Sundance 2023 Awards: ‘A Thousand and One’ & ‘Going to Mars’ Win
by Alex Billington
January 27, 2023
Supply: Sundance.org
The official awards for the 2023 Sundance Movie Competition, held in Park Metropolis, Utah each January, have been introduced this night with a small ceremony held in particular person in Utah. The competition continued this week with an at-home on-line collection of viewings along with all of the in-person projections. It was an particularly festive yr, so many individuals have been excited to be again in Park Metropolis within the snow to get pleasure from movies, and a relatively spectacular choice – 111 options in whole screened at Sundance 2023. I loved so lots of them, the standard was at its finest. The principle winners for 2023 together with A Thousand and One (made by A.V. Rockwell) and the doc Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Mission successful the premium prime Grand Jury Prizes. As well as, the competition favourite is Radical (learn my glowing evaluation) together with The Persian Model and Past Utopia because the Predominant Competitors Viewers Award winners. As at all times, if any of those movies curiosity you, we hope you word them down and take the time to look at as quickly as you’ll be able to. All 2023 winners are listed beneath.
Here is the total announcement of winners with synopsis subsequent to every. The 2023 competition is wrapping up now.
2023 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL JURY AWARDS:
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was offered to A.V. Rockwell for A Thousand and One / U.S.A. (Director & Screenwriter: A.V. Rockwell, Producers: Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Lena Waithe, Rishi Rajani, Brad Weston) — Satisfied it is one final, vital crime on the trail to redemption, unapologetic and free-spirited Inez kidnaps 6-year-old Terry from the foster care system. Holding on to their secret and one another, mom and son got down to reclaim their sense of residence, identification, and stability in New York Metropolis. Forged: Teyana Taylor, Will Catlett, Josiah Cross, Aven Courtney, Aaron Kingsley Adetola.
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was offered to Joe Brewster & Michèle Stephenson for Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Mission / U.S.A. (Administrators & Producers: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson, Producer: Tommy Oliver) — Intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually modern therapies of poetry take us on a journey by the dreamscape of legendary poet Nikki Giovanni as she displays on her life and legacy.
The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was offered to Charlotte Regan for Scrapper / U.Ok. (Director & Screenwriter: Charlotte Regan, Producer: Theo Barrowclough) — Georgie is a dreamy 12-year-old woman who lives fortunately alone in her London flat, filling it with magic. Out of nowhere, her estranged father turns up and forces her to confront actuality. Forged: Harris Dickinson, Lola Campbell, Alin Uzun, Ambreen Razia, Olivia Brady, Aylin Tezel.
The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was offered to Maite Alberdi for The Everlasting Reminiscence / Chile (Director & Producer: Maite Alberdi, Producers: Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue) — Augusto and Paulina have been collectively for 25 years. Eight years in the past, he was recognized with Alzheimer’s illness. Each concern the day he not acknowledges her.
The Directing Award: U.S. Documentary was offered to Luke Lorentzen for A Nonetheless Small Voice / U.S.A. (Director & Producer: Luke Lorentzen, Producer: Kellen Quinn) — An aspiring hospital chaplain begins a yearlong residency in non secular care, solely to find that to efficiently are inclined to her sufferers, she should look deep inside herself.
The Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic was offered to Sing J. Lee for The Unintended Getaway Driver / U.S.A. (Director & Screenwriter: Sing Lee, Screenwriter: Christopher Chen, Producers: Kimberly Steward, Basil Iwanyk, Andy Sorgie, Brendon Boyea, Joseph Hiếu) — Throughout a routine pickup, an aged Vietnamese cab driver is taken hostage at gunpoint by three lately escaped Orange County convicts. Primarily based on a real story. Forged: Hiệp Trần Nghĩa, Dustin Nguyen, Dali Benssalah, Phi Vũ, Gabrielle Chan.
The Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary was offered to Anna Hints for Smoke Sauna Sisterhood / Estonia, France, Iceland (Director: Anna Hints, Producer: Marianne Ostrat) — Within the darkness of a smoke sauna, girls share their innermost secrets and techniques and intimate experiences, washing off the disgrace trapped of their our bodies and regaining their power by a way of communion.
The Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic was offered to Marija Kavtaradze for Sluggish / Lithuania, Spain, Sweden (Director & Screenwriter: Marija Kavtaradze, Producer: Marija Razgute) — Dancer Elena and signal language interpreter Dovydas meet and type a ravishing bond. As they dive into a brand new relationship, they need to navigate how you can construct their very own form of intimacy.
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic was offered to Maryam Keshavarz for The Persian Model / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, & Producer: Maryam Keshavarz, Producers: Anne Carey, Ben Howe, Luca Borghese, Peter Block, Corey Nelson) — When a big Iranian-American household gathers for the patriarch’s coronary heart transplant, a household secret is uncovered that catapults the estranged mom and daughter into an exploration of the previous. Toggling between america and Iran over many years, mom and daughter uncover they’re extra alike than they know. Forged: Layla Mohammadi, Niousha Noor, Kamand Shafieisabet, Bella Warda, Bijan Daneshmand, Shervin Alenabi.
The Jonathan Oppenheim Enhancing Award: U.S. Documentary was offered to Daniela I. Quiroz for Going Varsity in Mariachi / U.S.A. (Administrators: Alejandra Vasquez, Sam Osborn, Producers: James Lawler, Luis A. Miranda, Jr., Julia Pontecorvo) — Within the aggressive world of highschool mariachi, the musicians from the South Texas borderlands reign supreme. Below the steerage of coach Abel Acuña, the teenage captains of Edinburg North Excessive Faculty’s acclaimed staff should flip a shoestring price range and numerous crew of inexperienced musicians into state champions.
A U.S. Dramatic Particular Jury Award: Ensemble was offered to the solid of Theater Camp / U.S.A. (Administrators & Screenwriters: Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Screenwriters: Noah Galvin, Ben Platt, Producers: Erik Feig, Samie Kim Falvey, Julia Hammer, Ryan Heller, Will Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum) — When the beloved founding father of a run-down theater camp in upstate New York falls right into a coma, the eccentric employees should band along with the founder’s crypto-bro son to maintain the camp afloat. Forged: Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Jimmy Tatro, Patti Harrison, Ayo Edebiri.
A U.S. Dramatic Particular Jury Award: Inventive Imaginative and prescient was offered to the inventive staff of Journal Goals / U.S.A. (Director & Screenwriter: Elijah Bynum, Producers: Jennifer Fox, Dan Gilroy, Jeffrey Soros, Simon Horsman) — An newbie bodybuilder struggles to seek out human connection as his relentless drive for recognition pushes him to the brink. Forged: Jonathan Majors, Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige, Mike O’Hearn, Harrison Web page, Harriet Sansom Harris.
A U.S. Dramatic Particular Jury Award: Performing was offered to Lio Mehiel for Mutt / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, & Producer: Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, Producers: Alexander Stegmaier, Stephen Scott Scarpulla, Jennifer Kuczaj, Joel Michaely) Jury quotation:— Over the course of a single hectic day in New York Metropolis, three folks from Feña’s previous are thrust again into his life. Having misplaced contact since transitioning from feminine to male, he navigates the brand new dynamics of outdated relationships whereas tackling the day-to-day challenges of dwelling life in between. Forged: Lío Mehiel, Cole Doman, MiMi Ryder, Alejandro Goic.
A U.S. Documentary Particular Jury Award: Readability of Imaginative and prescient was offered to The Stroll / U.S.A. (Administrators: Kristen Lovell, Zackary Drucker, Producer: Matt Wolf) — The historical past of New York’s Meatpacking District, instructed from the angle of transgender intercourse staff who lived and labored there. Filmmaker Kristen Lovell, who walked “The Stroll” for a decade, reunites her group to recount the violence, policing, homelessness, and gentrification they overcame to construct a motion for transgender rights.
The NEXT Innovator Award offered by Adobe was offered to Kokomo Metropolis / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: D. Smith, Producers: Harris Doran, Invoice Butler) — 4 Black transgender intercourse staff discover the dichotomy between the Black group and themselves, whereas confronting points lengthy averted.
2023 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL AUDIENCE AWARDS:
The Viewers Award: U.S. Documentary, Offered by Acura was awarded to Past Utopia / U.S.A. (Director: Madeleine Gavin, Producers: Jana Edelbaum, Rachel Cohen, Sue Mi Terry) — Hidden digital camera footage augments this perilous high-stakes journey as we embed with households trying to flee oppression from North Korea, in the end revealing a world most of us have by no means seen.
The Viewers Award: U.S. Dramatic, Offered by Acura was awarded to The Persian Model / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, & Producer: Maryam Keshavarz, Producers: Anne Carey, Ben Howe, Luca Borghese, Peter Block, Corey Nelson) — When a big Iranian-American household gathers for the patriarch’s coronary heart transplant, a household secret is uncovered that catapults the estranged mom and daughter into an exploration of the previous. Toggling between america and Iran over many years, mom and daughter uncover they’re extra alike than they know. Forged: Layla Mohammadi, Niousha Noor, Kamand Shafieisabet, Bella Warda, Bijan Daneshmand, Shervin Alenabi.
The Viewers Award: World Cinema Dramatic, Offered by United Airways was awarded to Shayda / Australia (Director, Screenwriter, & Producer: Noora Niasari, Producer: Vincent Sheehan) — Shayda, a courageous Iranian mom, finds refuge in an Australian girls’s shelter together with her 6-year-old daughter. Over Persian New Yr, they take solace in Nowruz rituals and new beginnings, however when her estranged husband re-enters their lives, Shayda’s path to freedom is jeopardized. Forged: Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Osamah Sami, Leah Purcell, Jillian Nguyen, Mojean Aria, Selina Zahednia.
The Viewers Award: World Cinema Documentary, Offered by United Airways was awarded to 20 Days in Mariupol / Ukraine (Director & Producer: Mstyslav Chernov, Producers: Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath, Derl McCrudden) — Because the Russian invasion begins, a staff of Ukrainian journalists trapped within the besieged metropolis of Mariupol battle to proceed their work documenting the warfare’s atrocities.
The Viewers Award: NEXT, Offered by Adobe was awarded to Kokomo Metropolis / U.S.A. (Director & Producer: D. Smith, Producers: Harris Doran, Invoice Butler) — 4 Black transgender intercourse staff discover the dichotomy between the Black group and themselves, whereas confronting points lengthy averted.
Chosen by viewers votes from the characteristic movies that screened on the 2023 Sundance Movie Competition, the Competition Favourite Award was offered to Radical / U.S.A (Director & Screenwriter: Christopher Zalla, Producers: Ben Odell, Eugenio Derbez, Joshua Davis) — In a Mexican border city tormented by neglect, corruption, and violence, a annoyed trainer tries a radical new methodology to interrupt by his college students’ apathy and unlock their curiosity, their potential… and possibly even their genius. Primarily based on a real story. Forged: Eugenio Derbez, Daniel Haddad, Jenifer Trejo, Mia Fernanda Solis, Danilo Guardiola.
Congrats to all of 2023’s winners! Regulate all these movies, catch them once they present in your space. I am additionally a giant fan of many of those movies already – A Thousand and One and Radical and Past Utopia and Scrapper are a few of my favourite of the fest. I am already recommending these and plan to speak about them all through the remainder of this yr. I used to be absolutely anticipating Theater Camp, or maybe Previous Lives (primarily based on all of the evaluations), to win the Competition Favourite / Viewers Award as an alternative – I heard folks raving about each of those time and again for the complete competition. I used to be not the largest fan of The Unintended Getaway Driver, a bit boring for me, however that is simply my very own tackle it. I lately watched the Finnish doc Smoke Sauna Sisterhood and it is implausible, I am glad it took residence a worth as properly. Quite a few these winners I did not even have the possibility to see anyway. As anticipated, everybody’s opinions on all of those 2023 movies are totally different! That mentioned, each final certainly one of them remains to be price your time & consideration anyway – Sundance brings lots of the finest movies yearly.
For more information, go to Sundance.org. Additionally see final yr’s winners right here. Observe all our Sundance 2023 protection.
