Sundance 2011 Award Winners Announced

Well, what has become a massively busy Sundance Film Festival has come to a close, and while distribution purchases will likely continue to roll in for some time, the festival has announced their award winners.

And what a list it is.

Taking home the big prize, the Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic), was Drake Doremus’ hugely talked about festival hit, Like Crazy.   The documentary prize was handed off to Peter D. Richardson and his film How To Die In Oregon (edging out festival favorite The Interrupters from Criterion director, for Hoop Dreams, Steve James).

With regards to the World Cinema side of things, the dramatic jury prize went to Anne Sewitsky’s Happy, Happy, which shared the segment of the festival with the documentary jury prize winner, Hell And Back Again, both of which garnered decidedly little buzz coming out of the festival. The audience awards from the World Cinema segment went to Asif Kapadia’s Senna (Documentary) and Alrick Brown’s Kinyarwanda (Dramatic).

Finally, the Audience Award for Documentary went to Buck from director Cindy Meehl, and Circumstance, by Maryam Keshavarz.   The Keshavarz win is an interesting one as the filmmaker’s been one of the more vocal opponents against the imprisonment of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi.   I’m not saying that that had anything to do with the film winning, but it does really give the film world a chance to shine a bit of light on this story.

For more information, here is the full list of winners:

The  Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to  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.

 

The  Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to  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.

 

The  World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to  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

 

The  World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to  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

 

The  Audience Awards are presented to both a dramatic and documentary film in four competitions as voted by Sundance Film Festival audiences. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival Audience

Awards are presented by Acura.

 

The  Audience Award: Documentary was presented to  Buck, directed by Cindy Meehl, for her 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.

 

The  Audience Award: Dramatic was presented to  Circumstance, directed and written by Maryam Keshavarz, in which a wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager’s growing sexual rebellion and her brother’s dangerous obsession.

 

The  World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary was presented to  Senna,directed by Asif Kapadia; written by Manish Pandey, about legendary racing driver and Brazilian hero Ayrton Senna, taking us on the ultimate journey of what it means to become the greatest when faced with the constant possibility of death.  United Kingdom

 

The  World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic was presented to  Kinyarwanda, directed and written by Alrick Brown, which 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

 

The  Best of NEXT!: Audience Award was presented to  to.get.her, directed and written by Erica Dunton about five girls who 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 Awards recognize excellence in directing for dramatic and documentary features.

 

The  Directing Award: Documentary was presented to  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.

 

The  Directing Award: Dramatic was presented to  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.

 

The  World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary was presented to  Project Nim, directed by James Marsh, who 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

 

The  World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic was presented to  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

 

The  Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award was presented to  Another Happy Day, directed and written by Sam Levinson, about a pair of reckless siblings who are dragged into a chaotic family wedding by their overwrought mother.

 

The  World Cinema Screenwriting Award was presented to  Restoration, directed by Yossi Madmony; written by Erez Kav-El, about 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

 

The  Documentary Editing Award Matthew Hamachek and Marshall Curry and 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.

 

The  World Cinema Documentary Editing Award was presentedto  The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, edited by Göran Hugo Olsson and Hanna Lejonqvist and 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.

 

The  Excellence in Cinematography Awards honor exceptional cinematography in both dramatic and documentary categories:

 

The  Excellence in Cinematography Award: Documentary was presented to  The Redemption of General Butt Naked, directed by Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion; cinematographers: Eric Strauss, Ryan Hill and Peter Hutchens. 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.

 

The  Excellence in Cinematography Award: Dramatic was presented to  Pariah,directed and written by Dee Rees; cinematographer: Bradford Young. 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.

 

The  World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary was presented to  Hell and Back Again, directed by Danfung Dennis; cinematographer: 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

 

The  World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic was presented to  All Your Dead Ones, directed by Carlos Moreno; written by Alonso Torres and Carlos Moreno; cinematographer: Diego F. Jimenez. 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 were presented to 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

A World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to  Position Among the Stars (Stand van de Sterren) directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich, for his 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

 

A Special Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to  BEING ELMO: A Puppeteer’s Journey, directed by Constance Marks, an inspirational film that crosses cultures and generations

 

A Special Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to  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  Special Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to 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.

As announced on Tuesday, the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking was awarded to  Brick Novax pt 1 and 2 (Director and screenwriter: Matt Piedmont). The International Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking was given to  Deeper Than Yesterday / Australia (Director and screenwriter: Ariel Kleiman). In addition, the jury awarded  Honorable Mentions in Short Filmmaking to:  Choke / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Michelle Latimer);  Diarchy / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Ferdinando Cito Filomarino);  The External World / Germany, Ireland (Director and screenwriter: David O’Reilly);  The Legend of Beaver Dam / Canada (Director: Jerome Sable, screenwriters: Jerome Sable and Eli Batalion);  Out of Reach / Poland (Director and screenwriter: Jakub Stozek); and  Protoparticles / Spain (Director and screenwriter: Chema García Ibarra).

On Tuesday Sundance Institute and Mahindra announced the winners of the inaugural  Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, in recognition and support of emerging independent filmmakers from around the world. The winning directors and projects are: Bogdan Mustata,  Wolf from Romania; Ernesto Contreras,  I Dream in Another Language from Mexico; Seng Tat Liew, In What City Does It Live? from Malaysia; and Talya Lavie, Zero Motivation from Israel.

Sundance Institute and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) on Thursday announced Cherien Dabis, director of  May in the Summer, as the winner of the  Sundance Institute/NHK Award honoring and supporting emerging filmmakers.

Another Earth, written and directed by Mike Cahill, is the recipient of this year’s  Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. The Prize, which carries a $20,000 cash award by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is presented to an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character.