The Sundance Institute announced Wednesday that it's launching Sundance Film Festival U.S.A., a Jan. 28 event that will host screenings in eight cities during the Park City festival. Eight filmmakers and their films will be dispatched from the festival to host screenings at local arthouses, followed by live conversation with the filmmakers.

An introductory video featuring Robert Redford and festival highlights will precede the screenings. The events will take place in Los Angeles (Downtown Independent), San Francisco (Sundance Kabuki Cinemas), Chicago (Music Box Theater), Brooklyn (BAM), Nashville (Belcourt Theater) plus Ann Arbor, Mich. (Michigan Theater); Brookline, Mass. (Coolidge Corner Theater); and Madison, Wis. (Sundance Cinemas Madison).

"The concept behind Sundance Film Festival U.S.A. is to ignite dialogue as people across the country engage in a collective film experience," said Redford, Sundance founder and president of the Sundance Institute. "It is an extension, really, of the work we have done for decades: supporting the independent voice, bringing artists to the table and inserting art more and more into the social context of how we live."

Sundance will announce the films and filmmakers traveling to the eight cities shortly after next month's programming announcement for the 2010 festival.