The mostly virtual 2021 Sundance Film Festival is coming to a close. The festival will announce awards winners Tuesday night, trading an in-person ceremony for one broadcast live and hosted by Patton Oswalt.
The awards will honor standout films across the festival’s sections: U.S. nonfiction and narrative, foreign documentaries and fiction, NEXT, Midnight, and shorts. A total of 72 features screened over the last week, along with 50 shorts, four Indie Series, and 14 New Frontier VR/new media projects.
Those projects were judged by a jury made up of Zeynep Atakan, Raúl Castillo, Ashley Clark, Julie Dash, Tacita Dean, Cynthia Erivo, Isaac Julien, Inge de Leeuw, Kim Longinotto, Laura Mulleavy, Kate Mulleavy, Joshua Oppenheimer, Mohamed Ouma Saïd, Jean Tsien, Daniela Vega, Lana Wilson, and Hanya Yanagihara.
Though this year marked the first virtual festival, the festival opened strong with a parade of buzzy titles that earned critical acclaim, including Sian Heder’s drama about a deaf family and their hearing daughter, “CODA;” Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated refugee documentary “Flee;” and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s music documentary “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).”
Other standouts from later in the festival include Rebecca Hall’s racial drama “Passing,” Dash Shaw’s psychedelic animated tale “Cryptozoo,” and Jamila Wignot’s Alvin Ailey documentary “Ailey.”
The festival was strong from a sales perspective as well. Apple’s $25 million acquisition of “CODA” less than two days after it premiered smashed a sales record set last year. Neon picked up “Flee” and “Ailey,” while Sony Pictures Classics made another prominent theatrical pickup with “Jockey.”
More sales activity is expected in the coming days, as distributors remain engaged in bidding wars for several titles in need of distribution.
IndieWire will update the list of winners as they’re announced. You can also stream the ceremony below beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
Shorts
Special Jury Award for Acting: Deanna Gibson, “Wiggle Room”
Special Jury Award for Screenwriting: Serhat Karaaslan, “The Criminals”
Jury Award, Non-Fiction:
Jury Award, International Fiction:
Jury Award, U.S. Fiction:
Grand Jury Prize:
NEXT
NEXT Audience Award Presented by Adobe:
NEXT Innovator Award:
World Cinema Documentary
Directing Award:
Grand Jury Prize:
Audience Award:
World Cinema Dramatic
Directing Award:
Grand Jury Prize:
Audience Award:
US Documentary
Audience Award:
Directing Award:
Grand Jury Prize:
US Dramatic
Audience Award:
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award:
Directing Award:
Grand Jury Prize:
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