sundance film festival awards

Since this year’s Sundance awards winners were announced via a virtual ceremony, with pre-recorded clips, there was a certain charm in seeing all of these moviemakers accept the awards at home or during chores. Grand Jury prize winner Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson was headed to work in a car stuck in traffic when he recorded his messages. All Light, Everywhere director Theo Anthony was taking his dog out for a walk in snowy Baltimore. Virtual festgoers got a nice personalized window into their lives.

Sundance Institute CEO Keri Putnam opened the virtual awards ceremony and called this year’s Sundance a “singular festival for a singular moment.” She thanked “adventurous audiences everywhere.”

Next up, Sundance film festival director Tabitha Jackson thanked the filmmakers, Sundance staff and all of the volunteers working virtually this year out of 13 states, Canada (“They’re the polite ones” Jackson joked), and the U.K. (“They’re the well-spoken ones,” she added.)

Patton Oswalt hosted from what looked like a personal theater. He took a playful jab at Slamdance, joking that after this he was hosting their awards show on the wifi they were stealing from Sundance. He had a single recurring bit of pretending to talk to someone seated next to him off screen. Lines like “I was naked, Soderbergh was naked,” might have worked had they not gotten lost amidst a hundred others of the same ilk.

Below are a complete list of winners from all of the Jury and Audience Awards from this year’s Sundance 2021:

CODA, which made noise earlier in the festival when Apple shelled out a record $25 million for the rights to the film, was the big winner, taking home four awards, including U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic.

Other notable multi-award winners include Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Hive, and Writing With Fire.

SHORTS

Presenting Jurors: Raul Castillo, Tacita Dean, and Inge De Leeuw

Sundance Short Film Special Jury – Acting: “Wiggle Room” – Deanna Gibson

Special Jury Award for Screenwriting: Serhat Karaaslan – “The Criminals”

Short Film Jury Award: Animation – “Souvenir, Souvenir” – Bastien Dubois

Short Film Jury Award: “Non-Fiction: Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma” – Topaz Jones and Rubberband

Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction – “Bambirak” – Zamarin Wahdat

Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction – “The Touch of the Master’s Hand” – Gregory Barnes

Short Film Grand Jury Prize – “Lizard” – Akinola Davies Jr.

Also read: “The Touch of the Master’s Hand” Moviemakers On Editing Their Mormon Masturbation Comedy Short (Video)

NEXT

Presenting Jurors: Shira Haas, Kate and Laura Mulleavy

NEXT Audience Award for – Ma Belle, My Beauty – Marion Hill

NEXT Innovator Award – Cryptozoo – Dash Shaw

WORLD CINEMA

World Cinema Documentary

Presenting Jurors: Jean Tsien, Mohamed Saïd Ouma, Kim Longinotto

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award Verite Filmmaking – President – Camilla Nielsson

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Impact for Change – Writing With Fire – Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh

Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary – Hogir Hirori – Sabaya

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – Flee – Jonas Poher Rasmussen

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Presenting Jurors: Zeynep Atakan, Isaac Julien, Daniela Vega

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting – Luzzu – Jesmark Scicluna

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Creative Vision – One for the Road – Baz Poonpiriya

Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic: Hive – Blerta Basholli

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – Hive – Blerta Basholli

Also read: Sundance Survey: Moviemakers Give Us an Inside Look at 19 Sundance Films

Audience Awards

Special Presenter: Diego Luna

Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary – Writing With Fire – Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh

Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic – Hive – Blerta Basholli

U.S. COMPETITIONS

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Special Presenter: Alison Brie

Audience Award: U.S. Documentary – Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) – Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic – CODA – Sian Heder

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Awards

Presenting Juror: Ashley Clark

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Emerging Filmmaker – Cusp – Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Nonfiction Experimentation – All Light, Everywhere – Theo Anthony

Follow All of Our Sundance Coverage Here

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Awards

Presenting Juror: Hanya Yanagihara

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Best Actor – Clifton Collins Jr. – Jockey

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Best Ensemble – Cast of CODA

U.S. Documentary

Presenter: Josie Oppenheim

Presenting Juror: Lana Wilson

Inaugural Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary – Homeroom – Kristina Motwani and Rebecca Adorno

Directing Award: U.S. Documentary – Natalia Almada – Users

U.S. Dramatic

Presenting Juror: Julie Dash

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic – Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch – On the Count of Three

Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic – Sian Heder – CODA

GRAND JURY PRIZES

U.S. Documentary

Presenting Juror: Joshua Oppenheimer

U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) – Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

U.S. Dramatic

Presenting Juror: Cynthia Erivo

U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – CODA – Sian Heder

The Sundance Film Festival runs through Wednesday.

Mentioned This Article: