The debut film by the lead singer of Belle and Sebastian and a short film directed by Billy Connolly's daughter will receive their premieres at an international film festival in the US.

God help the Girl, written and directed by Stuart Murdoch, will be shown at the Sundance Festival, which was founded by the actor Robert Redford.

Next month's festival, held in Utah, will also feature Exchange & Mart, a short film written and directed by Cara Connolly and co-directed by Martin Clark. The duo had previously co-directed The Boccia Brothers, which screened on BBC2 in August 2012.

Exchange & Mart tells the story of a boarding school girl who comes of age during a self-defence exercise. It stars Ewen Bremner and two graduates of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Grace Chilton and Tania Van Amse.

The film received support through the Scottish Shorts programme, which is run by Hopscotch Films and DigiCult.

The debut feature by Mr Murdoch was produced by Barry Mendel, producer of many successful films including Rushmore and The Sixth Sense, with co-producer Carole Sheridan of Singer Films and Beth Allen of Forest of Black in Glasgow.

Both films received funding from Creative Scotland, with God Help the Girl receiving £300,000 and Exchange & Mart receiving £20,000.

Mr Murdoch said his film tells the story of "a boy and a girl in a city roughly the same size and population of Glasgow".

The film was shot, edited, scored and mixed in the city over the past two years. It will be released in cinemas in 2014.