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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, The Wolf Pack Top 2015 Sundance Film Festival Awards
In a ceremony tonight hosted by Tig Notaro and filled with special jury awards, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Wolf Pack took home the two top prizes — the Dramatic and Documentary U.S. Grand Jury Prizes. The former is an Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s adaptation of Jesse Andrews’ young adult novel, a film that picked up steam throughout the festival as word spread about its fusion of slacker comedy and heartfelt emotion. Fox Searchlight won a bidding war for the film. The Wolf Pack is Crystal Moselle’s bizarre and troubling documentary about six kids who find escape through cinema during a childhood spent imprisoned indoors. The Wolf Pack was bought by Magnolia Pictures during the festival. Interestingly, both winners feature characters or subjects making homemade version of arthouse films.
Among the special jury awards, which are typically just that — decisions by the juries to create prizes recognizing specific aspects of filmmaking — were awards for “collaborative vision” (Advantageous); verite filmmaking (Western); social impact (3 1/2 Minutes) and “unparalleled access” (The Chinese Mayor). Two of Filmmaker‘s ’14 25 New Faces, Lyric Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe, won a special jury award — “Breakout First Feature” — for their riveting and confounding tale of investigatory entrapment and overreach in the American Muslim community, (T)ERROR. Also from this year’s 25 New Faces, the winner of the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award, Robert Eggers, for The Witch.
A complete list of the awards follows, and Filmmaker‘s Sundance coverage can all be found here.
U.S. Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon.
U.S. Grand Jury Prize, Documentary: The Wolf Pack, Crystal Moselle.
U.S. Dramatic Directing Award: Robert Eggers, The Witch.
U.S. Documentary Directing Award: Matthew Heineman, Cartel Land.
Waldo Scott Screenwriting Award: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Tim Talbott.
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Editing: Dope, Lee Haugen.
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography: The Diary of a Teenage Girl.
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Collaborative Vision: Advantageous, Jennifer Phang and Jacqueline Kim.
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic: Slow West, Director: John Maclean
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Documentary: The Russian Woodpecker, Director: Chad Gracia
U.S. Dramatic Audience Award: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
U.S. Documentary Audience Award: Meru, Directors: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
World Cinema Audience Award, Dramatic: Umrika, Director: Prashant Nair
World Cinema Audience Award, Documentary: Dark Horse, Director: Louise Osmond
NEXT Audience Award: James White, Director: Josh Mond
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Breakout First Feature: (T)error, Directors: Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Verite Filmmaking: Western, Directors: Bill and Turner Ross
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact: 3 1/2 Minutes, Director: Marc Silver
World Cinema Directing Award, Documentary: Dreamcatcher, Director: Kim Longinotto
World Cinema Directing Award, Dramatic: The Summer of Sangaile, Director: Alanté Kavaïté
World Cinema Documentary Editing Award: How to Change the World, Editor: Jim Scott
U.S. Excellence in Cinematography Award, Documentary: Cartel Land, DPs: Matthew Heineman and Matt Porwoll
World Cinema Cinematography Award, Dramatic: Partisan, DP: Germain McMicking
World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Acting: Glassland, Actor: Jack Reynor
World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Acting: The Second Mother, Actors: Regina Case and Camila Mardila
World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Unparalleled Access, Documentary: The Chinese Mayor, Director: Hao Zhou
World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Impact, Documentary: Pervert Park, Directors: Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors
Alfred P. Sloan Prize: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez
For the Sundance Short Film Awards, given earlier in the week, visit Sarah Salovaara’s coverage here.
