Sundance announces winners

Kailash and The Miseducation Of Cameron Post win top US prize.

by Amber Wilkinson

Kailash - As a young man, Kailash Satyarthi promised himself that he would end child slavery in his lifetime. In the decades since, he has rescued more than 80,000 children and built a global movement. This intimate and suspenseful film follows one man’s journey to do what many believed was impossible.
Kailash - As a young man, Kailash Satyarthi promised himself that he would end child slavery in his lifetime. In the decades since, he has rescued more than 80,000 children and built a global movement. This intimate and suspenseful film follows one man’s journey to do what many believed was impossible. Photo: Derek Doneen
Sundance Film Festival announced the main competition winners last night at a ceremony hosted by Jason Mantzoukas.

The Grand Jury Prize for US Dramatic went to The Miseducation of Cameron Post, directed by Desiree Akhavan, which relates the story of a group of Christian teenagers at a gay conversion therapy centre. The Documentary Grand Jury Prize went to Kailash, directed by Derek Doneen, which charts Kailash Satyarthi's efforts to end child slavery in India.

In the World Competitions, Talal Derki's Of Fathers and Sons - about children in a Syrian Islamist household took home the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary, while Turkish film Butterflies, directed by Tolga Karaçelik, which tells the story of siblings don't know each other preparing to bury their father.

"From the beginning, the purpose of the Sundance Film Festival has been to support artists and their stories," said Sundance Institute President and founder Robert Redford, "and this year, our mission seemed especially relevant. Supporting independent voices, and listening to the stories they tell, has never been more necessary."

"The scope and scale of this year's Festival - films, events, conversations -were invigorating," said Keri Putnam, the Institute's Executive Director. "I can't wait to see how our incredible community will leverage these ten days of connection and inspiration to make art and change in the coming year."

“This Festival has been extraordinary," said John Cooper, Sundance Film Festival Director. "It’s been a pleasure to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with these artists, and to see their work charm, challenge and galvanize its first audiences.”

The full list of winners is below:

US DRAMATIC COMPETITION

Grand Jury Prize: The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Desiree Akhavan

Audience Award: Burden, Andrew Heckler

Directing: Sara Colangelo, The Kindergarten Teacher

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Christina Choe, Nancy

Special Jury Award for Outstanding First Feature: Reinaldo Marcus Green, Monsters And Men

Special Jury Award for Excellence in Filmmaking: I Think We’re Alone Now, Reed Morano

Special Jury Award for Achievement in Acting: Benjamin Dickey, Blaze (Dir: Ethan Hawke)

US DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Grand Jury Prize: Kailash, Derek Doneen

Directing: Alexandria Bombach, On Her Shoulders

Audience Award: The Sentence, Rudy Valdez

Special Jury Award for Social Impact: Crime + Punishment, Stephen Maing

Special Jury Award for Creative Vision: Hale County This Morning, This Evening, RaMell Ross

Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking: Minding The Gap, Bing Liu

Special Jury Award for Storytelling: Three Identical Strangers, Tim Wardle

WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION

Grand Jury Prize: Butterflies, Tolga Karaçelik

Audience Award: The Guilty, Gustav Möller

Directing Award: Ísold Uggadóttir, And Breathe Normally

Special Jury Award for Acting: Valeria Bertuccelli, The Queen Of Fear (Dir: Valeria Bertuccelli, Fabiana Tiscornia)

Special Jury Award for Screenwriting: Julio Chavezmontes and Sebastián Hofmann, Time Share

Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting: Dead Pigs (Dir: Cathy Yan)

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Grand Jury Prize: Of Fathers and Sons, Talal Derki

Audience Award: This Is Home, Alexandra Shiva

Directing Award: Sandi Tan, Shirkers

Special Jury Award: Steven Loveridge, Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.

Special Jury Award for Cinematography: Maxim Arbugaev, Peter Indergand Genesis 2.0

Special Jury Award for Editing: Maxim Pozdorovkin & Matvey Kulakov, Our New President

The inaugural Festival Favourite Award, selected by audience votes from the 123 feature films screened at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, was won by Science Fair, which screened in the Kids section of the festival.

OTHER AWARDS

NEXT Audience Award: Search, Aneesh Chaganty

NEXT Innovator Award: Night Comes On and We The Animals

Alfred P Sloan Feature Film Prize: Search

Sundance Institute NHK Award: Remi Weekes, His House

Sundance Institute/Amazon Studios Producers Awards: Katy Chevingy and Marilyn Ness (Dark Money) and Sev Ohanian (Search)

Sundance Open Borders Fellowship Presented by Netflix: Talal Derki (Of Fathers and Sons) and Chaitanya Tamhane (Untitled, India) and Tatiana Huezo (Night on Fire)

SHORT FILM AWARDS: Jury prizes and honorable mentions in short filmmaking were presented at a ceremony in Park City on January 23. The Short Film Grand Jury Prize was awarded to: Matria / Spain (Director and screenwriter: Director and screenwriter: Álvaro Gago). The Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction was presented to: Hair Wolf /US (Director and screenwriter: Director and screenwriter: Mariama Diallo). The Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction was presented to: Would You Look at Her / Macedonia (Director and screenwriter: Goran Stolevski). The Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction was presented to: The Trader (Sovdagari) / Georgia (Director: Tamta Gabrichidze). The Short Film Jury Award: Animation was presented to: GLUCOSE / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeron Braxton). Three Special Jury Awards without designation were presented to: Emergency / U.S.A. (Director: Carey Williams, Screenwriter: K.D. Dávila), Fauve / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Jérémy Comte) and For Nonna Anna / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Luis De Filippis).

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