Park City's Egyptian Theater (Photo: Todd Oren/WireImage)
Here's where you'll find the "weirder" flicks at the Sundance Film Festival.
Hot on the heels of Wednesday's announcement of the first round of 2013 Sundance flicks comes the official selections for Spotlight, New Frontier and Park City at Midnight, the "edgier" categories in which past Sundance discoveries such as "The Blair Witch Project," "Pi" and "V/H/S" first screened.
Speaking of "V/H/S," the lo-fi horror anthology flick will have its sequel, the cleverly titled "S-VHS" (remember that format? Most people don't), unveiled at Park City at Midnight. "V/H/S" thrilled and chilled Sundance audiences at the 2012 festival -- maybe a bit too much, as there were reports of people passing out in the aisles from the sheer analog terror of it all.
Other Park City at Midnight offerings for 2013 include the road trip comedy "Ass Backwards," the New Orleans-set haunted house thriller "Hell Baby" (great title, that) and the porn documentary "kink" (you know it's edgy stuff when the filmmakers -- including co-director James Franco -- don't bother to capitalize the first letter of the title).
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The Spotlight program, described by the Sundance Institute as "a tribute to the cinema we love," will see the Sundance return of "Take Shelter" director Jeff Nichols with his latest rugged drama, "Mud," starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon. "Take This Waltz" director Sarah Polley will also screen her new documentary, "Stories We Tell," which probes the secrets held by a family of storytellers.
Finally, the New Frontier section "highlights work that celebrates experimentation and the expansion of cinema culture through the convergence of film, art, and new media technology." Highlights for 2013 include "Charlie Victor Romeo," a 3D adaptation of the stage play derived entirely from Black Box transcripts of six real-life major airline emergencies, and "What's He Building in There?," an installation in which the entire front of the New Frontier venue will be transformed into an interactive, 3D projection-mapped parable, inspired by the Tom Waits song of the same name (from his "Mule Variations" album).
You can view the complete lineups for these three programs at the Sundance official site, and stay tuned for an announcement of the official selections for the Short Films program. The 2013 Sundance Film Festival will be held in Park City, Utah, January 17-27.