The Sundance Film Festival received more than 9,000 entries this year. It was the highest number of submissions since the event began 25 years ago.

Lawrence production “The Only Good Indian” was announced Thursday as one of just 118 features chosen to showcase at the country’s most prestigious film festival.

“I wasn’t surprised when I read what they’re targeting this year, which is an emphasis on story,” says writer-producer Tom Carmody. “Once I read that, I felt a little bit better that this film fit. Hopefully, the film says something and can mean something to the people who see it.”

This is the second time Kevin Willmott, director of “The Only Good Indian,” has been to Sundance with his work. The associate professor of theater and film at Kansas University earned the honor when his “C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America” played in 2004, and was subsequently bought and distributed.

Carmody says Willmott’s past relationship with Sundance “probably didn’t hurt” the film’s chance of being selected. Nor did the subject matter, apparently.

“The Only Good Indian” is the story of a young man trying to keep his Native American identity and an older man trying to find his. It stars veteran character actor Wes Studi and newcomer Winter Fox Frank.

“There may not be a lot of films that have Native Americans as the protagonists. That certainly probably helped. That’s something over the years that (Sundance) has been supportive of,” Carmody explains.

Sundance will screen the picture in the noncompetitive Spectrum category during the festival, which runs Jan. 15 through 25.

“The Only Good Indian” is just one of many local feature films profiled this year by the Journal-World in various stages of production. And it is by no means the only to have experienced success on the indie film circuit.

Here is an update on some of the standout cinematic productions of 2008:

RIGGED

A shady con man teams up with a female prizefighter in a scheme to “rig” the underground boxing circuit while running from a past best forgotten.

“Over this past summer we played in eight festivals worldwide,” says “Rigged” director Jonathan Dillon, an Overland Park native who shot much of the film in Lawrence and Kansas City.

But the movie did better than just step into the cinematic ring, it also landed a few haymakers. “Rigged” won Best Picture at both the Dances with Films Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Radar Hamburg Film Festival in Hamburg, Germany. It earned a Best Cinematography award at the Action on Film Festival in Pasadena, Calif., and a Best Female Performance honor for lead Rebecca Neuenswander at the SoCal Film Festival in Huntington Beach, Calif. In addition, it played at festivals in Toronto and Australia, where it racked up nominations.

“We have just finished a domestic distribution deal for DVD release in the U.S. come this spring through a company called Peace Arch,” Dillon reveals. “It will be at local Wal-Marts, Best Buys and Blockbusters.”

WATCH OUT

A narcissistic young professor falls in love with himself before lashing out at the “stupid” people in the world.

The somewhat uncategorizable “Watch Out” earned four-star raves from publications such as Film Threat and was deemed as having “the potential to be one of the great cult films of all time.”

Wamego-based filmmaker Steve Balderson set up his own “Stop Turning Me On” world tour, which screened the film in 16 cities ranging from Lawrence to New York to Reykjavik, Iceland. The dark comedy (an adaptation of a novel by the same name by author Joseph Suglia) was also nominated for Best International Feature at London’s Raindance Film Festival.

Balderson says, “I found it very interesting that an audience of 250 at the Washington D.C. Gay/Lesbian Film Festival were so offended by the film’s more shocking scenes that they shouted obscenities, threw things at the screen and stormed out of the cinema. Meanwhile, the typically conservative crowds in Texas and Kansas were cheering and laughing uncontrollably.”

“Watch Out” was just released last week on DVD, debuting at No. 32 on Amazon.com’s 100 Best Sellers list in the art-house comedy category.

BUNKER HILL

“Bunker Hill” tells the story of what happens to a small town in Kansas after an apparent national emergency cuts off all power.

“The Only Good Indian” director Kevin Willmott spent much of the year simultaneously working on and promoting his previous drama, “Bunker Hill.” (He was in fact on a plane to New York to screen the film at Tribeca Cinemas when this article was being assembled, so producer Scott Richardson provided an update.)

“The response at the screenings has been very good,” Richardson says. “If you Google ‘Bunker Hill’ and ‘Kevin Willmott,’ you’ll see there has been quite a bit about the film online.”

The picture has generated healthy political debate at a number of screenings. Most notably: the University of the District of Columbia (sponsored by the ACLU), NYU (sponsored by eight Islamic civil rights organizations), opening night at the Williamstown Film Festival in Massachusetts and the El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz Global Human Rights Film Festival In New York.

Richardson says the next step is to secure distribution for the film, which was shot entirely in Kansas.

SUSPENSION

An ordinary man loses his family in an accident but gains the power to stop time … but the ability also changes him irrevocably.

“We really found our niche with international genre festivals,” says Ethan Shaftel, a Lawrence native who co-directed the feature with fellow Lawrencian Alec Joler.

The movie’s jaw-dropping special effects helped add to its reputation, especially once the picture played its first international date: the Brussels Festival of Fantastic Film. That was followed by fests in England, Brazil, Taiwan, France and the Netherlands.

“Suspension” was released domestically on Warner Home Video in May. It will be released in Australia in 2009.

“Every sale counts, and we hope to continue to sell to foreign territories for more DVD releases, television airings or even theatrical distribution around the world,” Shaftel says.

EARTHWORK

“Earthwork” tells the story of Kansas crop artist Stan Herd, who risked it all to plant his art in New York City, and ultimately grew a new perspective on his work thanks to a small group of homeless individuals.

Writer-director Chris Ordal also got to experience what it was like to have Sundance interested in a film.

“We submitted to Sundance after only 11 days of editing … so we were very flattered to get a call-back from Sundance wanting to see another cut. Unfortunately, what they were wanting to see was a finished cut.”

Ordal and his Lawrence-based company Hometown Collaborations are still tweaking the edit and have yet to add music. He says the sound is being mixed in Los Angeles, and the effects are being finished in India.

Despite the international post-production phase, the emotional biopic (that stars John Hawkes as Herd) was shot primarily in Lawrence this summer.

The movie’s $1 million-plus budget allowed cast and crew to build an elaborate set east of town that replicated the Manhattan field location, and also afforded the opportunity to shut down part of Massachusetts Street during July.

“I’m personally champing at the bit to watch audiences watch the movie,” Ordal says. “I get a serious thrill out of observing and learning how the power of the movies affects people.”