Starring
JK Simmons as a domineering band leader and Miles Teller as an aspiring
jazz drummer, Damien Chazelle's dramatic film "Whiplash" earned top
honors from the jury and from festival audiences. Photo by Daniel
McFadden courtesy of Sundance.
U.S. Grand Jury Prize - Documentary:
Rich Hill / U.S.A. (Directors: Andrew Droz Palermo, Tracy Droz Tragos) —
In a rural, American town, kids face heartbreaking choices, find
comfort in the most fragile of family bonds, and dream of a future of
possibility.
U.S. Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic: Whiplash /
U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Damien Chazelle) — Under the
direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to
pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity. Cast: Miles Teller, JK
Simmons.
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize - Documentary: Return
to Homs / Syria, Germany (Director: Talal Derki) — Basset Sarout, the
19-year-old national football team goalkeeper, becomes a demonstration
leader and singer, and then a fighter. Ossama, a 24-year-old renowned
citizen cameraman, is critical, a pacifist, and ironic until he is
detained by the regime's security forces.
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic:
To Kill a Man / Chile, France (Director and screenwriter: Alejandro
Fernández Almendras) — When Jorge, a hardworking family man who's barely
making ends meet, gets mugged by Kalule, a neighborhood delinquent,
Jorge's son decides to confront the attacker, only to get himself shot.
Even though Jorge's son nearly dies, Kalule's sentence is minimal,
heightening the friction. Cast: Daniel Candia, Daniel Antivilo,
Alejandra Yañez, Ariel Mateluna.
Audience Award: U.S. - Documentary: Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory / U.S.A.
(Director: Michael Rossato-Bennett) — Five million Americans suffer
from Alzheimer's disease and dementia—many of them alone in nursing
homes. A man with a simple idea discovers that songs embedded deep in
memory can ease pain and awaken these fading minds. Joy and life are
resuscitated, and our cultural fears over aging are confronted.
Audience Award: U.S. - Dramatic:
Whiplash / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Damien Chazelle) — Under
the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins
to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity. Cast: Miles Teller,
JK Simmons.
Audience Award: World Cinema - Documentary:The
Green Prince / Germany, Israel, United Kingdom (Director: Nadav
Schirman ) — This real-life thriller tells the story of one of Israel's
prized intelligence sources, recruited to spy on his own people for more
than a decade. Focusing on the complex relationship with his handler,
The Green Prince is a gripping account of terror, betrayal, and
unthinkable choices, along with a friendship that defies all boundaries.
Audience Award: World Cinema - Dramatic: Difret /
Ethiopia (Director and screenwriter: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari) — Meaza
Ashenafi is a young lawyer who operates under the government's radar
helping women and children until one young girl's legal case exposes
everything, threatening not only her career but her survival. Cast:
Meron Getnet, Tizita Hagere.
Audience Award: Best of NEXT:
Imperial Dreams / U.S.A. (Director: Malik Vitthal, Screenwriters: Malik
Vitthal, Ismet Prcic) — A 21-year-old, reformed gangster's devotion to
his family and his future are put to the test when he is released from
prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Cast: John Boyega, Rotimi Akinosho, Glenn Plummer, Keke Palmer,
De'aundre Bonds.
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary: Ben
Cotner & Ryan White for The Case Against 8 / U.S.A. (Directors: Ben
Cotner, Ryan White) — A behind-the-scenes look inside the case to
overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage. Shot over five years,
the film follows the unlikely team that took the first federal marriage
equality lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic:
Cutter Hodierne for Fishing Without Nets / U.S.A., Somalia, Kenya
(Director: Cutter Hodierne, Screenwriters: Cutter Hodierne, John Hibey,
David Burkman) — A story of pirates in Somalia told from the perspective
of a struggling, young Somali fisherman. Cast: Abdikani Muktar, Abdi
Siad, Abduwhali Faarah, Abdikhadir Hassan, Reda Kateb, Idil Ibrahim.
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary:Iain
Forsyth & Jane Pollard for 20,000 Days On Earth / United Kingdom
(Directors: Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard) — Drama and reality combine
in a fictitious 24 hours in the life of musician and international
culture icon Nick Cave. With startlingly frank insights and an intimate
portrayal of the artistic process, this film examines what makes us who
we are and celebrates the transformative power of the creative spirit.
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic:
Sophie Hyde for 52 Tuesdays / Australia (Director: Sophie Hyde,
Screenplay and story by: Matthew Cormack, Story by: Sophie Hyde) —
Sixteen-year-old Billie's reluctant path to independence is accelerated
when her mother reveals plans for gender transition, and their time
together becomes limited to Tuesdays. This emotionally charged story of
desire, responsibility, and transformation was filmed over the course of
a year—once a week, every week, only on Tuesdays. Cast: Tilda
Cobham-Hervey, Del Herbert-Jane, Imogen Archer, Mario Späte, Beau
Williams, Sam Althuizen.
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic:
Craig Johnson & Mark Heyman for The Skeleton Twins / U.S.A.
(Director: Craig Johnson, Screenwriters: Craig Johnson, Mark Heyman) —
When estranged twins Maggie and Milo feel that they're at the end of
their ropes, an unexpected reunion forces them to confront why their
lives went so wrong. As the twins reconnect, they realize the key to
fixing their lives may just lie in repairing their relationship. Cast:
Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, Ty Burrell, Boyd Holbrook, Joanna
Gleason.
Screenwriting Award: World Cinema Dramatic:Eskil
Vogt for Blind / Norway, Netherlands (Director and screenwriter: Eskil
Vogt) — Having recently lost her sight, Ingrid retreats to the safety of
her home—a place she can feel in control, alone with her husband and
her thoughts. But Ingrid's real problems lie within, not beyond the
walls of her apartment, and her deepest fears and repressed fantasies
soon take over. Cast: Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Henrik Rafaelsen, Vera
Vitali, Marius Kolbenstvedt.
Editing Award: U.S. Documentary: Jenny
Golden, Karen Sim for Watchers of the Sky / U.S.A. (Director: Edet
Belzberg) — Five interwoven stories of remarkable courage from Nuremberg
to Rwanda, from Darfur to Syria, and from apathy to action.
Editing Award: World Cinema Documentary: Jonathan
Amos for 20,000 Days On Earth / United Kingdom (Directors: Iain Forsyth
& Jane Pollard) — Drama and reality combine in a fictitious 24
hours in the life of musician and international culture icon Nick Cave.
With startlingly frank insights and an intimate portrayal of the
artistic process, this film examines what makes us who we are and
celebrates the transformative power of the creative spirit.
Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary: Rachel
Beth Anderson, Ross Kauffman for E-TEAM / U.S.A. (Directors: Katy
Chevigny, Ross Kauffman) — E-TEAM is driven by the high-stakes
investigative work of four intrepid human rights workers, offering a
rare look at their lives at home and their dramatic work in the field.
Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic: Christopher
Blauvelt for Low Down / U.S.A. (Director: Jeff Preiss, Screenwriters:
Amy-Jo Albany, Topper Lilien) — Based on Amy-Jo Albany's memoir, Low
Down explores her heart-wrenching journey to adulthood while being
raised by her father, bebop pianist Joe Albany, as he teeters between
incarceration and addiction in the urban decay and waning bohemia of
Hollywood in the 1970s. Cast: John Hawkes, Elle Fanning, Glenn Close,
Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Flea.
Cinematography Award: World Cinema Documentary: Thomas
Balmès & Nina Bernfeld for Happiness / France, Finland (Director:
Thomas Balmès) — Peyangki is a dreamy and solitary eight-year-old monk
living in Laya, a Bhutanese village perched high in the Himalayas. Soon
the world will come to him: the village is about to be connected to
electricity, and the first television will flicker on before Peyangki's
eyes.
Cinematography Award: World Cinema Dramatic: Ula
Pontikos for Lilting / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Hong
Khaou) — The world of a Chinese mother mourning the untimely death of
her son is suddenly disrupted by the presence of a stranger who doesn't
speak her language. Lilting is a touching and intimate film about
finding the things that bring us together. Cast: Ben Whishaw, Pei-Pei
Cheng, Andrew Leung, Peter Bowles, Naomi Christie, Morven Christie.
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Use of Animation: Watchers
of the Sky / U.S.A. (Director: Edet Belzberg) — Five interwoven stories
of remarkable courage from Nuremberg to Rwanda, from Darfur to Syria,
and from apathy to action.
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Intuitive Filmmaking :
The Overnighters / U.S.A. (Director: Jesse Moss) — Desperate, broken
men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil
fields. A local Pastor's decision to help them has extraordinary and
unexpected consequences.
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Musical Score:
The Octopus Project for Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter/ U.S.A. (Director:
David Zellner, Screenwriters: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner) — A lonely
Japanese woman becomes convinced that a satchel of money buried in a
fictional film is, in fact, real. Abandoning her structured life in
Tokyo for the frozen Minnesota wilderness, she embarks on an impulsive
quest to search for her lost mythical fortune. Cast: Rinko Kikuchi.
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent: Justin
Simien for Dear White People/ U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Justin
Simien) — Four black students attend an Ivy League college where a riot
breaks out over an "African American" themed party thrown by white
students. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, the film explores racial
identity in postracial America while weaving a story about forging one's
unique path in the world. Cast: Tyler Williams, Tessa Thompson, Teyonah
Parris, Brandon Bell.
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award
for the Delightful Ensemble Performance, and How the Director Brought
His Own Unique Universe into Cinema: God Help the Girl / United
Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Stuart Murdoch) — This musical from
Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian is about some messed up boys and
girls and the music they made. Cast: Emily Browning, Olly Alexander,
Hannah Murray, Pierre Boulanger, Cora Bissett.
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematic Bravery:
We
Come as Friends / France, Austria (Director: Hubert Sauper) — We Come
as Friends is a modern odyssey, a science fiction-like journey in a tiny
homemade flying machine into the heart of Africa. At the moment when
the Sudan, Africa's biggest country, is being divided into two nations, a
"civilizing" pathology transcends the headlines—colonialism,
imperialism, and yet-another holy war over resources.
Short
Film Audience Award, Presented by YouTube, based on web traffic for 15
short films that screened at the Festival and were concurrently featured
on www.youtube.com/sff : Chapel
Perilous / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Matthew Lessner) — Levi
Gold is paid an unexpected visit by Robin, a door-to-door salesman with
nothing to sell. The ensuing encounter forces Levi to confront his true
mystical calling, and the nature of reality itself. A metaphysical
comedy trip-out with Sun Araw.end quote from:
No comments:
Post a Comment