'Winter's Bone,' 'Restrepo' win top Sundance prizes

Capping off over a week celebrating the best of independent cinema, the Sundance Film Festival presented its award winners on Saturday (January 30) night.

The big winner on Sunday was Debra Granik's Ozarks Gothic drama "Winter's Bone," which won the U.S. Dramatic Competition (jury) and also the Waldo Salt Award for screenwriters Debra Granik and Anne Rosellin.

Unlike last year, when the Sundance jury and Festival audiences both crowned "Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire" (later to become "Precious") as their favorite, 2010 saw a return to the more standard jury-audience split. While "Winter's Bone" got the jury vote, audiences preferred "happythankyoumoreplease," the writing and directing debut of "How I Met Your Mother" star Josh Radnor.

There were jury-audience splits in all major categories, in fact. While Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's war-themed "Restrepo" won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary, audiences preferred Davis Guggenheim's "Waiting for Superman," about the plight in public education. The World Cinema Jury Prize went to David Michod's crime thriller "Animal Kingdom," while audiences went with Javier Fuentes-Leõn's "Leon." And the World Cinema Documentary Jury Prize went to "The Red Chapel," while audiences selected Lucy Walker's "Wasteland."

"Great films make for a great festival," says John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, in a statement. "This year it was as if I could feel a shift in the DNA of the film community -- the reaction to the films was inspiring."

Adds Trevor Groth, Sundance's Director of Programming, "These awards celebrate the diversity of this year's program. Hopefully the attention these prizes bring will allow the films to connect with a wider audience hungry for choice."

The Complete List of Sundance 2010 Award Winners:

Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic:
"Winter's Bone," directed by Debra Granik

Grand Jury Prize, Documentary:
"Restrepo," directed by Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington

World Cinema Jury Prize, Dramatic:
"Animal Kingdom," written and directed by David Michôd

World Cinema Jury Prize, Documentary:
"The Red Chapel (Det Røde Kapel)," directed by Mads Brügger

U.S. Dramatic Audience Award:
"happythankyoumoreplease," written and directed by Josh Radnor

U.S. Documentary Audience Award:
"Waiting for Superman," directed by Davis Guggenheim

World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award:
"Contracorriente (Undertow)," written and directed by Javier Fuentes-Leõn

World Cinema Documentary Audience Award:
"Wasteland," directed by Lucy Walker

The Best of NEXT:
"Homewrecker," directed by Todd Barnes and Brad Barnes

Directing Award, Dramatic:
"3 Backyards" Director: Eric Mendelsohn

Directing Award, Documentary:
Smash His Camera" Director Leon Gast

World Cinema Directing Award, Dramatic:
"Southern District" Director: Juan Carlos Valdivia

World Cinema Directing Award, Documentary:
Space Tourists, Director: Christian Frei

Waldo Scott Screenwriting Award:
Winter’s Bone, written by Debra Granik and Anne Rosellin

World Cinema Screenwriting Award:
"Southern District," written and directed by Juan Carlos Valdivia

Documentary Editing Award:
"Joan Rivers—A Piece Of Work" Editor: Penelope Falk

World Cinema Documentary Editing Award:
"A Film Unfinished" Editor: Joëlle Alexis

Excellence in Cinematography Award, Dramatic:
"Obselidia" Cinematographer: Zak Mulligan

Excellence in Cinematography Award, Documentary:
"The Oath" Cinematographers: Kirsten Johnson and Laura Poitras

World Cinema Cinematography Award, Dramatic:
"The Man Next Door (El Hombre de al Lado)" Directors and cinematographers Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat

World Cinema Cinematography Award, Documentary:
"His & Hers" Cinematographers: Kate McCullough and Michael Lavelle

Special Jury Prize: Dramatic:
"Sympathy for Delicious," directed by Mark Ruffalo

Special Jury Prize: Documentary:
"GASLAND," directed by Josh Fox

World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Documentary:
"Enemies of the People," directed by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath

Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking:
"Drunk History: Douglass & Lincoln," directed by Jeremy Konner

Jury Prize in International Short Filmmaking:
"The Six Dollar Fifty Man," directed by Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland (New Zealand)

World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Dramatic for Breakout Performance:
Tatiana Maslany, for her role as a starry-eyed teenager in "Grown Up Movie Star"

Honorable Mentions in Short Filmmaking:
"Born Sweet," directed by Cynthia Wade (USA, Cambodia)
"Can We Talk?," directed by Jim Owen (United Kingdom)
"Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No," directed by James Blagden (USA)
"How I Met Your Father," directed by Álex Montoya (Spain)
"Quadrangle," directed by Amy Grappell (USA)
"Rob and Valentyna in Scotland," directed by Eric Lynne (USA, United Kingdom)
"Young Love," directed by Ariel Kleiman (Australia)

 

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