2003 Sundance festival includes first films directed by Matt Dillon and Salma Hayek

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ The 2003 Sundance Film Festival will begin with a little levity _ Ed Solomon's ``Levity,'' that is. <br><br>The directorial debut from Solomon, a longtime writer and producer,

Wednesday, December 4th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ The 2003 Sundance Film Festival will begin with a little levity _ Ed Solomon's ``Levity,'' that is.

The directorial debut from Solomon, a longtime writer and producer, stars Billy Bob Thornton as a convicted murderer seeking redemption after 19 years in prison. Morgan Freeman, Holly Hunter and Kirsten Dunst co-star in the film, which opens the festival on Jan. 16.

Movies from two actors who are directing for the first time also are ont he festival lineup, announced this week.

Salma Hayek directed Ruben Blades and Peter Fonda in ``The Maldonado Miracle,'' about the testing of a small town's faith when a statue of Jesus appears to be shedding tears of blood.

And Matt Dillon directed and stars in ``City of Ghosts,'' featuring James Caan, Stellan Skarsgard and Gerard Depardieu in a story about a con man on the run.

Also premiering at Sundance is ``People I Know,'' a mystery with Al Pacino, Tea Leoni, Kim Basinger and Ryan O'Neal.

Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg star in ``Good Fences,'' about an upwardly mobile family for whom the American dream becomes a nightmare.

``Born Rich,'' a documentary that survived a court battle over claims from one of the film's subjects that he was tricked into appearing, will screen in the American Spectrum program.

A New York State Supreme Court Justice ruled in October that Jamie Johnson, a 23-year-old New York University film student and Johnson & Johnson heir, had the right to distribute the documentary featuring the offspring of wealthy families, including Ivanka Trump and Georgina Bloomberg.

The ruling dismissed a lawsuit filed by Luke Weil, whose father ran the gaming technology company Autotote. Weil said he was tricked into taking part in what he thought was a school project that ``embarrassed'' and ``humiliated'' him and his family.

In the documentary competition, ``Bukowski: Born Into This'' captures the life of late cult author Charles Bukowski. ``The Education of Gore Vidal'' explores another famed author, filmed in part at Vidal's villa in Ravello, Italy.

Dramatic competition films include ``Party Monster,'' staring Macaulay Culkin in the true story of Michael Alig, a club kid who killed his drug dealer roommate. ``The Cooler'' pairs William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin with 'N Sync's Joey Fatone in the story of an Ivy League-educated man sent by the mob to revamp a casino.

Over its 11-day run, Sundance will show 125 feature films.