Irena Salina's "FLOW: For Love of Water" explores a global water shortage that could imperil Third World countries. Patrick Creadon's "I.O.U.S.A." warns that the United States is on the brink of a financial meltdown, while "Trouble the Water," directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, shows how Hurricane Katrina's impact lingers among its survivors as a

sobering example of government neglect.

"Secrecy," directed by Peter Galison and Robb Moss, argues that the United States' post-9/11 obsession with classified documents has created a government secrecy crisis. Josh Tickell's "Fields of Fuel" probes the world's uneasy addiction to oil, and Lisa F. Jackson's "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo" chronicles the widespread and systemic rape of women in that war-torn African nation.

And that's not counting new Sundance documentary films that explore aspects of terrorism, the Iraq war, steroid abuse, racism, homelessness and the Israeli-Palestinian struggle.

"Our filmmakers in general are thinking more globally, definitely. When you start to delve into a problem, you realize that we're not just Americans dealing with American problems anymore. We're part of a global landscape," says John Cooper, the festival's director of programming. "[Documentary filmmakers] take the time to understand issues. Politicians will do it as long as it is serving them. The TV media will cover this stuff as long as it is serving them. But the documentary is a different animal. It's not just covering facts and numbers. It's putting a story behind it . . . so we can understand. You reach people on that human level, and you change people on that human level."

Eve of destruction

Sundance documentaries have always reflected contemporary worldwide issues. In recent years, filmmakers have arrived in Park City with docs on such disturbing or hot-button topics as child prostitution, corporate greed, illegal immigration, the South African AIDS crisis, the Sudanese "Lost Boys" and the religious right's persecution of homosexuals.

But perhaps never has there been such a concentration of Sundance films that portend human or environmental disasters. Like Davis Guggenheim with his "An Inconvenient Truth," which premiered at Sundance two years ago, this festival's nonfiction filmmakers are blending art with journalism, even activism, to raise troubling questions about global problems.

"Filmmakers have a very powerful tool to bring awareness to people. And from awareness comes change," says Salina, director of "FLOW," which poses that humans will need to conserve and purify the world's water supply to survive. "I want to be real careful about not saying, 'I'm here to change the world.' But I hope my film can open up the first window for people to see what's going on."

Affordable new technology such as digital-video cameras and editing software has created an explosion of young filmmakers, many of whom want to tell real-life stories. These filmmakers record society's problems as they see them, often through personal perspectives unobscured by media hype or political spin.

"Many filmmakers are brought to the documentary genre because of their concern for the human condition," says award-winning documentarian Ken Verdoia, director of production for Salt Lake City public TV station KUED. "These are people who look at the social fabric and notice threads that are disconnected. And they ask, 'Why?' "

Tragedy in the Congo

In "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo," Jackson documents that country's harrowing cultural tragedy while turning the camera on herself to reveal her psychological scars after being gang-raped in Washington, D.C. In this layered way, her film also illuminates America's problem with sexual crimes and invites other injured women to speak out.

After a two-year flurry of documentaries about the Iraq war, filmmakers are now approaching the conflict more indirectly, Cooper says. One example is "An American Soldier," a 2008 Sundance film by Edet Belzberg that profiles a persuasive U.S. Army recruiter seeking fresh soldiers to go to Iraq.

"We all know what's going on with Iraq. We've watched it. We're so inundated with it," Cooper says. "You don't need another documentary on Iraq right this second. What you need is to have an understanding of what it means on a personal level."

Documentary makers are often seen as reacting to cultural, political or societal trends. But these filmmakers can influence trends, too. Some observers believe many people acknowledged global warming as a problem only after seeing Al Gore's slide show in "An Inconvenient Truth."

"I view documentaries not as a reflection of what people care about but as the tip of the spear that is puncturing new levels of public consciousness," Verdoia says. "These documentaries are one step ahead of politicians and public policy. They're exploring issues and injustices that our politicians haven't caught up with yet."

Coverage with depth

Documentary filmmakers may be one step ahead of the mainstream media, too. Lessin, co-director of "Trouble the Water," believes that documentaries can probe issues in greater depth than most media outlets, which tend toward broader, shallower coverage.

"The media did a pretty good job of covering Hurricane Katrina and its immediate aftermath," says Lessin, whose film dispels the notion that New Orleans is rebounding strongly from the disaster. "But then we stopped hearing about it. And our film picks up where that coverage left off."

Unlike their Hollywood cousins, the vast majority of documentary films are never seen by mass audiences. If a filmmaker is lucky, his or her documentary will screen locally or air on public television. That's why exposure at a major film festival like Sundance, attended by more than 1,100 members of the media from around the world, is crucial.

"There's no denying the power and influence of this festival," Verdoia says. "It may not be a tidal wave, but there are ripples that come from these [Sundance] films. It's word of mouth. They become the grist in the mill that fuels the media dialogue."

So what effect will this year's Sundance documentaries have on future public discourse? It's too early to tell. But don't be surprised if by the end of 2008, more Americans are talking about water policy, government secrecy or national debt. As Verdoia says, "A documentary is not supposed to be the answer. It's supposed to be the start of a question."

griggs@sltrib.com