Susan Buice and Arin Crumley‘s Four Eyed Monsters has won the 2006 Sundance Audience Award for the eight-month long indieWIRE: Undiscovered Gems Film Series. The series’ co-presenters The New York Times and New York-based digital cinema network Emerging Pictures (co-founded by IFP Board Member Ira Deutchman), in association with the California Film Institute and The Sundance Channel, made the announcement last night. Winning the prize gives the movie the opportunity for a theatrical release through Emerging Pictures and a TV premiere on Sundance Channel. The award is valued at $100,000.

The Undiscovered Gems Series is based on indieWIRE‘s annual list of the top 15 films from major festivals that don’t have theatrical distribution. The film series began in April 2006 with Jem Cohen‘s Chain, followed by the Duplass Brothers‘ Puffy Chair in May, Georgia Lee‘s Red Doors in June, Andrew Bujalski‘s Mutual Appreciation in August, Kyle Henry‘s Room in September, Paul Cox‘s Human Touch in October, and Massaker, a film by Monika Berggman, Nina Menkes, Lokman Slim and Hermann Theissen, in November.

Through Emerging Pictures’ digital network, the Undiscovered Gems collaboration this year brought one film per month from indieWIRE’s list to 20 screens across the country. The winner was determined by audience balloting at each venue.

With the support of Sundance Channel, an audience award competition began this year to help provide the winning filmmaker with an opportunity of a theatrical release in New York, LA, and a minimum of five other US cities in 2007, as well as an exclusive TV broadcast on Sundance Channel.