Aussie film to open star-packed Sundance | Ipswich Movies | Movie Reviews and Cinemas in Ipswich

Hollywood stars graced the red carpet at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival which culminates with the presentation of the Palme d'Or prize on May 25.

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A CLAY animated film about an eight-year-old Australian girl's unusual penpal friendship with an obese, middle aged New Yorker is set to open the famed Sundance Film Festival on Thursday.

Director Adam Elliot's Mary and Max, with Toni Collette and Philip Seymour Hoffman voicing the lead characters.

Filmmakers say one of the festival's big lures is rubbing elbows with fans who brave the cold, snow and mob scene of Sundance to see something different than what they'll find at their local multiplex.

"That's the best thing about going to a festival, especially Sundance," said Bobcat Goldthwait, writer-director of the dark Sundance comedy World's Greatest Dad, starring Robin Williams.

"I feel like I'm a rich guy who pays money to go to one of those fantasy baseball camps and gets to play baseball with the pros. That's what it's like for me."

The Office co-star John Krasinski makes his directing debut with the comedy Brief Interviews With Hideous Men; Chris Rock plays host for the documentary Good Hair exploring African-American hairstyles; and Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan star in the melodrama The Greatest.

Other big-name entries include Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke in Antoine Fuqua's cop drama Brooklyn's Finest, Uma Thurman in the domestic tale Motherhood, Kevin Spacey as analyst to Hollywood A-listers in Shrink and William Hurt and Chiwetel Ejiofor in the apartheid story Endgame.

Festival director Geoffrey Gilmore said key themes this time are "romance and activism."

Sundance is heavy on cautionary environmental stories, among them the dolphin tale The Cove, the oil-pollution chronicle Crude and the earthy ecology study Dirt! The Movie.

"What you see is people going out and making stories not just identifying problems and documenting what that is, but trying to identify solutions," Gilmore said.

"The environmental work you see these days doesn't end with a description of the crisis we're in. It ends with a description of what you can do to help us get out of this crisis."

On the romantic side, Sundance offers quirky stories of passion and affection, including Don't Let Me Drown, a teen love story set in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks; Peter and Vandy, chronicling a couple's relationship from hopeful start through slow deterioration; and Humpday, a tale of old buddies who attempt a "work of art" - an amateur porn flick of straight guys having sex with each other.

Jim Carrey appears in his first Sundance film with one of those romances, I Love You Phillip Morris, playing a gay con man who meets the love of his life (Ewan McGregor) in prison.

"It's just such a goodhearted, sweet, beautiful, really funny movie. It dares to be romantic," Carrey said, adding a dig at Utah's Mormon church over its involvement in the passage of California's gay marriage ban.

"I just think it's a perfect movie for these days, and I'm just so glad it's premiering there. First of all, it's in Utah, which is kind of poignant after Proposition 8."