Great Movies
Another year of Sundance nears its close after last Saturday evening’s awards ceremony, in which jury picks, audience favorites and special mentions were celebrated in an event hosted by “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” director Taika Waititi.
Nate Parker's “The Birth of a Nation” and the world cinema documentary “Sonita” lead the sprawling list of winners, each winning the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for their respective sections. Fitting for such a special list of recipients, this is only the third time in Sundance history that two films have won both categories in the same year. Other welcome yet surprising wins include Robert Greene's screenwriting honor for his documentary "Kate Plays Christine," a directing award for the polarizing "Swiss Army Man" and more.
Below is a complete list of winners:
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - “Weiner” (dir. Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg)
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - “The Birth of a Nation” (dir. Nate Parker)
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - “Sonita” (dir. Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami)
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - “Sand Storm” (dir. Elite Zexer)
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary - “Jim: The James Foley Story” (dir. Brian Oakes)
Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic - “The Birth of a Nation” (dir. Nate Parker)
Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary - “Sonita” (dir. Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami)
Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic - “Between Sea and Land” (dir. Carlos del Castillo)
Audience Award: NEXT - “First Girl I Loved” (dir. Kerem Sanga)
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary - “Life, Animated” (dir. Roger Ross Williams)
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic - “Swiss Army Man” (dir. Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan)
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary - “All These Sleepless Nights" (dir. Michal Marczak)
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic - “Belgica” (dir. Felix van Groeningen)
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic - Chad Hartigan, “Morris from America”
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing - Penny Lane and Thom Stylinski, “Nuts!” (dir. Penny Lane)
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking - “Trapped” (dir. Dawn Porter)
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Writing - “Kate Plays Christine” (dir. Robert Greene)
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Vérité Filmmaking - “The Bad Kids” (dir. Keith Fulton, Lou Pepe)
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award - “As You Are” (dir. Miles Joris-Peyrafitte)
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance - Joe Seo, “Spa Night” (dir. Andrew Ahn)
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Individual Performance - Melanie Lynskey, “The Intervention” (dir. Clea DuVall)
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Individual Performance - Craig Robinson, “Morris from America” (dir. Chad Hartigan)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Debut Feature - “When Two Worlds Collide” (dir. Heidi Brandenburg, Matthew Orzel)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography - Pieter-Jan De Pue, “The Land of the Enlightened” (dir. Pieter-Jan De Pue)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing - Mako Kamitsuna and John Maringouin, “We Are X” (dir. Stephen Kijak)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting - Vicky Hernandéz and Manolo Cruz, “Between Sea and Land” (dir. Carlos del Castillo)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Screenwriting - Ana Katz and Inés Bortagaray, “Mi Amiga del Parque” (dir. Ana Katz)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Unique Vision and Design - “The Lure” (dir. Agnieszka Smoczyńska)
A complete list of our Sundance 2016 review and interview coverage can be found here.
Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.
