A record crop of British talent is tramping the snowy streets of Utah this weekend in search of the Quentin Tarantino path to superstardom.

It was at the Sundance Film Festival that the erstwhile video-shop worker caused a sensation with his debut film Reservoir Dogs in 1992. This year Tarantino is in Park City as part of a jury judging the best American dramatic film at the festival, which takes its name from the role for which its chairman, Robert Redford, is most famed.

The Sundance Film Festival has grown into the world’s largest market-place for independent movie-makers, and this year British films are second in number only to American ones.

Eleven British films and documentaries are among the 125 features selected from 3,624 films seen by the festival programming team. A further 12 short films from the UK are also showing.

John Woodward, of the UK Film Council, said: “This year’s Sundance festival is a fantastic showcase for British talent – proving that we have some of the best new film-makers around. Not only is it a triumph for the UK but it’s also great exposure for our film-makers on the international stage.

“I am particularly pleased as nine of the 23 British films are funded with National Lottery cash which is testimony to the positive impact we are having.”

In Bruges, a British-Irish production starring Ralph Fiennes, Colin Farrell, and Brendan Gleeson, was the opening film on Thursday night. British contributions also include The Escapist, a thriller with Brian Cox and Joseph Fiennes set in tunnels beneath London, and A Complete History of my Sexual Failures, a documentary High Fidelity in which the award-winning director Chris Waitt interviews his former girlfriends to discover why he is such a loser in love.

British talent is also represented among the most hotly-tipped American films. Ben Kingsley plays a drug-addled psychiatrist in the comedy The Wackness and Emily Blunt is a crime-scene cleaner in Sunshine Cleaning.

It promises to be another financial feeding frenzy even though the films snapped up at the festival last year produced the worst box-office returns on record. In 2007 distributors spent $53 million (£27 million) on 20 titles, according to Variety. The 14 titles that made it to cinemas grossed a paltry $34 million.

This year prices will be fanned by the Writers Guild strike, industry leaders say. A deal on contracts struck yesterday between the studios and the Directors Guild of America has raised hopes that an end to the writer’s strike which has paralysed Hollywood film production and the awards season may also be in sight. However, the industrial action has already forced the studios to abandon several planned films leaving gaping holes in their schedules.

Bob Berney, president of Picturehouse, said: “This year prices may be higher because of the strike. Fest fever can kill you. People will start buying.” Tom Bernard of Sony Pictures Classics put it more graphically: “It’s not the movies, it’s the hotbox of the selling. Sellers are whipping people into a frenzy. It’s back-alley stuff. It’s speed-dating – then you get married.”

One debutante director sure to attract attention over the next week is Amy Redford. Redford Sr was asked on the opening night about the presence of his daughter and her film The Guitar in the festival lineup. He replied simply: “I’m here as her dad. Her work is here on its own.”

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