Park City, UT: Unburdened by the swarms of dot.com companies that plagued the 2000 festival, a quieter, gentler Sundance unfolded this year, and with it, a small selection of Canadian films were screened. Four features and two shorts played to Park City audiences over the course of the 10-day event, and while feedback for the films was highly favorable, the Canadians’ presence at Sundance was low-key, and garnered no recognition at the awards ceremony on Jan. 28.

Perhaps a contributing factor is that two of the features had already made their world debuts before arriving at Sundance. Alanis Obomsawin’s emotionally and politically charged documentary Rocks at Whisky Trench premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and Denis Villeneuve’s Maelstrom previously rocked both the Montreal World Film Festival and tiff.

At a mid-week screening at the Egyptian Theater, the charming Villeneuve told the audience that his film had been made to be watched at sea-level and that he feared their reactions. On the contrary, the film, which features a fish as narrator, was received exceedingly well, with audiences erupting into cheers and applause as the film ended. ‘The reaction was one of the best I’ve had,’ he says, noting however, that the Toronto audience was the only one to give Maelstrom a standing ovation. Next stop for Maelstrom is the Berlin Film Festival this month.

The Sundance exposure will certainly play an important role in raising the profile of the French-language film, which is Canada’s pick for the Academy Awards in the best foreign film category.

The film, which was just awarded five Genies, is being distributed by Odeon Films in Canada, with international rights being sold through Alliance Atlantis Pictures International. (Territories sold to date: Japan, France, Greece, Iceland, u.k. and Thailand).

Just days after the festival, u.s. distribution rights were picked up by Arrow features.

The other two Canadian features at Sundance were world premieres. Winnipeg-based director Noam Gonick’s outrageous first feature Hey, Happy! played the Midnight at Park City program. Hey, Happy! producer, and vp programming at Showcase Television, Laura Michalchyshyn said playing at Sundance was a welcome treat after having to turn down tiff’s invitation last year because the film wasn’t finished on time. ‘It’s a huge honor to be here,’ she said. ‘It’s a big status symbol in the independent film world to have had a film play at Sundance. It’s a recognition of some kind of acceptance by an American programming team that is selecting very carefully for a specific commercial and distributor-based audience.’

Mongrel Media will distribute the film in Canada, and will handle international sales. As of press time, the film had yet to secure u.s. distribution.

Certainly the biggest Canadian triumph at Sundance was Lea Pool’s highly anticipated teen drama Lost and Delirious, which screened as part of the prestigious Premieres section of the festival and received favorable buzz. Renowned critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times called it: ‘One of the most carefully crafted, most professional films you’ve seen at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.’I, personally, was stirred, involved and absorbed by Lost and Delirious.’ The film will be distributed by Seville Pictures in Canada (to be released in October), TF1 International worldwide, and as of press time, three American outfits were negotiating for u.s. distribution rights, according to Pierre Brousseau, executive vp at Seville. The film will also screen in the Panorama section at Berlin.•

-www.sundancefilm.com