Some facts on Goats:

‘Goats,” a film with deep Tucson connections, will compete with the finest so-called independent films in the land at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

The “so-called” moniker is deserved because most Sundance premieres include big stars and are backed by significant budgets.

“Goats” is no different. It’s a coming-of-age tale about a teen (Graham Phillips) who befriends an older goat herder played by David Duchovny. Vera Farmiga plays the boy’s mom, and Ty Burrell (Phil from “Modern Family”) also has a supporting role.

Former Tucsonan Mark Jude Poirier penned the novel, as well as the screenplay, on which the movie is based. The movie is set here, and Poirier pushed hard for the movie to shoot on location in Tucson for two weeks in February.

Poirier said by email that he will attend Sundance, just as he did in 2008 with the film “Smart People,” for which he wrote the screenplay.

“I was totally excited to learn it’ll be playing at Sundance,” Poirier said. “Because I went with ‘Smart People,’ I think I know how to do Sundance better. More snowboarding and more films. Fewer parties.”

Source: AZ Starnet