Like Crazy, Oregon claim Sundance jury prizes

The grand jury documentary prize handed out at the awards ceremony in Park City on Saturday night [29] went to Peter D Richardson’s euthanasia film How To Die In Oregon.

The world cinema categories hailed a dramatic winner in Anne Sewitsky’s Norwegian story of a sex-starved housewife Happy, Happy (Sykt Lykkelig), while Danfung Denis’ UK-US film about the rehabilitation of a US Marine, Hell And Back Again, prevailed among the documentaries.

Cindy Meehl’s Buckwon the documentary audience award and Maryam Keshavarz’s Tehran-set Circumstance was deemed the best dramatic US film of the festival. Asif Kapadia’s Senna and Alrick Brown’s Kinyarwanda won the world documentary and dramatic prizes, respectively.

The Best Of NEXT!: Audience Award went to Erica Dunton’s to.get.her.

In other awards:

The Directing Award: Documentary – Jon Foy, Resurrect Dead: The Mystery;

The Directing Award: Dramatic – Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy MayMarlene;

The World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary – James Marsh, Project Nim;

The World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic – Paddy Considine – Tyrannosaur;

The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award – Sam Levinson, Another Happy Day;

The World Cinema Screenwriting Award – Yossi Madmony, Restoration;

The Documentary Editing Award – Matthew Hamachek and Marshall Curry, If A Tree Falls; A Story Of The Earth Liberation Front;

The World Cinema Documentary Editing Award Goran Hugo Olsson and Hanna Lejonqvist, The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975;

The Excellence In Cinematography Award: Documentary – Eric Strauss, Ryan Hill and Peter Hutchens, The Redemption Of General Butt Naked;

The Excellence in Cinematography Award: Dramatic – Bradford Young, Pariah;

The World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary – Danfung Dennis, Hell And Back Again; and

The World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic – Diego F Jimenez, All Your Dead Ones.

There were two World cinema special jury prizes: dramatic for breakout performances were presented to Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan for their roles in Tyrannosaur, and documentary for Retel Helmrich and his Dutch entry Position Among the Stars (Stand Van De Sterren).

A documentary special jury prize was presented to Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey by Constance Marks and dramatic special jury honours went to Mike Cahill for directing, co-writing and co-producing Another Earth and Felicity Jones for her role in Like Crazy.

Sundance Institute and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) on Thursday announced that Cherien Dabis, director of May In The Summer, was the winner of the Sundance Institute/NHK Award honoring and supporting emerging filmmakers.

As previously reported, Another Earth won the Alfred P Sloan Feature Film Prize, which carries a $20,000 cash award and goes to “an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character.”

“Success at Sundance can be measured in terms of aendance, sponsorships, acquisitions, even the weather,” fetival director John Cooper said. “Ultimately, it’s about the films themselves – were they well received? Did they resonate with the audience enough to have a life beyond these 10 days? And this year, the answer is a resounding yes.”

In the latest deals:

• Oscilloscope Laboratories acquired all English-speaking rights to Evan Glodell’s directorial debut Bellflowerin a deal negotiated with CAA. O-Scope plans a US theatrical release this summer.
• Alliance Films acquired all Canadian rights to Andrew Rossi’s Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times after negotiating with Josh Braun and David Koh of Submarine Entertainment along with Victoria Cook of Frankfurt Kumit Klein & Selz.
• Pretty Pictures acquired all French rights from Submarine Entertainment to Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times and Celine Danhier’s Blank City. Pretty Pictures will open both films theatrically in the autumn.