First it was the United Nations. Next was Hollywood.

Now it’s time for Sundance.

The past few months have given Tim Leaton a wild ride. Winning a film competition judged by high-profile personalities such as George Clooney, the Dalai Lama and Walter Cronkite has jump-started things considerably for the Virginia Tech senior.

In June, Leaton’s short film “Orphans in Africa” was announced as one of the five winners of Film Your Issue, a national competition that invited people ages 18 to 26 to submit 30- to 60-second films addressing social issues. Leaton’s film included footage he shot during a church mission trip at the Canaan Orphanage in Uganda.

Part of his prize package was a trip to the United Nations in New York, where he and the four other winners and their films were honored June 19. During the ceremony, Leaton met FYI founder and president HeathCliff Rothman, Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn and journalist Judy Woodruff.

He didn’t have much time to let his U.N. experience sink in. Before leaving for New York from his home in Midlothian, Va., he found out he was the competition’s grand prize winner. This meant he’d be heading to Hollywood a day after getting back from New York to claim his prize: a paid, eight-week internship with the Walt Disney Company in Burbank, Calif.

“A lot of my mentors were some of the top execs there, so I got a feel of everything that makes up the Disney Company,” Leaton said. “I had so many questions about whether I wanted to go to film school or not, and they gave me great advice for that.”

“I found Tim to be extremely bright and very eager to learn the Hollywood way of making films. His enthusiasm spread around the entire floor,” said Jerry Ketcham, senior executive vice president of production with the Walt Disney Company.

Ketcham helped Leaton get his hands dirty in everything from editing to sound recording to filming. He worked on the sets of feature films such as “The Santa Clause 3” and “Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End.” He even got to meet Captain Jack Sparrow himself, Johnny Depp.

“He was pretty normal, actually. A very nice guy,” Leaton said of the eccentric actor. He also met Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Costner during a brief stint as a production assistant for the film “The Guardian.”

While working on the set, Leaton learned that his amateur directing experience wasn’t quite so amateur after all.

“I realized that it wasn’t that different from the process I go through making my own movies,” he said of the feature filmmaking process.

“It all starts with a good story, and that’s what he [Leaton] had in his short film,” Ketcham said. “We all shoot through the same cameras and all, it’s just that features are usually bigger stories that involve more layers of costuming and detailed camera work to get the story told.”

With the U.N. and his internship behind him, Leaton is headed out West again, but not quite as far as California this time. He and the other FYI winners will be presented at a reception during the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, which began Thursday. He will be accompanied by his family, including mom Barbara, dad Ed, sister Christina and brother Jonny to the festival site in Park City, Utah. Lots of skiing and star-gazing will be on the family’s schedule, Leaton said.

Having allowed his summer with FYI to fully sink in, Leaton has now realized that directing is his passion and the career he will pursue. To that end, he will be moving back to Los Angeles after graduation.

Until then, Leaton is ready to tackle his final semester at Virginia Tech. His course load for the spring includes a screen-writing class.

But aren’t there other upcoming film competitions for Leaton? Well, a family friend recently sent him an e-mail with information about a Super Bowl contest that invites amateur directors to make their own commercials, with the winning entry set to air on the night of the game. But Leaton’s passing on that one.

“I’m happy enough with what happened this summer,” he said with a laugh.