A sleeper hit took the top prize at Saturday’s Sundance Film Festival awards, which were handed it out in a fog of disbelief and calls to action over President Donald Trump’s immigration order.
Macon Blair’s bloody black comedy “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore” took the Grand Jury Prize, the festivals’ highest honor. Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood star as an unlikely pair of local vigilantes who go on a violent revenge spree after Lynskey’s house is broken into. The film hits Netflix in February.
Other notable dramatic wins include Eliza Hittman’s directing award for her beautiful and brutal “Beach Rats,” about a troubled Brooklyn kid struggling with his sexual identity. Chante Adams was awarded this year’s Breakthrough Performance jury prize for portraying a teen hip-hop queen in “Roxanne, Roxanne.”
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On the doc side, Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles’ “Dina” took the top prize for their nonfiction piece about the life of a couple on the autism spectrum.
Audience awards went to Matt Ruskin’s “Crown Heights,” a drama about a young black man’s wrongful imprisonment and his best friend’s fight to free him, and “Chasing Coral,” a climate change doc.
Jessica Williams, who stars in the Sundance entry “The Incredible Jessica James,” hosted the show.
Festival director Keri Putnam addressed the crowd at the top of the show, and railed against President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration — which specifically restricts U.S. entry for individuals from Muslim-majority countries.
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Putnam shouted out “artists and documentary subjects and Muslin-majority filmmakers who joined us this year to share their work,” which elicited a standing ovation from the audience which included stars like Peter Dinklage
Putnam cautioned that “closing our borders stops the flow of information. We stand with all people risking their lives for their values … who are now denied entrance to our country.”
The full list of winners:
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
“I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore”
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic
“Beach Rats,” Eliza Hittman
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic
“Ingrid Goes West,” Screenwriters Matt Spicer and David Branson Smith
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography
“The Yellow Birds,” DP Daniel Landin
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance
Chante Adams, “Roxanne, Roxanne”
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Director
“Novitiate,” Dir. Maggie Betts
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
“Dina,” Dir. Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary
“The Force,” Dir. Peter Nicks
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U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award – The Orwell Award
“Icarus,” Dir. Bryan Fogel
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing
“Unrest,” Editors Kim Roberts, Emiliano Battista
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Inspirational Filmmaking
“Step,” Dir. Amanda Lipitz
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling
“Strong Island,” Dir. Yance Ford
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Writing
Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize
“Marjorie Prime”
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
“Last Men in Aleppo,” Dir. Feras Fayyad
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary
“Winnie” Dir. Pascale Lamche
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Masterful Storytelling
“RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked The World,” Dir. Catherine Bainbridge, Alfonso Maiorana
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Best Cinematography
“Machines,” Rodrigo Trejo Vilanueva
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
“The Nile Hilton Incident,” Dir. Tarik Saleh
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic
“God’s Own Country,” Dir. Francis Lee
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography
“Axolotl Overkill,” DP Manu Dacosse
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World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Screenwriting
“Pop Aye,” Screenwriter Kristen Tan
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Unique Vision and Design
“Motherland,” Dir. Ramona S. Diaz
Audience Award: NEXT, Presented by Adobe
“Gook,” Dir. Justin Chon
Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary
“Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower,” Dir. Joe Piscatella
Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic
“SUENO EN OTRO IDIOMA (I Dream in Another Language),” Dir. Ernesto Contreras
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary, Presented by Acura
“Chasing Coral,” Jeff Orlowski
Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, Presented by Acura
“Crown Heights,” Dir. Matt Ruskin
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