‘Birth’ wins top prizes at Sundance – ‘Weiner’ gets US docu grand jury prize

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Nate Parker, the star, director and producer of ‘The Birth of a Nation’, holds aloft the US Dramatic Audience Award for the fi lm during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony on Jan 30, in Park City, Utah. The fi lm also won the US Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic award. (AP)
Nate Parker, the star, director and producer of ‘The Birth of a Nation’, holds aloft the US Dramatic Audience Award for the fi lm during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony on Jan 30, in Park City, Utah. The fi lm also won the US Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic award. (AP)

LOS ANGELES, Jan 31, (Agencies): ‘The Birth of a Nation”, a drama about a 19th century slave revolt in Virginia, swept top prizes at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday. The movie, acquired earlier this week by Fox Searchlight for a record-shattering $17.5 million, won the grand jury prize and the audience award at the prestigious festival held in Park City, Utah.

The dual awards mark a major victory for filmmaker Nate Parker, who wrote and directed the movie about Nat Turner, who led a slave rebellion in 1831.

It also comes at a time when Hollywood is under fire for its lack of diversity in the list of actors and filmmakers nominated for Oscars this year.

“Thank you, Sundance, for creating a platform for us to grow, in spite of what the rest of Hollywood is doing”, Parker, who is black, said as he accepted the grand jury prize for his film already being touted for a 2017 Oscar.

The US documentary grand jury prize was awarded to “Weiner”, a behind-the-scenes portrait of disgraced US politician Anthony Weiner as he attempts a comeback by running for mayor of New York.

The audience award in that category went to “Jim: The James Foley Story”, a documentary about the US journalist slain by the Islamic State group in 2014.

Struggle

In the world cinema category, the grand jury prize for a drama went to “Sand Storm”, an Israeli film that follows the struggle of women in a Bedouin village, while the audience award went to “Between Sea and Land”, a Colombian movie about a man afflicted with an illness that confines him to his bed, and his mother who cares for him.

Both the audience and grand jury prizes for foreign documentary went to “Sonita”, about an 18-year-old Afghan refugee illegally living in Tehran and who dreams of becoming the next Rihanna.

The Sundance Film Festival founded by actor Robert Redford is considered a showcase for independent and documentary films and festival winners often go on to receive critical acclaim and Hollywood awards season glory.

Last year, the crop of movies shown at the festival yielded “Brooklyn”, which is up for three Oscars next month, including best picture and best actress for its Irish star Saoirse Ronan.

Parker wasn’t the only filmmaker of color to make reference to diversity in his acceptance speech. Accepting his US documentary directing prize for “Life, Animated”, Roger Ross Williams, who became the first African-American director to win a documentary short Oscar six years ago (for “Music by Prudence”), noted, “In this age of #OscarsSoWhite and diversity, I want to thank Sundance for honoring me.”

The directing award for US narratives went to Daniel Scheinart and Daniel Kwan for their divisive Daniel Radcliffe/Paul Dano starrer, “Swiss Army Man”, which premiered early in the festival and quickly became one of its most divisive and attention-grabbing entries. It was acquired by A24.

“Yes, we are the movie with a farting dead corpse, and somehow we still won this award”, Kwan said in his acceptance speech.

Elsewhere in the US dramatic competition, the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award went to writer-director Chad Hartigan for “Morris From America”, his dramedy about an African-American teenager who has relocated with his father to Heidelberg, Germany; the film also drew an acting award for Markees Christmas. Other thesping prizes were granted to Joe Seo for his role as an Asian-American teenager coming out against the backdrop of L.A.’s Koreatown in “Spa Night”, and to Melanie Lynskey for her performance as a woman orchestrating a couples’ get-together in “The Intervention.” A special jury award was presented to director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte for “As You Are”, his well-observed ‘90s-set drama of adolescent angst.

The US documentary grand jury prize was awarded to “Weiner”, Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg’s juicy portrait behind the scenes of disgrace politician Anthony Weiner’s mayoral campaign. The audience award went to “Jim: The James Foley Story”, Brian Oakes’ portrait of the photojournalist murdered by ISIS in 2014. The directing prize went to Williams for “Life, Animated”, his portrait of a young autistic man and his transformative relationship with Disney animated films.

Elsewhere in that category, Robert Greene received a special jury award for writing “Kate Plays Christine”, his layered look at actress Kate Lyn Sheil’s preparations for the role of the late TV journalist Christine Chubbuck, while director Penny Lane and Thom Stylinski for their editing on “NUTS!”, a portrait of a small-town Kansas doctor who discovered an unusual cure for impotence using goat testicles. Other special prizes were given for social impact to “Trapped”, Dawn Porter’s documentary following two Southern abortion clinics, and for verite filmmaking to “The Bad Kids”, Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe’s portrait of several troubled adolescents at California’s Black Rock High School.

In the World Cinema dramatic competition, the grand jury prize went to “Sand Storm”, Israeli helmer Elite Ziker’s debut feature about women caught between the forces of modernity and patriarchy in a Bedouin desert village. “Between Sea and Land”, Manolo Cruz and Carlos del Castillo’s drama about a mother and her muscular dystrophy-afflicted son living near the Colombian coast, drew both the audience award and a special jury prize for actors Cruz and Vicky Hernandez.

In the same category, the directing laurels went to Belgian helmer Felix van Groeningen (“The Broken Circle Breakdown”) for “Belgica”, a tale of two brothers trying to launch a nightclub in Ghent. Another special jury award, for unique vision and design, was bestowed on Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska for her 1980s-set mermaid musical-horror film, “The Lure.”

In the World Cinema documentary competition, both the grand jury prize and the audience award went to “Sonita”, director Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s portrait of the eponymous Iranian rapper. Michael Marczak drew the directing prize for “All These Sleepless Nights”, a year-in-the-life portrait of Warsaw youth. Three special jury awards were presented for best editing to Mako Kamitsuna and John Maringouin for “We Are X”; best cinematography to Pieter-Jan De Pue for “The Land of the Enlightened”; and Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel for “When Two Worlds Collide.”

Winners

US Drama

* Grand Jury Prize: “The Birth of a Nation”

* Directing: Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan for “Swiss Army Man”

* Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Chad Hartigan for “Morris from America”

* Special Jury Award: “As You Are”

* Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance: Joe Seo for “Spa Night”

* Special Jury Award for Individual Performance: Melanie Lynskey in “The Intervention” and Graig Robinson in “Morris in America”

* Audience Award: “The Birth of a Nation”

US Documentary

* Grand Jury Prize: “Weiner”

* Directing: Roger Ross Williams for “Life, Animated”

* Special Jury Award for Editing: Penny Lane and Thom Stylinski for “Nuts!”

* Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking: “Trapped”

* Special Jury Award for Writing: “Kate Plays Christine”

* Special Jury Award for Verite Filmmaking: “The Bad Kids”

* Audience Award: “Jim: The James Foley Story”

World Cinema Drama

* Grand Jury Prize: “Sand Storm”

* Directing: “Belgica”

* Special Jury Award for Acting: Vicky Hernandez and Manolo Cruz for “Between Sea and Land”

* Award for Screenwriting: Ana Katz and Ines Bortagaray for “Mi Amiga del Parque”

* Unique Vision and Design: Agnieszka Smoczynska for “The Lure”

* Audience Award: “Between Sea and Land”

World Cinema Documentary

* Grand Jury Prize: “Sonita”

* Directing: Michal Marczak for “All These Sleepless Nights”

* Special Jury Award for Debut Feature: Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel for “When Two Worlds Collide”

* Special Jury Award for Cinematography: Pieter-Jan De Pue for “The Land of the Enlightened”

* Special Jury Award for Editing: Mako Kamitsuna and John Maringouin for “We Are X”

* Audience Award: “Sonita”

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