A look at bondage websites, the story of an oil industry diver-turned-filmmaker in the heart of Fallujah, a tale of two Crow Indian brothers, and a behind-the-scenes chronicle of a 12-year-old Texas girl who made a feature-length zombie film are among the documentaries that will be screened at next month’s Slamdance film festival.

In fact, in what is one of the toughest and most-aggressive competitions among festivals, only 20 features in the narrative and documentary feature categories combined will be screened in the main competition, which is strictly devoted to films without domestic theatrical distribution and budgets under $1 million, from first-time feature directors. Slamdance will mark its 15th year with 100 films during the nine-day festival which begins Jan. 15 in Park City and Salt Lake City.

Among the documentaries to be featured are:

Graphic Sexual Horror — Barbara Bell and Anna Lorentzon (directors/writers)

This 85-minute documentary goes behind the taboo-laden facade of Insex.com, among the most notorious of bondage Web sites, exploring the dark mind of its artistic creator and asking hard questions about personal responsibility. The film features original Insex footage, behind-the-scenes interactions, and interviews with Brent Scott, known as the Web site’s PD, models, members, and staff who reveal deep fascinations with bondage and sadomasochism that run, according to the directors, parallel, and, in fact, become irreversibly entwined with the lure of money.

Preview screenings apparently have been a bit unnerving, according to the directors, who are intent on not swaying the audience toward a particular view point. In fact, their artistic statement suggests:

“Yet the longer we worked on this documentary, the more we understood that the dilemmas and difficulties that these individuals faced at Insex were the exact same dilemmas faced by everyone everyday. If you need the money to pay bills, can you say no? What happens to the line of consent when large amounts of money are involved? How far will you go to make your business succeed? When are you going to give up blaming someone else and take responsibility for your own life?”

The Road to Fallujah — Mark Manning (director/writer)

Shortly after the Iraq War battle that destroyed the ancient holy city of Fallujah four years ago, Mark Manning left his job as a diver on the offshore oil rigs of California and traveled to the Middle East, where he Rana Al-Aiouby, a humanitarian aid worker and journalist from Iraq. Together, un-embedded and without armed security, they set out to document the reality of war from the perspective of the Iraqi people.

The film’s compact editing adds to its impact. The documentary includes interviews with Iraqi civilians, refugees, resistance fighters, members of the American military and the U.S. Congress, media analysts, Islamic scholars, and world leaders of peace, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Arun Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, and Thich Nhat Hanh.

Zombie Girl — Justin Johnson, Aaron Marshall, Erik Mauck (directors/writers)

Marking its Utah premiere, this 2008 documentary is no trivial novelty. Emily Hagins, 12, is a sixth grade students in Austin, Texas who has been addicted to movies and moviemaking since early childhood. Viewers learn early that she has seen “Lord of the Rings” more than 30 times.

And, that is the connection to her passion for filmmaking. When the Rings director Peter Jackson answered her letter seeking advice about the industry, he also introduced her to Harry Knowles, an Austin filmmaker, who gave her an internship with a local production company when she was 10. This, in turn, set the gutsy and sometimes-painful naive path for her, at age 12, to make Pathogen, a feature-length film about zombies.

Despite the obvious appeal of her unconventional story, the documentary producers do not hesitate to show the mistakes and glitches that become important teaching moments for the often-frustrated young director. As film reviewer Merle Bertrand concludes:

“The filmmakers show lots of behind-the-scenes moments, but very little of Emily’s finished film. While this is frustrating on the one hand, as it’s only natural to want to see what the kid came up with, it also points out the undercurrent running throughout this well-done documentary: that just finishing the film is an amazing accomplishment and makes her a filmmaker. Any moments in her film that manage to actually be entertaining are merely icing on the cinematic cake.”

Lost Sparrow — Chris Billing (director/writer)

This 78-minute film represents Billing’s intense, emotional personal investigation surrounding the deaths of his two adopted Crow Indian brothers 30 years ago. As he probes his family history, Billing comes to terms with emotionally shattering truths about his loved ones.

Billing has more than two decades of experience in documentary filmmaking and network news coverage. His first documentary, Up to the Mountain, Down to the Village in 2005, focused on three members of China’s “lost generation” who return to the remote and impoverished villages where they were sent as teenagers for a decade of re-education during Chairman Mao’s tumultuous Cultural Revolution.

Billing worked for more than a decade as a China-based journalist, including a five-year stint as NBC’s Beijing bureau chief. During his NBC tenure, he reported on numerous historic events, including the death of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, Hong Kong’s reversion from British to Chinese rule, and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Other documentaries scheduled to be screened include:

Hard To Be An Indian — Beth Toni Kruvant (director), Jonah Kruvant (writer)

The documentary chronicles the trials and tribulations of an inner-city school and the principal, Jewish alumni and gang members who return it to safety and restore its former glory.

Oh My God, It’s Harrod Blank — David Silverberg (director/writer)

The film is a portrait of the eccentric art-car artist Harrod Blank, following him from his youth in the woods to his current multi-faceted career as creator and head of a nationwide art-car movement. With appearances by his father, filmmaker Les Blank.

Second Sight — Alison McAlpine (director/writer)

This will be the American premiere for this 2008 film, a cinematic, non-fiction ghost story featuring the last generation of Gaelic storytellers on Scotland’s Isle of Skye.

Smile Til It Hurts — Lee Storey (director/writer)

This is the North America premiere of the film which examines Up With People, the singing group that represented an establishment-friendly alternative to the counter-culture.

Strongman — Zachary Levy (director/writer)

This 113-minute world premiere documentary tells the story of Stanless Steel, who is strong enough to bend a penny with just his fingers. As he reaches middle age, career disappointments and difficult personal relationships begin to test his strengths and force him to struggle with the weaknesses around him, including his own.

Unwanted Witness — Juan Jose Lozano (director/writer)

A 2008 film from Switzerland and France, this film is situated in the middle of Colombia’s humanitarian tragedy as a journalist fights to report and disclose the barbarity of the conflict.

As it does every year, Slamdance will run concurrently with the Sundance Film Festival. Slamdance and the box office will be headquartered and films will screen at the Treasure Mountain Inn, 255 Main Street, the Festival’s headquarters since 1998. For more information and for a complete listing of films in the Festival, visit here or call 323/466-1786. Festival passes are now on sale on the web site and individual tickets go on sale online Dec. 16.