The 30th Slamdance Film Festival announced its annual Sparky Awards on Thursday evening, with Giuseppe Garau’s The Accident from Italy taking narrative feature grand jury honours and Matt Moyer, Amy Toensing’s Inheritance prevailing in the documentary feature category.
The Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Zoe Eisenberg’s CHAPERONE and the Episodes Grand Jury Prize went to Restorage by E’an Verdugo.
Audience award winners included Omar Kamara’s African Giants for best narrative feature and Hadley Austin’s Demon Mineral for documentary feature.
The AGBO Fellowship was awarded to Kiarash Dadgar, whose short film The Steak screened in the Narrative Shorts competition.
Screenings took place in Park City at The Doubletree Park City – The Yarrow and in Salt Lake City at the University of Utah. Festival heads reported an 18% increase in ticket and pass sales compared to 2023.
The line-up consisted of 113 films comprising 32 features, 75 shorts, and five episodics. Seventeen selections were world premieres. Some 43% of the films hailed from BIPOC creators and 43% from female or non-binary filmmakers.
The full line-up is still available online on Slamdance Channel through January 28, with the Best of Slamdance ‘24 available from February 2-4.
“This year’s award-winning films leave an indelible mark on the world of independent cinema. Each one delves into groundbreaking storytelling and the spirit of human resilience, highlighting the extreme filmmaking talent on show at Slamdance ‘24,” said Slamdance director Taylor Miller.
Grand Jury Awards - Features
Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize
The Accident (Giuseppe Garau, Italy)
Honorable Mention: The Complex Forms (Fabio D’Orta, Italy)
Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize
Inheritance (Matt Moyer, Amy Toensing)
Honorable Mention: Petro (Sean Mattison)
Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize
CHAPERONE (Zoe Eisenberg)
Honorable Mention: Slide (Bill Plympton)
Episodes Grand Jury Prize
Restorage (E’an Verdugo)
Honorable Mention: Dog Spelled Backwards (Tim Almeida)
Grand Jury Awards - Unstoppable
Unstoppable Grand Jury Prize
Good Bad Things (Shane Stanger)
Honorable Mention: Makayla’s Voice: A Letter To The World (Julio C. Palacio)
Jury Awards - Shorts
Narrative Shorts Grand Jury Prize
Fishing (Josie Charles, UK)
Honorable Mention: European Man…American Beach (Rex Shannon)
Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize
Friends On The Outside (Annabel Moodie, Scotland)
Honorable Mention: Remember, Broken Crayons Colour Too (Ursa Kastelic, Shannet Clemmings, Switzerland)
Experimental Shorts Grand Jury Prize
Light Of Light (Neritan Zinxhiria, Greece)
Honorable Mention: Entrance Wounds (Calum Walter)
Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize
Edith And The Tall Child (Kohana Wilson)
Honorable Mention: Lil Sherbet (Xinhe Zhao)
Festival-wide Awards
The AGBO Fellowship, presented by Joe and Anthony Russo
Kiarash Dadgar Mohebi director of The Steak (Can-Iran)
Summer Chastant Episodic Award
Jono Hunter director of Night Drives (Canada)
Slamdance Acting Award
John Lawson for Daruma
George Starks Spirit of Slamdance Award Winner
Radha Mehta, director of DOSH
Audience Awards
Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
African Giants (Omar Kamara)
Audience Award for Documentary Feature
Demon Mineral (Hadley Austin)
Audience Award for Episodes
Night Drive (Jono Hunter)
Audience Award for Unstoppable
Good Bad Things (Shane Stanger).
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