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.
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
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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.
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