Back to selection
Minari, Boys State Win Top Prizes at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival
Minari Minari, Lee Isaac-Chung’s fourth feature, an autobiographical portrait of his Korean-American family’s life in the 1980s as he was growing up in a small Arkansas town, won two top prizes — the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and U.S. Dramatic Audience Award — tonight at 2020 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony. Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s Boys State, a documentary about a contentious kind of civic summer camp for Texas teens, won the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize. A24 will release both films, the latter in partnership with Apple TV+. The World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Massoud Bakhshi’ Yalda, A Night for Forgiveness, a biting thriller and work of social commentary set within the world of Iranian reality TV. Jerry Rothwell’s portrait of five non-speaking autistic people across the globe won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize. Rothwell’s film also won the World Cinema Audience Award.
Among the other awards were the U.S. Directing Prizes, which went to first-time feature filmmaker Radha Blank, for her black-and-white tale of a New York woman, approaching 40, seeking to realize her authentic voice as a rapper, 40-Year-Old Version, and Garrett Bradley, whose first formal documentary feature, Time, is both an epic love story as well as a clear-eyed look at U.S. sentencing policy through the eyes of an activist woman fighting for the release from prison of her husband.
Another double award winner was the celebrated documentary maker Heidi Ewing, whose dramatic feature debut, I Carry You With Me, won the Next Audience and Innovator Awards. Josephine Decker won a Special Award for Auteur Filmmaking for her boldly turbulent exploration of the creative process, Shirley. Eliza Hittman won a Special Award for Neorealism for Never Rarely Sometimes Always, her Berlin-bound story dealing with teenage friendship and reproductive rights.
Said Sundance Institute’s Executive Director Keri Putnam in the press release, “At Sundance, we believe art can break through noise and polarization. In volatile times like these, democracy and storytelling aren’t separate – they’re inextricably linked. Congratulations to each and every one of tonight’s winners, and to all the extraordinary artists who joined us at the Festival.”
Tonight’s ceremony was the final one for John Cooper as Sundance Film Festival Director. “It has been the honor of a lifetime to stand with these artists, and to see their work meet audiences for the first time,” he said. Cooper will be succeeded by Tabitha Jackson, who has been Sundance’s Documentary Film Program Director.
A complete list of winners follows.
U.S. Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic
Minari
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
U.S. Grand Jury Prize, Documentary
Boys State
Directors: Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic
Yalda, A Night For Forgiveness
Director: Massoud Bakhshi
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Documentary
The Reason I Jump
Jerry Rothwell
U.S. Directing Prize, Dramatic
The 40-Year-Old Version
Director: Radha Blank
U.S. Directing Prize, Documentary
Time
Director: Garrett Bradley
World Cinema Directing Prize, Dramatic
Cuties
Maïmouna Doucouré
World Cinema Directing Prize, Documentary
The Earth Is Blue As An Orange
Director: Iryna Tsilyk
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
U.S. Dramatic: Edson Oda for Nine Days
U.S. Audience Award, Dramatic
Minari
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung
U.S. Audience Award, Documentary
Crip Camp
Directed by Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht
World Cinema Audience Award, Dramatic
Identifying Features (Sin Senas Particulares)
Directed by Fernanda Valadez
World Cinema Audience Award, Documentary
The Reason I Jump
Jerry Rothwell
Next Audience Award
I Carry You With Me
Directed by Heidi Ewing
Next Innovator Prize
I Carry You With Me
Heidi Ewing
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast
Charm City Kings
Director: Angel Manuel Soto
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Auteur Filmmaking
Shirley
Director: Josephine Decker
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Neo-Realism
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Director: Eliza Hittman
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing
Welcome to Chechnya
Editor: Tyler H. Walk
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Innovation in Non-fiction Storytelling
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Director: Kirsten Johnson
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker
Feels Good Man
Director: Arthur Jones
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking
The Fight
Directors: Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, Eli Despres
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting
Ben Whishaw
Surge
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Visionary Filmmaking
This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection
Director-screenwriter: Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Screenplay
Fernanda Valadez, Astrid Rondero
Identifying Features (Sin Señas Particulares)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Creative Storytelling
The Painter And The Thief
Director: Benjamin Ree
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography
Mircea Topoleanu and Radu Ciorniciuc
Acasa, My Home
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing
Mila Aung-Thwin, Sam Soko, Ryan Mullins
Softie
Gayle Stevens Volunteer Award
Devon Edwards
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED
Alfred P. Sloan Prize
Tesla
Directed by Michael Almereyda
SHORT FILMS
Grand Jury Prize
So What if the Goats Die (France/Morocco)
Directed by Sofia Alaoui
U.S. Fiction
-Ship: A Visual Poem
Directed by Terrence Daye
International Fiction
The Devil’s Harmony (UK)
Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams
Non-Fiction
John Was Trying to Contact Aliens
Directed by Matthew Kilip
Animation
Daughter (Czech Republic)
Directed by Daria Kashcheeva
Acting
Sadaf Asgari, in Exam (Iran)
Directed by Sonia K. Hadad
Directing
Michael Arcos, Valerio’s Day Out (U.S./Colombia)
