The 2015 edition of the Sundance Film Festival officially concludes today with a full day of screenings of the award winners announced at a ceremony last night. As this year’s festival wraps up, w(n)td will resume regular posting starting tomorrow, but until then, a summary of the awards announcement follows:
The 2015 Sundance awards ceremony, hosted by comedian Tig Notaro, subject of the documentary TIG, recapped awards announced in separate ceremonies earlier in the week – Shorts, Global Filmmaking, NHK, Sloan – before revealing the winners of the US and World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic Competitions, plus the NEXT audience award. A significant development this year was a change in the approach to the jury awards – while jurors still selected a Grand Jury Prize and a Directing Award in their categories, beyond those categories, they were given the freedom to determine several Special Jury Awards based on their own criteria, as noted below.
US Documentary Awards:
Grand Jury Prize:
THE WOLFPACK (pictured)
directed by Crystal Moselle
Audience Award:
MERU
directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Directing Award:
CARTEL LAND
directed by Matthew Heineman
Excellence in Cinematography Award:
CARTEL LAND
shot by Matthew Heineman and Matt Porwoll
Special Jury Award for Breakout First Feature:
(T)ERROR
directed by Lyric R Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe
Special Jury Award for Verité Filmmaking:
WESTERN
directed by Bill and Turner Ross
Special Jury Award for Social Impact:
3 1/2 MINUTES
directed by Marc Silver
World Cinema Documentary Awards:
Grand Jury Prize:
THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER (pictured)
directed by Chad Gracia
Audience Award:
DARK HORSE
directed by Louise Osmond
Directing Award:
DREAMCATCHER
directed by Kim Longinotto
Editing Award:
HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD
edited by Jim Scott
Special Jury Prize for Unparalleled Access:
THE CHINESE MAYOR
directed by Hao Zhou
Special Jury Prize for Impact:
PERVERT PARK
directed by Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors
US Dramatic Awards:
Grand Jury Prize:
ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL (pictured)
directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Audience Award:
ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL
directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Directing Award:
THE WITCH
directed by Robert Eggers
Waldo Scott Screenwriting Award:
THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIENCE
written by Tim Talbott
Excellence in Cinematography Award:
DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL
shot by Brandon Trost
Excellence in Editing Award:
DOPE
edited by Lee Haugen
Special Jury Award for Collaborative Vision:
ADVANTAGEOUS
to Jacqueline Kim and Jennifer Phang
World Cinema Dramatic Awards:
Grand Jury Prize:
SLOW WEST (pictured)
directed by John Maclean
Audience Award:
UMRIKA
directed by Prashant Nair
Directing Award:
THE SUMMER OF SANGAILE
directed by Alanté Kavaïté
Cinematography Award:
PARTISAN
shot by Germaine McMicking
Special Jury Prize for Acting:
GLASSLAND
Actor: Jack Reynor
Special Jury Prize for Acting:
THE SECOND MOTHER
Actors: Regina Case and Camila Mardila
NEXT Audience Award:
JAMES WHITE (pictured)
directed by Josh Mond
Indiewire has published a round-up of acquisition deals made to date, with many more to be announced in the coming weeks, so readers who weren’t able to be in Utah this month will have a chance to catch up with several of this year’s films in various forms of release in addition to other festival bookings.
what (not) to doc 