Five out of the 32 documentaries featured at this year’s Sundance Film Festival fall into the category of environmental films.

There is a film about dirt, one about global overfishing, a look at the peril of dolphins in a secret cove, a historial exploration of the environmental movement, and the chronical of a family’s attempt to live without harming the earth. The festival turned away another 50 mother-Earth-themed documentaries for this year’s competition, which had more environmental submissions than the last two years combined, organizers said. The festival, overall, received a record number of films submitted this year.

The five environmental docs featured in the 2009 Sundance Film Festival are:

The End of the Line is based on the book of the same name by British journalist Charles Clover and shows how global overfishing could mean the end of seafood by the year 2048. It demonstrates how the decisions on land have major consequences on sea life.

The Cove also emphasizes the sea, specifically the threat a group of dolphins faces in a small cove off a coastal village in Japan. It follows dolphin trainer, Rick O’Barry from the TV series Flipper, as he records the plight of the dolphins after they are captured by the world’s largest dolphin supplier.

No Impact Man follows author Colin Beavan and his family as they leave their high-consumption lifestyle in Manhattan and try to lead a life with zero impact on the environment. It also shows what these changes do to Beavan’s marriage to Michelle—"an espresso-guzzling, Prada-worshipping Business Week writer."

Dirt!: The Movie explores the relationship between humans and the soil. It is not just a look at how we are destroying the soil, but what we could be doing to improve it as well.

Earth Days is a historical look at the environment including all of the major events and problems since the 1970s that have contributed to the troubled state of the planet today. It does not blame one person or group, but rather reminds us that we all have to be involved in improving the environment.

Robert Redford’s indie film festival kicks off in Park City, Utah on Thursday, January 15th and runs through January 25th.

For a complete list of all of the films competing at Sundance, visit: http://festival.sundance.org/2009/

—Jessica Delli Santi