Sundance 2022: Festival’s Top Prizes Announced
by KM, Movie Lightbox
Sundance Film Festival prize winners were announced Friday night after a nine day online showcase of more than 100 films (84 feature and 59 short films). The Grand Jury Prizes went to Nanny (U.S. Dramatic), The Exiles (U.S. Documentary), All That Breathes (World Cinema Documentary) and Utama (World Cinema Dramatic).
“Today’s awards represent the determination of visionary individuals, whose dynamic work will continue to change the culture and create discourse throughout the year. This year’s entire program has proven that no matter the context, independent storytelling remains a pivotal tool in expanding critical dialogues, and these stories will and must be shared.”, said Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute’s new CEO.
Nanny by Nikyatu Jusu, a film about an undocumented immigrant working for a privileged couple in New York City took home the Grand Jury Prize in the US Dramatic Competition section. “This film cannot be contained by any one genre —it’s visually stunning, masterfully acted, impeccably designed from sound to visual effects, and the overall vision, expertly guided by Nikyatu Jusu comes together offering its audience an electrifying experience.”, said Juror Chelsea Bernard. In the World Cinema section, Alejandro Loayza Grisi for Utama, a portrayal of an elderly Quechua couple living in the Bolivian highlands was awarded the top prize.
Audience prizes were also given at the online awards ceremony. In the US Dramatic Competition, Cooper Raiff’s Cha Cha Real Smooth starring Dakota Johnson picked up majority of the audience votes while Daniel Roher’s documentary thriller Navalny went on to win the overall Festival Favorite Award.
“The 2022 Sundance Film Festival once again met our audience wherever they happened to be. Whether you watched from home or one of our seven satellite screens, this year’s Festival expressed a powerful convergence; we were present, together, as a community connected through the work. And it is work that has already changed those who experienced it.”, said Tabitha Jackson, Sundance Film Festival Director.
Here is the full list of winners at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival:
GRAND JURY PRIZES
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
Nanny / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Nikyatu Jusu, Producers: Nikkia Moulterie, Daniela Taplin Lundberg)
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
The Exiles / U.S.A. (Directors: Ben Klein, Violet Columbus, Producers: Maria Chiu, Ben Klein, Violet Columbus)
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
Utama / Bolivia/Uruguay/France (Director and Screenwriter: Alejandro Loayza Grisi, Producers: Santiago Loayza Grisi, Federico Moreira, Marcos Loayza, Jean-Baptiste Bailly-Maitre)
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
All That Breathes / India/U.K. (Director and Producer: Shaunak Sen, Producers: Aman Mann, Teddy Leifer)
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary
Navalny / U.S.A. (Director: Daniel Roher, Producers: Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Shane Boris)
Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic
Cha Cha Real Smooth / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Cooper Raiff, Producers: Dakota Johnson, Ro Donnelly, Erik Feig, Jessica Switch, Cooper Raiff)
Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic
Girl Picture / Finland (Director: Alli Haapasalo, Screenwriters: Ilona Ahti, Daniela Hakulinen, Producers: Leila Lyytikäinen, Elina Pohjola)
Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary
The Territory / Brazil/Denmark/United States (Director: Alex Pritz, Producers: Will N. Miller, Sigrid Dyekjær, Lizzie Gillett, Anonymous)
Audience Award: NEXT
Framing Agnes / Canada/U.S.A. (Director: Chase Joynt, Producers: Samantha Curley, Shant Joshi, Chase Joynt)
FESTIVAL FAVORITE AWARD
Navalny / U.S.A. (Director: Daniel Roher, Producers: Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Shane Boris)
JURY AWARDS FOR DIRECTING, SCREENWRITING & EDITING
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary
I Didn’t See You There / U.S.A. (Director: Reid Davenport, Producer: Keith Wilson)
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic
Palm Trees and Power Lines / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Jamie Dack, Screenwriter: Audrey Findlay, Producers: Leah Chen Baker, Jamie Dack)
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary
A House Made Of Splinters / Denmark (Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont, Producer: Monica Hellström)
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic
KLONDIKE / Ukraine/Turkey (Director and Screenwriter: Maryna Er Gorbach, Producers: Maryna Er Gorbach, Mehmet Bahadir Er, Sviatoslav BulakovskyI)
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic
K.D. Dávila for Emergency / U.S.A. (Director: Carey Williams, Screenwriter: KD Davila, Producers: Marty Bowen, Isaac Klausner, John Fischer)
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary
Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput for Fire Of Love / U.S.A. (Director: Sara Dosa, Producers: Shane Boris, Ina Fichman, Sara Dosa)
SPECIAL JURY AWARDS
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Uncompromising Artistic Vision
blood / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Bradley Rust Gray, Producers: David Urrutia, Bradley Rust Gray, So Yong Kim, Elika Portnoy, Alex Orlovsky, Jonathon Komack Martin)
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Ensemble Cast
John Boyega, Nicole Beharie, Selenis Leyva, Connie Britton, Olivia Washington, London Covington, and Michael K Williams for 892 / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Abi Damaris Corbin, Screenwriter: Kwame Kwei-Armah, Producers: Ashley Levinson, Salman Al-Rashid, Sam Frohman, Kevin Turen, Mackenzie Fargo)
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Impact for Change
Aftershock / / U.S.A. (Directors and Producers: Paula Eiselt, Tonya Lewis Lee)
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision
Descendant / U.S.A. (Director: Margaret Brown, Producers: Essie Chambers, Kyle Martin)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Documentary Craft
The Territory / Brazil/Denmark/United States (Director: Alex Pritz, Producers: Will N. Miller, Sigrid Dyekjær, Lizzie Gillett, Anonymous)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Excellence In Verité Filmmaking
Midwives / Myanmar (Director: Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing, Producers: Bob Moore, Ulla Lehman, Mila Aung-Thwin, Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Innovative Spirit
Leonor Will Never Die / Philippines (Director and Screenwriter: Martika Ramirez Escobar, Producers: Monster Jimenez, Mario Cornejo)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting
Teresa Sánchez for Dos Estaciones / Mexico (Director and Screenwriter: Juan Pablo González, Screenwriters: Ana Isabel Fernández, Ilana Coleman, Producers: Jamie Gonçalves, Ilana Coleman, Bruna Haddad, Makena Buchanan)
NEXT INNOVATOR AWARD
NEXT Innovator Award
Framing Agnes / Canada, U.S.A. (Director: Chase Joynt, Producers: Samantha Curley, Shant Joshi, Chase Joynt)
SHORT FILM AWARDS
Short Film Grand Jury Prize
The Headhunter’s Daughter / Philippines (Director and Screenwriter: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, Producer: Hannah Schierbeek)
Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction
IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Walter Thompson-Hernández, Producer: Stuart McIntyre)
Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction
Warsha / France/Lebanon (Director and Screenwriter: Dania Bdeir, Producer: Coralie Dias)
Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction
Displaced / Kosovo (Director and Screenwriter: Samir Karahoda, Producer: Eroll Bilibani)
Short Film Jury Award: Animation
Night Bus / Taiwan (Director and Screenwriter: Joe Hsieh, Producers: Wan Lin Lee, Joe Hsieh, Joe Chan)
Short Film Special Jury Award: Ensemble Cast
Zélia Duncan, Bruna Linzmeyer, Camila Rocha, Clarissa Ribeiro, and Lorre Motta for A wild patience has taken me here / Brazil (Director and Screenwriter: Érica Sarmet, Producers: Lívia Perez, Silvia Sobral, Érica Sarmet)
Short Film Special Jury Award: Screenwriting
Sara Driver for Stranger Than Rotterdam with Sara Driver / United States (Directors: Lewie Kloster, Noah Kloster, Screenwriter: Sara Driver)
EARLIER SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS
The 2022 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, presented to an outstanding feature film about science or technology, was presented to After Yang.
The Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Award for Nonfiction
Su Kim for Free Chol Soo Lee (U.S. Documentary Competition).
The Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Award for Fiction
Amanda Marshall God’s Country (Premieres).
The Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Nonfiction Toby Shimin
Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Fiction
Dody Dorn
The Sundance Institute | NHK Award Hasan Hadi for his film The President’s Cake.
Images courtesy of Sundance