The 2021 Sundance Film Festival Awards were held tonight in a very fast track, within an hour. Host Patton Oswalt – or as he called himself ‘Discount Giamatti’ – made the jokes flow.
Sundance Film Festival
Siân Heder’s Coda, what we said for the first time that you raised a rich $ 25 million bid on Apple has grown. It has won both the American Grand Jury Prize, the American Dramatic Audience Award and a Special Jury Ensemble Cast award. Heder also won Best Director in the American Dramatic Division. The film follows a girl named Ruby. As the only hearing person in an otherwise deaf family, she is divided over staying with them as their fishing industry is threatened.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of soul received the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Documentary.
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Bashta Basholli’s Korf, about a woman in Kosovo fighting a patriarchal society and whose husband is missing also won three awards for World Cinema Audience Dramatic, Grand Jury Award and best director in his division.
Flight, acquired by Neon takes home the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize.
Early in the night, Akinola Davies, Jr. Lizard won the Grand Jury Prize in the Shorts category. The film follows Juwon, an 8-year-old girl with the ability to touch danger who is expelled from a Sunday school service. She is unknowingly witnessing the lower abdomen in and around a mega church in Lagos.
“I have a busy evening, I will host the Slamdance Festival later on the WIFI they will steal from you,” the Young adult actor at the top of the show.
And when he got to the side, Oswalt joked, “They don’t let anyone in the hotel because Steve Buscemi stole all the towels.”
Alison Brie, Shira Haas, Diego Luna and Cynthia Erivo virtually presented.
This year’s judges for the shortened festival, which kicks off on Thursday 28 January and ends today, were Zeynep Atakan, Raúl Castillo, Ashley Clark, Julie Dash, Tacita Dean, Cynthia Erivo, Isaac Julien, Inge de Leeuw, Kim Longinotto, Laura Mulleavy, Kate Mulleavy, Joshua Oppenheimer, Mohamed Ouma Saïd, Jean Tsien, Daniela Vega, Lana Wilson and Hanya Yanagihara.
Last year, Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari, who is in the awards talk this year from A24, took home both the US Grand Jury Award and the Audience Award in US Dramatic. Netflix’s Crip Kamp won in the US Doc Audience Award category, while AppleTV acquisition Son State won the Grand Jury Documentary Award.
By the end of tonight, 31 prizes will be awarded by the festival:
American Grand Jury Prize – Dramatic
Coda, dir. Siân Heder
American Grand Jury Prize – Documentary
Summer of soul, dir. Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson
Directing Award – American Dramatic
Coda, dir. Siân Heder
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: American Dramatic
On the score of three, Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch
Directing Award: American Documentary
Natalia Almada, Users
Editing Award: American Documentary
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award is given to Kristina Motwani and Rebecca Adorno for Home room
American Dramatic Special Jury Awards
Ensemble Cast – the cast of Coda
Best Actor – Clifton Collins, Jr. for Jokkie
American Documentary Special Jury Awards
Emerging Filmmaker Jury Prize goes to Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt for Cusp
For non-fiction experimentation – All corpses, oral, dir. Theo Anthony,
US Audience Awards
Documentary – Summer of soul, dir. Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson
Dramatic – Coda, dir. Siân Heder
World Cinema Spectator Awards
Documentary – Write With Fire, dir.
Dramatic – Korf, dir. Blerta Basholli
Sundance
World Cinema Drama
World Cinema Price: Korf, dir Blerta Basholli,
Jury award for acting goes to Jesmark Scicluna Luzzu.
Special jury prize for creative vision: One for the road, dir. Baz Poonpiriya
Directing Award: Korf, dir Blerta Basholli.
World Cinema Documentary
World Cinema Jury Prize – Flight, Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Directing Award: Hogir Hirori vir Sabaya
Special Jury Prize in Impact for Change – Write With Fire, dir. Rintu Thomas
Special Jury Award in Verite Film Production –President, dir. Camilla Nielsson
FOLLOWING
Public Award – Ma Belle, my beauty, dir. Marion hill
Innovator Award – Cryptozoo, dir. Dash Shaw
Short film
–Short Film Grand Jury Prize – Lizard, dir. Akinola Davies, Jr.
Jury Award for Short Films – American Fiction – The touch of the master’s hands, dir. Gregory Barnes
–Special award for short films, Wiggle Room, Deanna Gibson
–Special jury prize for short films – screenwriting, The criminals, dir. Serhat Karasslan
–Short film special jury award, animation – Souvenir Souvenir, dir. Bastien Dubois
–Non fiction with short film jury award – Don ‘t tell your mom, dir. Topaz Jones and Rubber Band
Jury Award for Short Films – International Fiction – Bambirak, dir. Zamarin Wahdat
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Prize
Sons of Monarch, dir. Alexis Gambis
Sundance Institute / Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing
–Fiction, Terilyn Shropshire
Review, Juli Vizza
Amazon Studios Producer award for non-fiction:
Philly DA, dir. Nicole Salazar
Sundance Institute NHK Award
Motherhood, dir. Meryam Joobeur
Gayle Stevens Volunteer Award
Rebecca Stover