Quite a few more acquisitions were made at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival today. Fox Searchlight picked up most of the worldwide rights to Homework starring Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts, and the worldwide rights to Martha Marcy May Marlene starring breakout Sundance star (and sister to Mary-Kate and Ashley) Elizabeth Olsen. IFC Films acquired the U.S. rights to Matthew Chapman’s thriller The Ledge starring Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson and Terrence Howard. Regarding the acquisition, Chapman had this to say:

“Having watched THE LEDGE play to audiences in Sundance and seeing  their reactions, I believe that with the help of IFC Films we will reach the widest audience possible, which was always my intention.”

On the documentary side of things, Sundance Selects grabbed the North American rights to the Buck, a documentary about the real life “Horse Whisperer” Buck Brannaman.  Hit the jump to read the full press releases.

With the Sundance Film Festival premiering in a little over a month (48 days to be exact), new images from the films in competition have begun to emerge. As such, we are pleased to bring you a few screenshots from Gavin Wiesen’s Homework, starring Freddie Highmore, Emma Roberts, Rita Wilson and Blair Underwood; and Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, with Elizabeth Olsen, Brady Corbet, Hugh Dancy, John Hawkes, and Sarah Paulson.

Homework finished shooting in New York last April and marks Wiesen’s feature length debut as writer and director. Likewise, Martha Marcy May Marlene is the first for Durkin, who wrote and directed the film. Hit the jump to see the pics and for a brief synopses:

The films playing in-competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival have been announced.  Some of this year’s competitors include Vera Farmiga’s directorial debut Higher Ground, Paddy Considine’s feature directorial debut Tyrannosaur, Matthew Chapman’s thriller The Ledge, Michael Rapaport’s documentary Beats, Rhymes and Life (which is about the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest), and a documentary about lovable Sesame Street resident Elmo (or rather, his puppeteer).

However, the movies playing in-competition at Sundance are only a fraction of the total number of films that play at the festival.  This will be my first year attending the festival and I’m super-excited about going.  Hit the jump for a full list of the in-competition films.  The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20 – 30th.