The Virtual Sundance Film Festival ended with another virtual award ceremony. There was no presenter this year, and a series of explanations and videos of the prizes were shared over two hours on Twitter. The winners were given the chance to prepare acceptance speeches covering the teams and some anti-climate speeches were featured. First prize in the US Drama category went to grand jury winner “Nanny,” a supernatural thriller in which first-time director Nikyatu Jusu struggles to care for another mother’s child and is stuck collecting the money needed to give birth to him.
The audience award winner in the same category was “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” where writer-director Cooper Raiff plays an inexperienced party promoter who falls in love with a single mother (Dakota Johnson) who attends his many events. The crowd-pleasing film was bought by Apple for $15 million, making it the festival’s biggest sale ever.
The Festival Favorite award went to “Navalny”. This award, which was chosen by the audience from all parts of the festival, went to the late film that was added to the selection. The documentary follows Russian opposition leader Alexei while being guarded for his political sensibilities. Navalny survives an assassination attempt in Berlin. “Navalny would have been thrilled if he had known that he had won the People’s Choice award,” said director Daniel Roher, who received the award. said.
While “Navalny” was the popular choice, the US Documentary jury awarded co-directors Violet Columbus and Ben Klein’s “The Exiles,” a high-concept re-examination of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre through various eyewitnesses. The project marked a return to Sundance for senior director Christine Choy.
Here are the winners:
Drama (USA)
Jury Prize: “Nanny”
Audience Award: “Cha Cha Real Smooth”
Directed by: Jamie Dack, “Palm Trees and Power Lines”
Screenplay: KD Dávila, “Emergency”
Special Jury Prize – Artistic Perspective: Bradley Rust Gray, “blood”
Special Jury Prize – Ensemble Performance: John Boyega, Nicole Beharie, Selenis Leyva, Connie Britton, Olivia Washington, London Covington, and Michael K Williams, 892”
Documentary (USA)
Jury Prize: “The Exiles”
Audience Award: “Navalny”
Directed by: Reid Davenport, “I Didn’t See You There”
Editing: Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput, “Fire of Love”
Special Jury Prize – Impact for Change: “Aftershock”
Special Jury Award – Creative Vision: “Descendant”
Drama (World Cinema)
Jury Prize: “Utama”
Audience Award: “Girl Picture”
Directed by: Maryna Private Gorbach, “Klondike”
Special Jury Prize: “Leonor Will Never Die”
Special Jury Prize – Acting: Teresa Sánchez, “Dos Estaciones”
Documentary (World Cinema)
Grand Jury Prize: “All That Breathes”
Audience Award: “The Territory”
Directing Award: “A House Made of Splinters”
Special Jury Award for Documentary Craft: “The Territory”
Special Jury Award for Excellence In Verité Filmmaking: “Midwives”
Other Awards
NEXT Audience Award: “Framing Agnes”
NEXT Innovation Award: Chase Joynt, “Framing Agnes”
Alfred P. Sloan Film Award: “After Yang”
Sundance Institute NHK Award: Hasan Hadi, “The President’s Cake”
Sundance Institute/Amazon Studios Editorial Award: Amanda Marshall, “God’s Country”
Sundance Institute/Amazon Studios Documentary Producer Award: Su Kim, “Free Chol Soo Lee”
Sundance Institute/Adobe Mentor Award: Toby Shimin
