Sundance Festival Awards Wrap
Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 2:22PM Mostly I've been just motoring along, not too sad about having missed Sundance this year until it occurred to me what a jump start it gave me on this current Oscar race -- not too mention my own rooting interests at the film bitch awards. Whoa unto us who cannot afford a week in the snowy Utah mountains. I'm dying to see Vera Farmiga's directorial debut but otherwise I have poured over precious few Sundance articles. There was too much Oscar noise this week to give it much thought. But here's what Sundance went for with a passion.
Vera Farmiga, Dr. Nner and America Ferrara (photo from Zimbio)
The Sundance 2011 Awards broke down like so...
Juried
Grand Prize Dramatic Like Crazy
Grand Prize Documentary How To Die in Oregon
World Cinema Dramatic Happy, Happy
World Cinema Documentary Hell and Back Again
Like CrazyThe big breakout of the festival was Like Crazy, a cross-Atlantic romantic drama starring Actress winner Felicity Jones (the new Carey Mulligan they're saying... but isn't that just because Carey was a breakout at the same festival in a romantic drama?). It sold to Paramount for $4 million. If the past couple of festival years are any indication this does mean that Felicity Jones will be in the Oscar discussion a year from now. To be uncharitable and frank, I'm completely weirded out by this because a) she didn't register at all in Chéri despite a key role and b) I thought she was less than say "good" in The Tempest (2010) and all she had to do there was affectively portray falling in love as well as conveying being the sheltered child of a bossy mother. If Felicity Jones is a revelation here after that than Julie Taymor is an even worse director than I previously thought! Also weirding me out is the prospect of lil' Anton Yelchin as a romantic lead. Anton Yelchin. Isn't he that brainy little kid from Huff? Didn't he just look like a 12 year old playing at Chekov in Star Trek (2009)? My god they grow up so fast. ♪ sunrise sunset sunrise sunset ♫
Directing, Dramatic Sean Durkin for Martha Marcy May Marlene
Directing, Documentary Jon Foy for Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of Toynbee Tiles
Directing, World Cinema Paddy Considine for Tyrannosaur
Directing, Documentary World Cinema James Marsh for Project Nim
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award Another Happy Day
World Cinema Screenwriting Restoration
Special Jury Prize (Acting) Felicity Jones for Like Crazy
Special Jury Prize (Dramatic) Another Earth
Special Jury Prize (Documentary) Being Elmo
World Cinema Special Jury Prize (Documentary) Position Among the Stars
World Cinema Special Jury Prize (Dramatic) The Acting in Tyrannosaur
Martha Marcy May MarleneOther than Vera Farmiga's film -- which I'm interested in mostly because I'm crazy for crazy-eyed Farmiga -- the one I'm most personally curious about is Martha Marcy May Marlene which won for Best Director. Fox Searchlight bought it and they do get behind their films. The film is about a young girl (Elizabeth Olsen. Yes, younger sister to the Olsen Twins) trying to adjust to life after fleeing a religious cult. She moves in with her sister (Sarah Paulson -yay) and her sister's fiance (Hugh Dancy - double yay!). John Hawke is the cult leader (triple yay... for Hawkes's involvement not dangerous cult leaders). Olsen won strong reviews and the film sounds like intriguing.
Paddy Considine and Olivia Colman on the set of "Tyrannosaur"Also looking forward to seeing Tyrannosaur. It's about the relationship between a rage filled man (Peter Mullan) and an abused woman (Olivia Colman) but one of our favorite character actors Paddy Considine is directing and if the world cinema jury felt the need to honor both its acting and its directing, maybe it's special and not just gritty miserabilism.
Documentary Editing If a Tree Falls
World Cinema Documentary Editing The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Excellence in Cinematography, Dramatic Pariah
Excellence in Cinematography, Documentary The Redemption of General Butt Naked
World Cinema Cinematography All Your Dead Ones
World Cinema Cinematography, Documentary Hell and Back Again
Alfred P Sloane Prize Another Earth directed by Mike Cahill
Sundance NHK International Filmmakers Award Cherien Davis
Jury Prize Short Filmmaking Brick novax Pt 1 & 2
Shorts Jury Honorable Mention: Choke by Michelle Latimer; Diarchy by Ferdinando Cito Filmomarioes; The External World by David O'Reilly; The Legend of Beaver Dam by Jerome Sable; Out of Reach by Jakub Stozek; Protoparticles by Chema García Ibarra
PariahFocus Features, who won The Kids Are All Right bidding war last year, also bought a lesbian film this year. Pariah, which won for cinematography, is about an African American teenager (played by Adepero Oduye) who is coming out of the closet in Brooklyn.
Audience Award
Dramatic Circumstance
Documentary Buck
World Cinema Kinyarwanda
World Documentary Senna
The Best of "NEXT" Audience Award to.get.her
CircumstanceLast year at Sundance the Dramatic Audience Award, Dramatic went to HappyThankYouMorePlease which was the writer/director debut of sitcom star Josh Radnor and surprise: it felt not unlike a sitcom. But the year before they chose Precious so you never know. This year's winner Circumstance is about an Iranian family struggling with rebellious teenagers.
Anything from Sundance 2011 interesting you from what you've read here or elsewhere?
Reader Comments (11)
Paddy Considine + Peter Mullan + OLIVIA COLMAN = joy. Forget Felicity Jones - Colman is my reckless and improbable predicition for AMPAS next year. What odds do you think I can get on that?
Could not be more thrilled about positive response to Pariah. The cinematography in the short film version of Pariah really is remarkable, and I'm so glad to see it recognized in this way. And with backing from Focus, by far the most adept and vigorous distributor at getting people to see queer-themed movies, things are looking great. Hooray!
Nick -- i didn't realize Pariah had a history before this festival so i take it the short film was worthy of expansion?
Laika -- the role does sound good.
A fun bit of trivia: Felicity Jones played Catherine Morland in the 2007 version of Northanger Abbey. Guess who played her "friend" Isabella Thorpe? That's right, none other than Carey Mulligan. :)
will we see your actress/supporting actress nominees soon!?
I'm a little sad that Higher Ground, Vera's film, didn't get more recognition because it seemed like it got quite a few good reviews. I'm dying to see it as well.
This is all so exciting - just judging from the reviews, I can't wait to see what kind of traction these movies get over the next year, especially Like Crazy, MMMM, and Pariah, all of which sound geared to make me like them. Oh, and maybe The Future, too.
Upward and onward to 2011!
they're very generous with the prizes - to the point of 'every participant gets a ribbon' generous
Your remark about Felicity Jones and her lack of pre-"Like Crazy" promise makes me think of Rooney Mara. Mara was great in her few "Social Network" scenes, and good enough to land the most coveted role in Hollywood, but did you see her in the new "Nightmare on Elm Street?" (Did anybody?) She made Heather Langenkamp look extraordinary. I even took quite a jab at her in my review. Always interesting to see what a difference a great director makes.
...and amen to Nick's praise of Focus as the preeminent queer distributor. That's immediately what came to mind when I heard about the purchase of "Pariah." I love Focus.
I'm so excited for something good from Iran making it big again.
I really hope Circumstance catches on.
Pariah looks/sounds good.