Sunday 6 February 2011

Sundance 2011: Awards Recap

A pared-down version of the following article was first published as Sundance 2011: Film Festival Award Winners on Technorati.comAdditional notes have been added in brackets, below.

Although it's been a week since Park City, Utah went from fizzy to still, the Sundance buzz continues. Be sure to watch for the award winners (and the rest of this year's amazing selections) as these films roll out into theaters over the course of 2011 and beyond. Many of Sundance's best have become Oscar contenders and box office hits. This festival received over 10,000 submissions, this year--a testament to its ability to generate sales and success for a film's creators.


Saturday night's award winners at the Sundance Film Festival were humble, grateful, teary-eyed and funny as they accepted their snowflake-etched mini-monoliths. Sam Levinson, who received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for penning Another Happy Day, was barely able to keep himself together during his acceptance speech: "When I introduced my film, I cried. So I don't know what the fuck's going to happen, now."

Drake Doremus, Dir. of 'Like Crazy'
The highly-anticipated U.S. Dramatic Competition Grand Jury Prize went to Drake Doremus' sweet love story, Like Crazy. It was presented by four-time Oscar-nominated writer and director Jason Reitman. "I came to this festival in 1998, when I was still in college," Reitman said. "I came as my father's son and I left a filmmaker." Having been a part of the festival was a huge accomplishment, "and no one could ever take that from me." He pointed to the gathered crowd of filmmakers. "Now, no one can ever take that from you."

Festival patrons watched the live stream from laptops or followed the @Sundancefest and @Sundancefestnow Twitter feeds. Who won what was the hot topic of the evening, especially for those with tickets to the award-winner screenings, as the films they were about to see were not announced publicly until the ceremony.

Many of Sundance's 2010 films were nominated for Academy Awards this year, and audiences will do well to partake of this year's awards crop--a mission made easier by the fact that many of the winners have already scored distribution deals. By the end of the winter, it may be that all of them have.

Read the full list of winners, accompanied by notes on selected films, here:


Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
Like Crazy
and Special Jury Prize: Dramatic
Felicity Jones for her role in Like Crazy
(Directed by Drake Doremus; written by Drake Doremus and Ben York Jones)
A young American guy and a young British girl meet in college and fall in love. Their love is tested when she is required to leave the country and they must face the challenges of a long-distance relationship. [A sweet love story more in tune with the sensibilities of a younger crowd--everyone I spoke to who was under 35, especially if single, loved it. Maybe I'm too old and jaded, but it lacked the gut punch I was expecting.]

Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
How to Die in Oregon
(Directed by Peter D. Richardson)
In 1994 Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. How to Die in Oregon gently enters the lives of terminally ill Oregonians to illuminate the power of death with dignity. [I spoke to a minister who watched this film and claimed that it was respectful and emotionally weighty, but missed the ethical/moral consideration he felt the film should have explored.]

World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary
Hell and Back Again
(Directed by Danfung Dennis)
Told through the eyes of one Marine from the start of his 2009 Afghanistan tour to his distressing return and rehabilitation in the U.S., we witness what modern "unconventional" warfare really means to the men who are fighting it. (U.S.A./United Kingdom) [One man, one camera, following one soldier's story--a story that was powerful enough to make the military keep its subject restricted to Base and unable to attend the world premiere. Provocative enough for you?]

World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic
Happy, Happy (Sykt Lykkelig)
(Directed by Anne Sewitsky; written by Ragnhild Tronvoll)
A perfect housewife, who just happens to be sex-starved, struggles to keep her emotions in check when an attractive family moves in next door. (Norway)

Audience Award: Documentary
Buck
(Directed by Cindy Meehl)
A story about the power of non-violence and master horse trainer Buck Brannaman, who uses principles of respect and trust to tame horses and inspire their human counterparts. [This film will make you rethink how you deal with your children, your family, and everyone you come in contact with. Required viewing for horse enthusiasts, animal lovers, and anyone who loved the movie The Horse Whisperer. This is the man the movie was based on, in part.]

Audience Award: Dramatic
Circumstance
(Directed and written by Maryam Keshavarz)
A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager's growing sexual rebellion and her brother's dangerous obsession.

World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary
Senna
(Directed by Asif Kapadia; written by Manish Pandey)
Legendary racing driver and Brazilian hero Ayrton Senna takes us on the ultimate journey of what it means to become the greatest when faced with the constant possibility of death. (United Kingdom) [Played extremely well for every young man I spoke to who had seen it.]

World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic
Kinyarwanda
(Directed and written by Alrick Brown)
Kinyarwanda tells the story of Rwandans who crossed the lines of hatred during the 1994 genocide, turning mosques into places of refuge for Muslims and Christians, Hutus and Tutsis. (U.S.A./Rwanda) [Extremely powerful series of interwoven stories, taken from the lives of real genocide survivors. The reconciliation depicted here continues to go on all over Rwanda, even today (and beyond--see The Redemption of General Butt Naked, below). We could use more of the Rwandan forgiveness philosophy in the world.]

The Best of NEXT!: Audience Award
to.get.her
(Directed and written by Erica Dunton)
Five girls come together for one fateful night where anything goes. They all had secrets, but their friendship was the only thing they knew to be true.

Directing Award: Documentary
Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
(Directed by Jon Foy)
An urban mystery unfurls as one man pieces together the surreal meaning of hundreds of cryptic tiled messages that have been appearing in city streets across the U.S. and South America.

Directing Award: Dramatic
Martha Marcy May Marlene
(Directed and written by Sean Durkin)
Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult. [Follow-up to Durkin's 2010 Cannes award-winning short Mary Last Seen. If you can say the name of this film five times fast, you win a prize. This feature may just rocket Elizabeth "Lizzie" Olsen (younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley) into the stratosphere.]

World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary
Project Nim
(Directed by James Marsh)
This film explores the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who was taught to communicate with language as he was raised and nurtured like a human child. (United Kingdom) [A huge audience favorite at Sundance.]

World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic
Tyrannosaur
(Directed and written by Paddy Considine)
For a man plagued by self-destructive violence and rage, a chance of redemption appears in the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker with a devastating secret of her own. (United Kingdom)

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
Another Happy Day
(Directed and written by Sam Levinson)
A pair of reckless siblings are dragged into a chaotic family wedding by their overwrought mother.

World Cinema Screenwriting Award
Restoration
(Directed by Yossi Madmony; written by Erez Kav-El)
An antique furniture restorer, who, aided by a young and mysterious apprentice, struggles to keep his workshop alive, while his relationship with his own estranged son, who is trying to close down the shop, begins to disintegrate. (Israel)

Documentary Editing Award
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
(Edited by Matthew Hamachek and Marshall Curry; directed by Marshall Curry)
The Earth Liberation Front is a radical environmental group that the FBI calls America's "number one domestic terrorist threat." Daniel McGowan, an ELF member, faces life in prison for two multi-million dollar arsons against Oregon timber companies. [In its exploration of the ELF, this film asks a lot of important questions about the definition of terrorism, how far is too far to push corporations in the fight against ecological destruction, and the price each of us is willing to put on our principles, in the long run.]

World Cinema Documentary Editing Award
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
(Edited by Göran Hugo Olsson and Hanna Lejonqvist; directed by Göran Hugo Olsson)
From 1967 to 1975, Swedish journalists chronicled the Black Power movement in America. Combining that 16mm footage, undiscovered until now, with contemporary audio interviews, this film illuminates the people and culture that fueled change and brings the movement to life anew. (Sweden/U.S.A.)

Excellence in Cinematography Award: Documentary
The Redemption of General Butt Naked
(Cinematographers: Eric Strauss, Ryan Hill and Peter Hutchens; directed by Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion)
A brutal warlord who murdered thousands during Liberia's horrific 14-year civil war renounces his violent past and reinvents himself as an Evangelist, facing those he once terrorized. [See my notes on Kinyarwanda, above. Although I wasn't able to see this film myself, the subject matter is directly tied to that of the reconciliation "courts" found in nearly every neighborhood in Rwanda, today. Can we forgive and let live, when it comes to criminals like these?]

Excellence in Cinematography Award: Dramatic
Pariah
(Cinematographer: Bradford Young; directed and written by Dee Rees)
When forced to choose between losing her best friend or destroying her family, a Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and endures heartbreak in a desperate search for sexual expression. [Played extremely well amongst audiences. Will likely tug hardest at the heartstrings of the LGBT community.]

World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary
Hell and Back Again
(Cinematographer: Danfung Dennis; directed by Danfung Dennis)
Told through the eyes of one Marine from the start of his 2009 Afghanistan tour to his distressing return and rehabilitation in the U.S., we witness what modern "unconventional" warfare really means to the men who are fighting it. (U.S.A./United Kingdom) [See notes for World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary, above.]

World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic
All Your Dead Ones
(Cinematographer: Diego F. Jimenez; directed by Carlos Moreno; written by Alonso Torres and Carlos Moreno)
One morning, a peasant wakes to find a pile of bodies in the middle of his crops. When he goes to the authorities, he quickly realizes that the dead ones are a problem nobody wants to deal with. (Colombia)

Two World Cinema Special Jury Prizes: Dramatic, for Breakout Performances
Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan for their roles in Tyrannosaur
(Directed and written by Paddy Considine)
For a man plagued by self-destructive violence and rage, a chance of redemption appears in the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker with a devastating secret of her own. (United Kingdom)

World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Documentary
Position Among the Stars (Stand van de Sterren)
(Directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich)
An expose of the effects of globalization on Indonesia's rapidly changing society as it ripples into the life of a poor Christian woman living in the slums of Jakarta with her Muslim sons and teenage granddaughter. (The Netherlands) [The third in a 3-part series (following The Eye of the Day and Shape of the Moon), but I understand from those who caught the film that it stands alone well.]

Special Jury Prize: Documentary
BEING ELMO: A Puppeteer's Journey
(Directed by Constance Marks)
The inspirational story of Kevin Clash and how he brought a childhood icon to life, BEING ELMO crosses cultures and generations. [The only Sundance film at which I have ever seen children. Didn't hold the attention of the youngest audience members (under 5s), but was absolutely a cheer-worthy portrait of a boy who followed his passion, despite the teasing of his peers, and lived his dream into adulthood. Kevin Clash brought Elmo for a meet-and-greet with the kids after the film and was exactly the kind of humble, funny, huge-hearted person every parent imagines Elmo's creator should be. An especially emotional film for those adults who remember Jim Henson and his muppeteers with fondness.]

Special Jury Prize: Dramatic
Another Earth
(Directed by Mike Cahill; written by Mike Cahill and Brit Marling)
On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, a horrible tragedy irrevocably alters the lives of two strangers, who begin an unlikely love affair. [A Sci-Fi twist that sparked a Sundance panel on science in film, this year.]

Announced earlier in the week:

Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking
Brick Novax pt 1 and 2 (Director and screenwriter: Matt Piedmont)

The International Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking
Deeper Than Yesterday (Australia) (Director and screenwriter: Ariel Kleiman)
[The very young director claimed at the Q&A that his most difficult struggle was getting a too-small submarine full of burly Russian actors to listen to him; whatever he did, it worked marvelously. The audience was shocked to learn that this was a student film(!) and all agreed: Kleiman deserved an "A".]

Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award
Bogdan Mustata, Wolf (Romania)
Ernesto Contreras, I Dream in Another Language (Mexico)
Seng Tat Liew, In What City Does It Live? (Malaysia)
Talya Lavie, Zero Motivation (Israel)

Sundance Institute and NHK Award--Honoring and supporting emerging filmmakers
Cherien Dabis, May in the Summer

Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize--For an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character ($20,000 cash award)
Another Earth, written and directed by Mike Cahill

Highlights from the Awards Ceremony can be seen on the Festival website, www.sundance.org/festival.http://technorati.com/entertainment/film/article/sundance-2011-film-festival-award-winners/

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