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For an event dedicated to the future of movies, the Sundance Film Festival also will be looking to the past in 2016.

Some returning filmmakers have landed their works among the 65 films announced Wednesday in Sundance's competition categories and the NEXT program, representing 29 countries. Also, there are some notable period pieces that will debut during the festival, Jan. 21-31 in Park City and at venues in Salt Lake City, Ogden and the Sundance resort.

"There's definitely a new twist on period pieces," said Trevor Groth, the festival's programming director. "Typically, for practical reasons, it hasn't been a genre that independent filmmakers have worked in. Now, with creativity and technology, they're allowed to tell these historical stories in new ways."

One period piece is the U.S. Dramatic competition entry "The Birth of a Nation," which Groth called "an incredibly ambitious production, and story to tell."

The film provocatively steals the title from D.W. Griffith's 1915 classic that glorified the Ku Klux Klan. This new film, on the other hand, focuses on the slave rebellion led by freed black Nat Turner in 1831. Turner is portrayed by "Beyond the Lights" star Nate Parker, who makes his writing and directing debut.

Another ambitious period story is writer-director Richard Tanne's "Southside With You." It's set in 1989, and depicts the first date between young Chicago lawyers Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumpter) and Barack Obama (Parker Sawyers).

"You just start looking at it like a romance, which it is," festival director John Cooper said of Tanne's film. "It worked as a good romance about two people from different points of view finding each other."

Among the returning filmmakers in competition is Josh Fox, the banjo-playing environmentalist whose 2010 anti-fracking documentary "GasLand" received an Oscar nomination. Fox takes his environmental interests, and his banjo, to 12 countries on six continents for the follow-up "How to Let Go of the World (and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change)."

Fox, Groth said, "humanizes the issue, in a way that connects to the audience."

Another returning director is Antonio Campos, whose "Simon Killer" played Sundance in 2012. Campos' new film, "Christine," stars Rebecca Hall ("Iron Man 3") as Christine Chubbuck, an ambitious but troubled Florida TV reporter who, in 1974, committed suicide on the air.

Oddly, "Christine" is one of two films in competition about Chubbuck's story. The other is Robert Greene's genre-twisting documentary "Kate Plays Christine," which follows actor Kate Lyn Sheil, cast as Chubbuck for a project, trying to understand the reporter's motivations.

Groth called it a "strange twist of fate" that the two films arrived on Sundance's doorstep the same year. "If both films earn their place in the festival, then we'll show them both," Groth said.

"Kate Plays Christine" faces stiff competition in the U.S. Documentary program, which includes films on such hot-button issues as gun violence ("Newtown"), anti-abortion laws ("Trapped") and online bullying ("Audrie & Daisy"). There also are documentaries that profile disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner ("Weiner"), murdered war journalist James Foley ("Jim") and ALS-afflicted football star Steve Gleason ("Gleason").

Three of the four movies picked for "Day One," the festival's opening night, are competition films: The dark family comedy "Other People," starring Jesse Plemons ("Black Mass") and Molly Shannon; the Belgian nightlife drama "Belgica"; and the documentary "Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang," which profiles the contemporary Chinese artist.

The 16 U.S. Dramatic competition entries boast some famous names, including "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe, Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, heartthrob Nick Jonas, "Mad Men" actor Elisabeth Moss, and a pairing of "Juno" co-stars Ellen Page and Allison Janney.

Festival organizers will unveil the New Frontier's 10th anniversary program on Thursday afternoon, and reveal the Premieres, Documentary Premieres, Spotlight and Sundance Kids titles on Monday.

Here are the 66 titles announced in the competition categories and NEXT program of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, announced Wednesday:

U.S. Dramatic

• "As You Are" • The relationship of three teen friends (Owen Campbell, Charlie Heaton, and "The Hunger Games'" Amandla Stenberg) in the early 1990s is traced through reconstructing memories during a police investigation. Directed by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, who co-wrote with Madison Harrison.

• "The Birth of a Nation" • Actor Nate Parker ("Beyond the Lights") wrote, directed and stars as Nat Turner, the freed black who led a slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831. The supporting cast includes Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley, Gabrielle Union and Mark Boone Junior.

• "Christine" • Rebecca Hall ("Iron Man 3," "The Gift") stars in the true story of Christine Chubbuck, a depressed Florida TV reporter who in 1974 committed a well-planned suicide on live television. Michael C. Hall, Maria Dizzia, Tracy Letts and J. Smith-Cameron co-star. Directed by Antonio Campos ("Simon Killer," SFF '12), written by Craig Shilowich.

• "Equity" • What's called the first female-driven movie about Wall Street stars Anna Gunn ("Breaking Bad") as an ambitious investment banker who leads a controversial IPO for a tech company, just as regulations are tightening. Directed by Merra Menon, written by Amy Fox.

• "The Free World" • After serving some brutal time for murders he didn't commit, Mo (Boyd Holbrook) tries to adjust to life outside prison — when he meets Doris ("Mad Men's" Elisabeth Moss), a mysterious woman with a violent past. Written and directed by Jason Lew, with a supporting cast including Octavia Spencer and Sung Kang ("Furious 6").

• "Goat" • Based on Brad Land's memoir of fraternity hazing, this drama follows 19-year-old Brad ("Pride" star Ben Schnetzer) joins his younger brother (Nick Jonas) in pledging to a frat, where loyalty and "brotherhood" are tested in brutal ways. Directed by Andrew Neel, from a screenplay by David Gordon Green and revised by Neel and Michael Roberts.

• "The Intervention" • Actor Clea DuVall makes her debut as a writer and director, in this comedy about four couples taking a weekend getaway — where one of the couples learns the trip is an intervention on their marriage. DuVall co-stars with Melanie Lynskey, Cobie Smulders, Alia Shawkat, Jason Ritter, Natasha Lyonne and Ben Schwartz.

• "Joshy" • Thomas Middleditch ("Silicon Valley") stars in this comedy as Josh, who turns what would have been his bachelor party as a chance to reconnect with friends. Jeff Baena ("Life After Beth," SFF '14) wrote and directed. The cast includes Adam Pally ("The Mindy Project"), Alex Ross Perry, Nick Kroll and Jenny Slate.

• "Lovesong" • An impromptu road trip between best friends Sarah (Riley Keough) and Mindy (Jena Malone) takes a turn toward the romantic — even though Sarah is unhappily married, and Mindy is preparing for her own wedding. Director So Yong Kim ("In Between Days," SFF '06; "For Ellen," SFF '12) co-writes with her husband, Bradley Rust Gray.

• "Morris From America" • A hip-hop-loving American teen (Markees Christmas) moves to Heidelberg, Germany, with his father (Craig Robinson), navigating adolescence in a strange land. Written and directed by Chad Hartigan ("This Is Martin Bonner," SFF '13).

• "Other People" • "Saturday Night Live" writing supervisor Chris Kelly makes his feature writing and directing debut, in this comedy-drama about a struggling gay comedy writer (Jesse Plemons) who returns to his conservative family in Sacramento to tend to his ailing mom (Molly Shannon). Also stars Bradley Whitford and June Squibb. Day One Film.

• "Southside With You" • Writer-director Richard Tanne dramatizes the epic first date, on Chicago's South Side in 1989, of lawyer Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumpter) and a new summer associate in her law firm, Barack Obama (Parker Sawyers).

• "Spa Night" • A young Korean-American man (Joe Seo) is torn between obligations to his immigrant family and his growing sexual desires in the underground world of gay hookups in L.A.'s Korean spas. Written and directed by Andrew Ahn, whose short "Dol (First Birthday)" played Sundance in 2012.

• "Swiss Army Man" • Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano star in this offbeat comedy, about a hopeless man stranded in the wilderness — who finds a dead body that becomes the man's best friend and key to survival. (It's unclear which actor plays the dead body.) Written and directed by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, the music-video team known collectively as Daniels.

• "Tallulah" • Ellen Page plays the title role in , a free-spirited woman who rescues a toddler from an irresponsible mom and raises the child as her own, aided by her ex-boyfriend's mom (Allison Janney). This feature debut of writer-director Sian Heder, a writer and producer of "Orange Is the New Black," is expanded from her 2005 short "Mother."

• "White Girl" • Elizabeth Wood writes and directs this drama, about a college student ("Homeland's" Morgan Saylor) going to any lengths to get her drug-dealer boyfriend (musician Brian "Sene" Marc) out of jail.

U.S. Documentary

• "Audrie & Daisy" • Parallel stories of teen girls — one in California, the other in Missouri — who pass out at high-school parties and are sexually assaulted while unconscious. What follows is online bullying and two suicide attempts, one of them tragically successful. Directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk.

• "Author: The JT LeRoy Story" • Director Jeff Feuerzeig looks at the case of JT LeRoy, the 16-year-old literary sensation who was too good to be true — and, it turned out, wasn't true at all.

• "The Bad Kids" • Directors Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe follow the students and educators at Black Rock Continuation High School, a school in California's Mojave Desert that is a last chance for students on the edge of dropping out.

• "Gleason" • Director Clay Tweel ("Finders Keepers," SFF '15) profiles Steve Gleason, the former New Orleans Saints defensive back who, at 34, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — and since has fought to live for his family and to help others with ALS.

• "Holy Hell" • A young filmmaker joins a secretive spiritual community in 1980s West Hollywood, led by a charismatic teacher. The story of this community, torn apart 20 years later, is told through hundreds of hours of accumulated footage. The director's name is, so far, undisclosed.

• "How to Let Go of the World (and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change)" • Josh Fox, the banjo-playing director of "GasLand" (SFF '10), travels to 12 countries on six continents to consider whether humanity can still stop the most destructive consequences of climate change — or whether it's too late.

• "Jim" • Director Brian Oakes profiles his childhood friend, James Foley, the American war correspondent who was kidnapped and executed in Syria by the so-called Islamic State in August 2014.

• "Kate Plays Christine" • The line between documentary and psychological thriller blurs in director Robert Greene's film, which follows actor Kate Lyn Sheil as she prepares to portray Christine Chubbuck, the Florida TV reporter who committed suicide on-air in 2974.

• "Kiki" • Director Sara Jordenö takes us into the Kiki scene, a safe space in New York's vogueing community made and governed by LGBTQ youths of color, in their pursuit of happiness and political power.

• "Life, Animated" • Based on journalist Ron Suskind's book, this documentary follows Ron's son Owen, an autistic boy who emerged from isolation by immersing himself in Disney animated movies — using the films as a way to reconnect with his family and the world beyond. Directed by Roger Ross Williams ("God Loves Uganda," SFF '13).

• "Newtown" • Director Kim A. Snyder gets intimate access to the people of Newtown, Conn., tracing the resilience of townspeople after the Dec. 14, 2012, mass shooting that killed 20 schoolchildren and six educators.

• "NUTS!" • The incredible but true (mostly) story of Dr. John Romulus Brinkley, who built an empire from a goat-testical impotence cure and a million-watt radio station. Director Penny Lane ("Our Nixon") uses animated re-enactments, interviews, archival footage and one unreliable narrator to tell this rags-to-riches story from the 1920s.

• "Suited" • Director Jason Benjamin explores Bindle & Keep, a Brooklyn tailoring firm that makes bespoke suits for a growing number of gender-nonconforming clients.

• "Trapped" • Director Dawn Porter ("Gideon's Army," SFF'13) examines so-called TRAP laws — for Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers — which supporters say are to ensure women's safety, but opponents believe are meant to shut down clinics and make safe and legal abortions impossible to get.

• "Uncle Howard" (U.S./U.K.) • Howard Brookner died of AIDS in 1989, and his first film, "Burroughs: The Movie," laid buried in author William Burroughs' bunker for 30 years. Now, Brookner's nephew Aaron directs this documentary about his uncle and childhood idol.

• "Weiner" • Filmmakers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg get an inside look at Anthony Weiner's 2013 campaign to be mayor of New York — as the "sexting" scandal that forced Weiner's resignation from Congress heated up again.

World Cinema Dramatic

• "Belgica" (Belgium/France/Netherlands) • Two brothers start a bar and get caught up in Belgium's nightlife scene. Directed by Felix van Groeningen ("The Broken Circle Breakdown"), who co-wrote by Arne Sierens. Day One Film.

• "Between Sea and Land" (Colombia) • Alberto (Manolo Cruz) lives in a seaside town with his mom (Vicky Hernandéz), who tends to him as he suffers from dystonia, which causes sustained muscle contractions, and means he can't fulfill his dream of knowing the sea. Cruz also wrote the screenplay, and co-directed with Carlos del Castillo.

• "Brahman Naman" (U.K./India) • A quiz team of misfits from Bangalore University head across India to the national championships, fueled by alcohol and determined to beat their Kolkata rivals and lose their virginity. This is the English-language debut of the Indian director known as Q (real name: Kaushik Mukherjee); S. Ramachandran is the screenwriter.

• "A Good Wife" (Serbia/Bosnia/Croatia) • Mirjana Karanovic wrote, directed and stars in this drama, as a pampered suburban housewife who is diagnosed with cancer and learns about her husband's past war crimes.

• "Halal Love (and Sex)" (Lebanon/Germany/U.A.E.) • Devout Muslims try to manage their love lives and desires, while not violating the strict rules of their religion, in four interwoven tragic/comic stories by writer-director Assad Fouladkar.

• "The Lure" (Poland) • Two mermaid sisters become strippers in a popular nightclub, but things turn bloody when one of them falls in love. Directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska, written by Robert Bolesto.

• "Male Joy, Female Love" (China) • "An unlimited cycle of love stories" is all Sundance Film Festival programmers will say about this one, written and directed by Yao Huang.

• "Mammal" (Ireland/Luxembourg/Netherlands) • Rachel Griffiths ("Six Feet Under") stars as Margaret, a Dublin divorceé who, after the tragic death of her teen son, begins a relationship with a homeless teen (Barry Keoghan). Director Rebecca Daly co-wrote with Glenn Montgomery.

• "Mi Amiga del Parque" (Argentina/Uruguay) • Liz (Julieta Zylberberg) is a new mom who befriends Rosa (Ana Katz), but after running out on a bar tab, their adventures take a turn for the dangerous. Katz directed and co-wrote, with Inés Bortagaray, this comedy.

• "Much Ado About Nothing" (Chile) • Not the Shakespearean comedy, but a drama about an upper-class kid (Agustín Silva) who is accused in a hit-and-run accident — where the real driver is the son of a powerful politician. Directed by Alejandro Fernández, who co-wrote with Jerónimo Rodríguez.

• "Sand Storm" (Israel) • In a Bedouin village in northern Israel, Jalila and her daughter strive to break the unbreakable rules of their society when Jalila's husband takes a second wife. Written and directed by Elite Zexer.

• "Wild" (Germany) • Nicolette Krebitz wrote and directed this story of a young anarchist who opts for a life without hypocrisy or an obligatory safety net.

World Cinema Documentary

• "All These Sleepless Nights" (Poland) • Michal Marczak's documentary follows two friends as they restlessly roam the Warsaw streets, pushing their experiences in life and love to the edge to answer the question: What does it mean to be truly awake in a world that seems satisfied to be asleep?

• "A Flag Without a Country" (Iraq) • Director Bahman Ghobadi follows two Kurds, singer Helly Luv and pilot Nariman Anwar, as they take different paths to aid young Kurdish refugees fleeing Syria in the wake of civil war and the occupation of the so-called Islamic State.

• "Hooligan Sparrow" (China/U.S.) • The title is the blogger handle of activist Ye Haiyan, who draws the ire of the Chinese government when she leads a group protesting against a school principal and a government official accused of raping six students. Directed by Nanfu Wang.

• "The Land of the Enlightened" (Belgium) • Director PieterJan De Pue traces a dangerous shadow economy in Afghanistan: Kuchi children living around the Bagram air base dig out old Soviet landmines and sell the explosives to child workers in a lapis lazuli mine — with the blue gemstones smuggled out of Afghanistan in caravans through the mountains, which are controlled by gangs.

• "The Lovers and the Despot" (U.K.) • Directors Robert Cannan and Ross Adam create a documentary that's both romance and thriller, about a famed Korean director and his actress ex-wife — both kidnapped by movie-mad North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. They must make movies for the dictator, which gives them a chance for love, and perhaps escape.

• "Plaza de la Soledad" (Mexico) • Photographer Maya Goded jumps into documentary filmmaking, tackling a subject she has covered in her photos: La Merced, a Mexico City commercial district where prostitution has gone on since the Aztecs.

• "The Settlers" (France/Canada/Israel/Germany) • Shimon Dotan directs this comprehensive review of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank — an overview that encompasses history, geopolitics and a look at the people who choose to make their homes there.

• "Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang" (U.S.) • Director Kevin Macdonald ("Black Sea," "The Last King of Scotland") profiles artist Cai Guo-Qiang, who grew up in Mao's China and now lives in New York, as he seeks to realize his lifelong obsession, Sky Ladder. Day One Film.

• "Sonita" (Germany/Iran/Switzerland) • Director Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami follows Sonita, an 18-year-old who would rather rap about Afghan child brides than be sold as one, as her family plans.

• "We Are X" (U.K./U.S./Japan) • The '80s glam-rock band X Japan launched a musical revolution in its home country — but 20 years later, the band's leader, Yoshiki, battles physical and spiritual demons and Western prejudice, to bring its music to the world. Directed by Stephen Kijak.

• "When Two Worlds Collide" (Peru) • An indigenous leader risks exile or prison in his resistance to environmental destruction of Amazonian lands at the hands of big business. His quest reveals the conflicting visions for the Amazon and the planet's climate future, in this documentary by directors Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel.

• A 12th film • To be announced.

NEXT

• "The 4th" • Writer-director Andre Hyland stars as Jamie, a broke L.A. illustrator who's behind on his rent — but decides to throw a Fourth of July cookout where everything seems to go wrong.

• "Dark Night" • Writer-director Tim Sutton ("Memphis," SFF '13) follows the lives of six people leading up to the one thing they have in common: Being at the scene of a mass shooting at a suburban movie theater. One of the six is the shooter.

• "The Eyes of My Mother" • After a tragedy, a young woman (Kika Magalhäes) raises herself in isolation, in writer-director Nicolas Pesce's dark drama.

• "First Girl I Loved" • In director-writer Kerem Sanga's high-school romantic comedy, Anne (Dylan Gulela) falls for Sasha (Brianna Hildebrand), the most popular girl in their L.A. high school. But Anne's BFF Clifton (Mateo Arias), who has a secret crush on Anne, will try to get in the way.

• "The Fits" (U.S./Italy) • Toni (Royalty Hightower), age 11, is training to box in a Cincinnati rec center when she sees the tightknit dance team that trains there and wants to join. But when a mysterious bout of fainting spells hits the team, Toni's desire to fit in becomes twisted. Director Anna Rose Holmer co-wrote with Saela Davis and Lisa Kjerulff.

• "How To Tell You're A Douchebag" • A misogynist (Charles Brice) falls in love in writer-director Tahir Jetter's dark romantic comedy.

• "Jacqueline (Argentine)" • A French woman (Camille Rutherford), who supposedly leaked government secrets, hires a director (Wyatt Cenac) to document her self-imposed exile in Argentina. Writer-director Bernardo Britto won a short-film jury prixe at Sundance '14 for his animated "Yearbook."

• "The Land" • In writer-director Steven Caple Jr.'s drama, the pro-skateboarding dreams of four Cleveland teens are endangered when they run afoul of the local drug queen-pin (Erykah Badu).

• "Operation Avalanche" • CIA agents go undercover to search for a Soviet mole in NASA in 1967, but what they find is a secret even more shocking. Director Matt Johnson and his writing partner Josh Boles won the "Spirit of Slamdance" award in 2013 for their comedy "The Dirties."

• "Sleight" • A street magician ("The Maze Runner's" Jacob Latimore) has to raise his little sister alone, and becomes a drug dealer to make money. But when his supplier kidnaps the girl, the magician must use his wits and sleight of hand skills to save her. Director J.D. Dillard co-wrote with Alex Theurer; the cast includes Dulé Hill ("Psych"), Sasheer Zamata ("Saturday Night Live") and the rapper Tyga.

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The full list

Look for the complete list of competition entries, and the NEXT program, online › sltrib.com/Blogs/sundance