LOS ANGELES — Films featuring Winona Ryder, Nick Nolte, Anjelica Huston and Paul Giamatti will be among those competing at the Sundance Film Festival.

The lineup for the nation's main showcase for independent film, also included documentaries on writer Hunter S. Thompson, musician Patti Smith, and filmmakers Roman Polanski and Derek Jarman.

Taking place Jan. 17-27 in Park City, Utah, Sundance has chosen 16 films in its dramatic competition for American fictional films, including director Geoff Haley's "The Last Word," starring Ryder in a romance about a reclusive writer who crafts suicide notes for other people.

Also competing in a lineup heavy on tales of families at odds: Rawson Thurber's "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" with Nolte, Sienna Miller, Peter Sarsgaard and Jon Foster in the story of a young man with a gangster father who embarks on a soul-searching summer after college; Clark Gregg's "Choke" with Huston and Sam Rockwell in a mother-and-son tale; and Paul Schneider's "Pretty Bird" with Giamatti and Billy Crudup in a dark comic narrative of entrepreneurs trying to invent a rocket belt.

Another entry: Christine Jeffs' "Sunshine Cleaning," the story of an enterprising mother and her reluctant sister who try their hand at the crime-scene cleanup business. It stars Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin and Amy Redford, daughter of Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford.

The 16 documentaries in the U.S. competition feature Alex Gibney's "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson,"; "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," Marina Zenovich's examination of the Academy Award-winning director of "The Pianist" and "Chinatown" ; and "Patti Smith: Dream of Life," Steven Sebring's study of the music icon.