex ensue. 
credit Image courtesy of Sundance Film Festival
New Frontier on Main Art Exhibits =
description For the third year, Sundance presents museum-quality art weirdness, including The Poster Children by Marina Zurkow. The New Frontier on Main features installations that use new media in innovative ways. Other artists represented during this year’s film fest include Doug Aitken, Jennifer Steinkamp, Daniel Rozin and Graffiti Research Lab.
