Sundance Prize Winners

The Sundance prizes were handed out tonight and the top winners will be screening on Sunday the last day of the festival. =Glenn, Michael and I have a handful more reviews for you including a couple of these winners. But it figures that not one of the three of us caught the unquestionable champ, Whiplash starring Miles Teller as a drummer and JK Simmons as his military father, which took home both the juried top prize and the audience award for dramatic feature. You may recall that last year Fruitvale Station won both of those prizes too... but it wasn't able to convert that early rush of promise into Oscar nominations. The year before that those top prizes were split between Beasts of the Southern Wild (jury) and The Sessions (audience) which both went on to Oscar nods. The year before that Like Crazy (jury) and Circumstance (audience). Etcetera. Sundance is hit and miss in terms of its top films going on to further awards glory. Any guesses as to how Whiplash will fare further down the road? 

Full list of winners is after the jump.

Best Feature Prizes, Juried
Grand Jury, Dramatic:  WHIPLASH (dir. Damien Chazelle) 
Grand Jury, Documentary: RICH HILL (dir. Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo)
World Cinema Dramatic: TO KILL A MAN (dir. Alejandro Fernández Almendras)
World Cinema Documentary: RETURN TO HOMS (dir. Talal Derki)

Best Feature Prizes, Audience Awards
Dramatic: WHIPLASH (dir. Damien Chazelle) 
Documentary: ALIVE INSIDE (dir. Michael Rossato-Bennett)
World Cinema Dramatic: DIFRET (dir. Zeresenay Berhane Mehari)
World Cinema Documentary: THE GREEN PRINCE (dir.Nadav Schirman)
The Best of NEXT: IMPERIAL DREAMS (dir. Malik Vitthal)

Bill Hader & Kristen Wiig in "The Skeleton Twins"

Directors & Screenwriting
Directing Award, Dramatic: FISHING WITHOUT NETS (dir. Cutter Hodierne)
Directing Award, Documentary: THE CASE AGAINST 8 (dir. Ben Cotner and Ryan White)
World Cinema Directing Award, Dramatic: 52 TUESDAYS (Sophie Hyde)
World Cinema Directing Award, Documentary: 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH (dir. Iain Forsyth)
Waldo Scott Screenwriting Award: THE SKELETON TWINS written by Craig Johnson and Mark Heyman
World Cinema Screenwriting Award: BLIND written by Eskil Vogt

Crafts, Special Jury Prizes, Miscellania
Documentary Editing Award: WATCHERS IN THE SKY edited by Jenny Golden and Karen Sim
World Cinema Documentary Editing Award: 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH edited by Jonathan Amos
Excellence in Cinematography, Dramatic: LOW DOWN cinematography by Christopher Blauvelt 
Excellence in Cinematography, Documentary: E-TEAM cinematography by Rachel Beth Anderson and Ross Kauffman
World Cinema Cinematography Award, Dramatic: LILTING cinematography by Ula Pontiklos
World Cinema Cinematography Award, Documentary: HAPPINESS cinematography by Thomas Balmes and Nina Bernfeld
Special Jury Prize (Musical Score): KUMIKO THE TREASURE HUNTER music by The Octopus Project
Special Jury Prize (Breakthrough Talent): DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (dir. Justin Simien) 
Special Jury Prize (For Intuitive Filmmaking): THE OVERNIGHTERS (dir. Jesse Moss)
Special Jury Prize (For Use of Animation): WATCHERS IN THE SKY (dir. Edet Belzberg) 
World Cinema Special Jury Prize, Documentary: WE COME AS FRIENDS (dir. Hubert Sauper) 
World Cinema Special Jury Prize, Dramatic: GOD HELP THE GIRL (dir. Stuart Murdoch)
Alfred P. Sloan Prize: I ORIGINS (dir. Mike Cahill)
The Short Film Audience Award: CHAPEL PERILOUS (dir. Matthew Lessner) 

Comments

[JS]

What are the odds of Whiplash getting any real awards recognition in 2014? I'm a hardcore Simmons and Teller fan so absolutely NOTHING would make me happier!!!

[Arkaan]

SPC is releasing it. Screenplay seems possible.