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An Atlanta contingent is preparing to invade next month's Sundance Film Festival in Utah. And they're taking a Georgia-made film with them.

Atlanta-based Popfilms' low-budget horror movie "The Signal," filmed here over 12 days last January, has been accepted at Sundance and will be screened as part of the festival's special non-competitive midnight showings. That's the same slot that previously featured the cult hit "The Blair Witch Project" and critically acclaimed Asian films such as "Oldboy" and "Three ... Extremes."

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The horror film "The Signal" will get the midnight slot, as did "The Blair Witch Project."
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RELATED LINKS: • Video: Meet the filmmakers • See the movie trailer • Sundance-related sites

Heading with "Signal" to Sundance will be the film's three co-directors, Jacob Gentry ("Last Goodbye"), David Bruckner and Dan Bush, as well as producer Alex Motlagh and some of the all-Atlanta cast.

"We're all staying in a condo together," says Gentry, 29. They'll also be hoping for a studio distribution deal.

"Signal" is a three-part tale about a mysterious transmission that gets into people's brains, ultimately leading them to madness and murder. Each part of the tale involves a different director.

Parts of the film were shot at the Georgia World Congress Center and other areas of downtown.

"We also shot near Emory [University] at an apartment complex that was about to be torn down," Gentry says.

"Oh, we trashed that place."

OY, IT'S A FILM FEST: The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival's marketing materials proudly proclaim its latest edition, set for Jan. 22-28, as "Oy Story" (pun most definitely intended). Nearly 40 documentaries, full-length narrative features and film shorts will be screened at Regal Atlantic Station and Lefont Sandy Springs Theaters.

The opening night film, "Brother's Shadow," features Oscar nominee and two-time Emmy winner Judd Hirsch ("Ordinary People," "Independence Day" and TV's "Taxi") in a supporting role in a story about a felon returning to his family's furniture business after the death of his brother.

Among other films at the fest: "Joy," about an oversized girl chosen to appear on a TV show called "Gotta Be Happy"; the documentary "Who Was Kafka?"; and the closing night film, "Dear Mr. Waldman," about a '60s family struggling to come to grips with life after the Shoah.

The full schedule and tickets are available at www.atlantajewishfilm.org.

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO ...: Well, not yet. But seven films have been deemed eligible to compete for the three nomination slots for Oscar's best visual effects for 2006. They are (in alphabetical order) "Casino Royale," "Eragon," "Night at the Museum," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," "Poseidon," "Superman Returns" and "X-Men: The Last Stand." Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 23. The awards will be handed out live on ABC on Feb. 25.

WANT TO KNOW MORE? Warner Bros.' "We Are Marshall," which was filmed mostly in metro Atlanta, opens in theaters today. But it's not the only film story about the 1970 plane crash that took the lives of 75 football players and others associated with West Virginia's Marshall University. A DVD of the nearly two-hour 2000 documentary "Marshall University: Ashes to Glory" is now available and includes footage from the era and interviews with many of those personally affected by the tragedy.

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: At least 40 movies will end 2006 on a happy note, each topping $100 million at the box office worldwide. Here to date is the top 10: 1) "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," $1.065 billion; 2) "The Da Vinci Code," $756.7 million; 3) "Ice Age: The Meltdown," $647.2 million; 4) "Cars," $461.8 million; 5) "X-Men: The Last Stand," $458.8 million; 6) "Mission: Impossible III," $396.2 million; 7) "Superman Returns," $391.1 million; 8) "Casino Royale," $384.1 million; (9) "Over the Hedge," $331.3 million; 10) "The Devil Wears Prada," $311.7 million.

Source: www.boxofficemojo.com