The 2016 Sundance Film Festival Awards were handed out on Saturday, January 30, after 10 days of premieres and deals. Taika Waititi, the director of festival film Hunt for the Wilderpeople , hosted the awards ceremony, which took place in Park City, Utah.
Nate Parker’s Birth of a Nation swept the top prizes and marked only the fourth time a film has won the top categories — the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize — at the festival. The only other three films to do so were the 2013 film Fruitvale Station , the 2014 film Whiplash, and the 2015 film Me and Earl and the Dying Girl . Fox Searchlight purchased Birth of a Nation , which is based on a slave rebellion in 1831, for $17.5 million — the biggest deal in Sundance history, Deadline reports. The film premiered Monday night and received a standing ovation from the crowd.
The 15 Best Films at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival https://t.co/0ZzUircVyB pic.twitter.com/UHPPfCftfc
— The Film Stage (@TheFilmStage) February 1, 2016
“Thank you Lord, thank you Sundance,” Parker said while accepting the awards. “I’ve seen first-hand that people are open to the idea of change, and the fact that this is happening means everything to me.”
Check out the complete winners list below.
U.S. DRAMATIC
Audience Award Birth Of A Nation Nate Parker
Grand Jury Prize Birth Of A Nation Nate Parker
Directing Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan Swiss Army Man
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award Chad Hartigan Morris From America
Special Jury Award – Individual Performance Melanie Lynskey The Intervention
Special Jury Award – Individual Performance Craig Robinson Morris from America
Special Jury Award – Breakthrough Performance Joe Seo Spa Night
Special Jury Award As You Are Miles Joris-Peyrafitte
It takes artists and audiences together to make it all work.
Let’s do it again next year? January 19-29, 2017 pic.twitter.com/wBYysGVgH6
— SundanceFilmFestival (@sundancefest) January 31, 2016
U.S. DOCUMENTARY
Grand Jury Prize Weiner Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman
Audience Award Jim: The James Foley Story Brian Oakes
Directing Roger Ross Williams Life, Animated
Special Jury Award – Vérité Filmmaking The Bad Kids Keith Fulton, Lou Pepe
Special Jury Award – Writing Kate Plays Christine Robert Greene
Special Jury Award – Social Impact Filmmaking Trapped Dawn Porter
NEXT Audience Award First Girl I Loved Kerem Sanga
The Movies From The #Sundance Film Festival You Need To Know About https://t.co/jUpyBz26L4 pic.twitter.com/XvSpRTrOgU
— BuzzFeedEntmnt (@BuzzFeedEnt) January 30, 2016
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC
Audience Award Between Sea and Land / Colombia Directors: Manolo Cruz, Carlos del Castillo
Sand StormGrand Jury Prize Sand Storm / Israel Director: Elite Zexer
Directing Award Belgica / Belgium-France-Netherlands Felix van Groeningen
Special Jury Award – Unique Vision and Design The Lure / Poland Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska
Special Jury Award – Screenwriting Mi Amiga Del Parque / Argentina-Uruguay Screenwriters: Inés Bortagaray, Ana Katz
Special Jury Award – Acting Vicky Hernandéz, Manolo Cruz Between Sea and Land / Colombia
#Sundance US Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic: The Birth of a Nation ( @NatTurnerFilm ), director/screenwriter: @NateParker pic.twitter.com/9eEPuh5sjC
— SundanceFilmFestival (@sundancefest) January 31, 2016
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY
Grand Jury Prize Sonita / Germany-Iran-Swizerland Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
Directing All These Sleepless Nights / Poland Michal Marczak
Special Jury Award – Best Editing We Are X / UK-U.S.-Japan Editors: Mako Kamitsuna, John Maringouin
Special Jury Award – Best Cinematography The Land Of The Enlightened / Belgium DP: Pieter-Jan De Pue
Special Jury Award – Best Debut Feature When Two Worlds Collide / Peru Directors: Mathew Orzel, Heidi Brandenburg
Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize Embrace of the Serpent< Directed by Ciro Guerra
#Sundance US Grand Jury Prize: Documentary: Weiner, directors: @jkriegman , Elyse Steinberg pic.twitter.com/FtWY6HqY2k
— SundanceFilmFestival (@sundancefest) January 31, 2016
SHORT FILM PRIZES
Short Film Grand Jury Prize Thunder Road / U.S. Director and screenwriter: Jim Cummings
Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction The Procedure / U.S. Director and screenwriter: Calvin Lee Reeder
Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction Maman(s) / France Director and screenwriter: Maïmouna Doucouré
Short Film Jury Award: Non-fiction Bacon & God’s Wrath / Canada Director: Sol Friedman
Short Film Jury Award: Animation Edmond / UK Director and screenwriter: Nina Gantz
Short Film Special Jury Award for Outstanding Performance Grace Glowicki Her Friend Adam
Short Film Special Jury Award for Best Direction Peacock / Czech Republic Director: Ondrej Hudecek, Screenwriters: Jan Smutny, Ondrej Hudecek
[Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/Associated Press]
