Both the selection of films at this year’s Sundance film festival – and the writers rating them – were defined by their diversity. The awards, too, were notable for the number of female film-makers celebrated, with Jane Campion’s jury handing gongs to movies, 57% of which were directed by women and 35% by people of colour.
A film about a prison warden on death row duty and a documentary about the generations affected by China’s one-child policy took the top jury awards at the festival in Park City, Utah.
Clemency, directed by Chinonye Chukwu and starring Alfre Woodard, won the US grand jury prize for drama, while Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang’s One Child Nation took the documentary award.
Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir won the world cinema grand jury prize by unanimous vote, while the audience prizes went to the comedy Brittany Runs a Marathon and the congressional race documentary Knock Down the House, which tracks the rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Campion noted The Souvenir’s “poetic sophistication and absolute honesty” in her tribute, while Hogg sent in a video acceptance shot by the film’s star, Honor Swinton-Byrne (daughter of Tilda Swinton, who also features).
Strong sales were seen throughout the festival, with Amazon dominating, spending a total of $41m (£31m), perhaps in an effort to outgun Netflix at next year’s Oscars. Brittany Runs a Marathon sold for $14m (£11m), while Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling comedy Late Night went for $13m (£10m). Blinded by the Light, Gurinder Chadha’s take on Sarfraz Manzoor’s memoir about discovering the music of Bruce Springsteen, went for $15m (£12m).
Full list of winners
US Dramatic competition
U.S. Dramatic grand jury prize award Clemency (dir: Chinonye Chukwu)
US Dramatic audience award Brittany Runs a Marathon (dir: Paul Downs Colaizzo)
US Dramatic directing award The Last Black Man in San Francisco, directed by Joe Talbot
US Dramatic Waldo Salt screenwriting award Share (screenplay by Pippa Bianco)
US Dramatic special jury award for vision and craft Honeyboy (dir: Alma Har’el)
US Dramatic special jury award for creative collaboration The Last Black Man in San Francisco (dir: Joe Talbot)
US Dramatic special jury award for achievement in acting Rhianne Barreto, Share
US Documentary competition
US Documentary grand jury prize award One Child Nation (dir: Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang
US Documentary audience award Knock Down the House (dir: Rachel Lears)
US Documentary directing award American Factory (dir: Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert)
US Documentary special jury award for moral urgency Always in Season (dir: Jacqueline Olive)
US Documentary special jury award for an emerging filmmaker Jawline (dir: Liza Mandelup)
US Documentary special jury award for editing Apollo 11 (edited by Todd Douglas Miller)
US Documentary special jury award for cinematography Midnight Family, (cinematographer Luke Lorentzen)
World Cinema Dramatic competition
World Cinema Dramatic grand jury prize The Souvenir (dir: Joanna Hogg)
World Cinema Dramatic audience award Queen of Hearts (dir: May El-Toukhy)
World Cinema Dramatic directing award The Sharks (dir: Lucia Garibaldi)
World Cinema Dramatic special jury award Monos (dir: Alejandro Landes)
World Cinema Dramatic special jury award for originality We Are Little Zombies (dir: Makoto Nagahisa)
World Cinema Dramatic special jury award for acting Krystyna Janda, Dolce Fine Giornata
World Cinema Documentary competition
World Cinema Documentary grand jury prize Honeyland (dir: Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov)
World Cinema Documentary audience award Sea of Shadows (dir: Richard Ladkani)
World Cinema Documentary directing award Cold Case Hammarskjold (dir: Mads Brugger)
World Cinema Documentary special jury award for no borders Midnight Traveler (dir: Hassan Fazzili)
World Cinema Documentary special jury award for impact for change Honeyland (dir: Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov)
World Cinema Documentary special jury award for cinematography Honeyland (cinematographers Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma)
