What do stars like Drew Barrymore, Danny Glover, Courtney Love, Christopher Walken, Albert Brooks, Elizabeth Hurley, Kate Winslet and Billy Zane have in common? They are just a few of the celebrities who are featured in this year's Sundance Film Festival.

A few short years ago, film festivals were small venues where desperate filmmakers attempt to get their works of art seen by anyone. Recently however, festivals have become the breaking ground for some of the best films and biggest stars in Hollywood. Held in Park City, Utah in January, the Sundance Film Festival receives more than 3,000 submissions each year, with only 100 films selected. And of those 100, only 16 films are in competition.

Over the years the festival has been the start of filmmakers such as the Coen Brothers, Robert Rodriquez, Kevin Smith, Edward Burns, Steven Sodenberg and Neil LaBute--all of whom have won awards at Sundance. The festival has also launched the careers of many actors, such as Frances McDormand, Campbell Scott, Ashley Judd, Antonio Banderas, Liv Tyler and Janet McTeer. Moreover, who can forget in 1999 that little $35,000 mock-umentary discovered at Sundance that ended up making hundreds of millions of dollars? (Read: The Blair Witch Project).

Although it began in 1978 as the U.S. Film Festival, it wasn't until 1985 that its famous leader, Robert Redford and the Sundance Institute took the Utah-based festival under its wing. Redford and the Institute help over 400 filmmakers a year aside from the festival, many which have gone off to win awards like Oscars and Emmys.

Each year from its inception, the Sundance Film festival seems to get bigger and brighter, with over 20,000 attendees last year. More and more, major Hollywood studios are picking up the films so the rest of the world can see them too. With independent film becoming a household word, the Sundance Film Festival has emerged as one of the best showcases with impeccable taste for quality filmmaking.