Sex workers, robots, and bachelorettes star in festival films likely to grab attention in theaters.

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The trip down the mountain from Park City at the end of the Sundance Film Festival is an apt metaphor for the journey of the movies that have premiered and scored distribution deals there. Industry players, critics, and fest attendees have spent 10 days weighing a new crop of independent films, determining which ones have potential to be the next crossover hit. For the industry, now comes the scary part: The films are released from Park City's rarefied air, and soon it will be your turn to weigh in on them.

The 2012 fest was not the best in recent memory, as it lacked a true breakout star and a wealth of great, buzz-worthy films, but it still offered an array of works that caught the attentions of audiences and distribution execs. Among them: the surreal Louisiana fantasy Beasts of the Southern Wild, the John Hawkes-starring drama The Surrogate, and the futuristic comedy Robot and Frank. Here's a look at these and some other movies from this year's Sundance that are likely to score with audiences in the months ahead:

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