Sundance 2011: Film Festival Award Winners
Saturday night's award winners at the Sundance Film Festival were humble, grateful, teary-eyed and funny as they accepted their snowflake-etched mini-monoliths. Sam Levinson, who received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for penning Another Happy Day, was barely able to keep himself together during his acceptance speech: "When I introduced my film, I cried. So I don't know what the f-'s going to happen, now."
The highly-anticipated U.S. Dramatic Competition Grand Jury Prize went to Drake Doremus' sweet love story, Like Crazy. It was presented by four-time Oscar-nominated writer and director Jason Reitman. "I came to this festival in 1998, when I was still in college," Reitman said. "I came as my father's son and I left a filmmaker." Having been a part of the festival was a huge accomplishment, "and no one could ever take that from me." He pointed to the gathered crowd of filmmakers. "Now, no one can ever take that from you."
Festival patrons watched the live stream from laptops or followed the @Sundancefest and @Sundancefestnow Twitter feeds. Who won what was the hot topic of the evening, especially for those with tickets to the award-winner screenings, as the films they were about to see were not announced publicly until the ceremony.
With so many Sundance films nominated for Academy Awards, this year, audiences will do well to partake of this year's awards crop--a mission made easier by the fact that many of the award winners have already scored distribution deals. By the end of the winter, it may be that all of them have, along with many others that did not take home top honors, but played well with audiences, nonetheless.
Here is the full list of winners:
Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
Like Crazy
and Special Jury Prize: Dramatic
Felicity Jones for her role in Like Crazy
(Directed by Drake Doremus; written by Drake Doremus and Ben York Jones)
A young American guy and a young British girl meet in college and fall in love. Their love is tested when she is required to leave the country and they must face the challenges of a long-distance relationship.
Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
How to Die in Oregon
(Directed by Peter D. Richardson)
In 1994 Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. How to Die in Oregon gently enters the lives of terminally ill Oregonians to illuminate the power of death with dignity.
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