2010 Sundance Film Festival Awards Winners
The 2010 Sundance Film Festival is coming to an end and that means the winners have finally been announced. Some of the films that won that we particularly enjoyed include Winter’s Bone (review here), WAITING FOR SUPERMAN, 3 Backyards, and Sympathy for Delicious (review here). There are also a few that we didn’t get a chance to see, one of which got lots of positive buzz, happythankyoumoreplease, which I’ll hopefully get to see soon.
So without further ado, here is the list of winners:
The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
Restrepo, directed by Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington.
Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s year dug in with the Second Platoon in one of Afghanistan’s most strategically crucial valleys reveals extraordinary insight into the surreal combination of back breaking labor, deadly firefights, and camaraderie as the soldiers painfully push back the Taliban.
The Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
Winter’s Bone, directed by Debra Granik; written by Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini.
An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her missing father while trying to keep her family intact.
The World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary
The Red Chapel (Det Røde Kapel)directed by Mads Brügger.
A journalist with no scruples, a self-proclaimed spastic, and a comedian travel to North Korea under the guise of a cultural exchange visit to challenge one of the world’s most notorious regimes. Denmark
The World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic
Animal Kingdom, written and directed by David Michôd.
After the death of his mother, a seventeen year-old boy is thrust precariously between an explosive criminal family and a detective who thinks he can save him. Australia
The Audience Award: Documentary
WAITING FOR SUPERMAN, directed by Davis Guggenheim.
An examination of the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories.
The Audience Award: Dramatic
happythankyoumoreplease, written and directed by Josh Radnor.
About six New Yorkers juggling love, friendship, and the keenly challenging specter of adulthood.
The World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary
Wasteland, directed by Lucy Walker.
About international art star Vik Muniz, garbage pickers in the world’s largest landfill in Rio de Janeiro and the transformative power of art. United Kingdom / Brazil
The World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic
Contracorriente (Undertow) written and directed by Javier Fuentes-Leõn.
An unusual ghost story set on the Peruvian seaside in which a married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town’s rigid traditions. Peru / Colombia / France / Germany
The Best of NEXT award
Homewrecker, directed by Todd Barnes and Brad Barnes and written by Todd Barnes, Brad Barnes, and Sophie Goodhart.
The last romantic in New York City is an ex-con locksmith on work release.
The Directing Award: Documentary
Smash His Camera, directed by Leon Gast.
About famous celebrity photographer and original paparazzo, Ron Galella.
The Directing Award: Dramatic
3 Backyards, directed and written by Eric Mendelsohn.
The film is about a trio of brief, life-altering adventures unfolding in a seemingly normal autumn day.
The World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary
Space Tourists, directed by Christian Frei.
Explores the impact of space tourism in the heavens and on earth. Switzerland
The World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic
Southern District, directed and written by Juan Carlos Valdivia.
About a bourgeois family in La Paz, Bolivia who watches as social change begins to penetrate their insulated world. Bolivia
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
Winter’s Bone, directed by Debra Granik; written by Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini.
An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her missing father while trying to keep her family intact.
The World Cinema Screenwriting Award
Southern District, written and directed by Juan Carlos Valdivia.
About a bourgeois family in La Paz, Bolivia who watches as social change begins to penetrate their insulated world. Bolivia
The Documentary Editing Award
Joan Rivers-A Piece Of Work, edited by Penelope Falk; directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg.
An exposé chronicling the private dramas of irreverent, legendary comedian and pop icon Joan Rivers.
The World Cinema Documentary Editing Award
A Film Unfinished, written and directed by Yael Hersonski. Edited by Joëlle Alexis.
The film is a powerful documentary about Nazi-produced propaganda films. Germany / Israel.
The Excellence in Cinematography Award: Documentary
The Oath, directed by Laura Poitras. Cinematographers: Kirsten Johnson and Laura Poitras.
The interlocking drama of two brothers-in-law whose associations with al Qaeda in the 1990s propelled them on divergent courses.
The Excellence in Cinematography Award: Dramatic
Obselidia, written and directed by Diane Bell. Cinematographer: Zak Mulligan.
In his quest to document nearly extinct occupations, a man unexpectedly finds romance.
The World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary
His & Hers, directed by Ken Wardrop. Cinematographers: Kate McCullough and Michael Lavelle.
A 90-year-old love story through the collective voice of 70 days at different stages of their lives. Ireland
The World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic
The Man Next Door (El Hombre de al Lado). Directors and cinematographers Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat.
A small incident over two neighbors’ common wall sparks a conflict which affects the intimacy of the view over the chimney; the protagonist sparks a conflict and with paranoiac obsession destroys everyday life. Argentina
A World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Dramatic for Breakout Performance
Tatiana Maslany for her role as a starry-eyed teenager in Grown Up Movie Star. Canada
A World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Documentary
Enemies of the People, directed by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath.
Watershed account of Cambodian history and a quest for closure on one of the world’s darkest episodes. Cambodia / United Kingdom
A Special Jury Prize: Documentary
GASLAND, directed by Josh Fox.
With spirit, strength, and a sense of humor, Fox’s personal documentary takes a look at how natural gas affects our air and drinking water.
A Special Jury Prize: Dramatic
Sympathy for Delicious, directed by Mark Ruffalo; written by and starring Christopher Thornton.
About a recently paralyzed DJ who seeks out the dubious world of faith healing.
The 2010 Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking
Drunk History: Douglass & Lincoln (Director: Jeremy Konner).
The 2010 Jury Prize in International Short Filmmaking
The Six Dollar Fifty Man / New Zealand (Directors and screenwriters: Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland).
Honorable Mentions in Short Filmmaking
Born Sweet / USA, Cambodia (Director: Cynthia Wade)
Can We Talk? / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Jim Owen)
Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No / USA (Director: James Blagden)
How I Met Your Father / Spain (Director and screenwriter: Álex Montoya)
Quadrangle / USA (Director: Amy Grappell)
Rob and Valentyna in Scotland / USA, United Kingdom (Director: Eric Lynne; Screenwriters: Eric Lynne and Rob Chester Smith)
Young Love / Australia (Director and screenwriter: Ariel Kleiman).
Alfred P. Sloan Prize
Obselidia, written and directed by Diane Bell.
The 2010 Sundance Film Festival Juries consisted of:
U.S. Documentary Competition: Greg Barker, Dayna Goldfine, Nancy Miller, Morgan Spurlock, Ondi Timoner
U.S. Dramatic Competition: Russell Banks, Jason Kliot, Karyn Kusama, Parker Posey, Robert Yeoman
World Cinema Documentary Competition: Jennifer Baichwal, Jeffrey Brown, Asako Fujioka
World Cinema Dramatic Competition: Alison Maclean, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Sigurjon “Joni” Sighvatsson
Shorts Competition: Sterlin Harjo, Brent Hoff, Christine Vachon
Alfred P. Sloan Award: Peter Galison, Darcy Kelley, Joe Palca, Paul Sereno, Marianna Palka.
