The Sundance Film Festival has announced its top honours for 2018. Check out the winning films and what they’re about, as we’re very likely to see a handful of these titles popping back up later in the year.
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
U.S.A. (Director: Desiree Akhavan, Screenwriters: Desiree Akhavan, Cecilia Frugiuele)
1993: after being caught having sex with the prom queen, a girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy center. Based on Emily Danforth’s acclaimed and controversial coming-of-age novel. Cast includes Chloë Grace Moretz, Sasha Lane, Forrest Goodluck, John Gallagher Jr. and Jennifer Ehle.
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
Kailash
U.S.A. (Director: Derek Doneen)
As a young man, Kailash Satyarthi promised himself that he would end child slavery in his lifetime. In the decades since, he has rescued more than eighty thousand children and built a global movement. This intimate and suspenseful film follows one man’s journey to do what many believed was impossible.
The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
Butterflies
Turkey (Director and screenwriter: Tolga Karaçelik)
In the Turkish village of Hasanlar, three siblings who neither know each other nor anything about their late father, wait to bury his body. As they start to find out more about their father and about each other, they also start to know more about themselves.
The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
Of Fathers and Sons
Germany, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar (Director: Talal Derki)
Talal Derki returns to his homeland where he gains the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses on Osama and his younger brother Ayman, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up in an Islamic Caliphate.
The Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic
Burden
U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Andrew Heckler)
After opening a KKK shop, Klansman Michael Burden falls in love with a single mom who forces him to confront his senseless hatred. After leaving the Klan and with nowhere to turn, Burden is taken in by an African-American reverend, and learns tolerance through their combined love and faith. Stars Garrett Hedlund, Forest Whitaker, Andrea Riseborough, Tom Wilkinson and Usher Raymond.
The Audience Award: U.S. Documentary
The Sentence
U.S.A. (Director: Rudy Valdez)
Cindy Shank, mother of three, is serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for her tangential involvement with a Michigan drug ring years earlier. This intimate portrait of mandatory minimum drug sentencing’s devastating consequences, captured by Cindy’s brother, follows her and her family over the course of ten years.
The Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic
The Guilty
Denmark (Director: Gustav Möller, Screenwriters: Gustav Möller, Emil Nygaard Albertsen)
Alarm dispatcher Asger Holm answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman; after a sudden disconnection, the search for the woman and her kidnapper begins. With the phone as his only tool, Asger enters a race against time to solve a crime that is far bigger than he first thought.
The Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary
This Is Home
U.S.A., Jordan (Director: Alexandra Shiva)
This is an intimate portrait of four Syrian families arriving in Baltimore, Maryland and struggling to find their footing. With eight months to become self-sufficient, they must forge ahead to rebuild their lives. When the travel ban adds further complications, their strength and resilience are put to the test.
The Audience Award: NEXT
Search
U.S.A. (Director: Aneesh Chaganty, Screenwriters: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian)
After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her. A thriller that unfolds entirely on computer screens. Stars John Cho and Debra Messing.
The Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic
Sara Colangelo, for her film The Kindergarten Teacher
U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sara Colangelo)
When a Staten Island kindergarten teacher discovers what may be a gifted five year-old student in her class, she becomes fascinated and obsessed with the child– spiraling downward on a dangerous and desperate path in order to nurture his talent. Stars Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The Directing Award: U.S. Documentary
Alexandria Bombach for her film On Her Shoulders
U.S.A. (Director: Alexandria Bombach)
Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi, survived genocide and sexual slavery committed by ISIS. Repeating her story to the world, this ordinary girl finds herself thrust onto the international stage as the voice of her people. Away from the podium, she must navigate bureaucracy, fame and people’s good intentions.
The Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic
Ísold Uggadóttir, for her film And Breathe Normally
Iceland, Sweden, Belgium (Director and screenwriter: Ísold Uggadóttir)
At the edge of Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula, two women’s lives will intersect – for a brief moment – while trapped in circumstances unforeseen. Between a struggling Icelandic mother and an asylum seeker from Guinea-Bissau, a delicate bond will form as both strategize to get their lives back on track.
The Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary
Sandi Tan, for her film Shirkers
U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sandi Tan)
In 1992, teenager Sandi Tan shot Singapore’s first indie road movie with her enigmatic American mentor Georges – who then vanished with all the footage. Twenty years later, the 16mm film is recovered, sending Tan, now a novelist in Los Angeles, on a personal odyssey in search of Georges’ vanishing footprints.
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic
Christina Choe, for her film NANCY
U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Christina Choe)
Blurring lines between fact and fiction, Nancy becomes increasingly convinced she was kidnapped as a child. When she meets a couple whose daughter went missing thirty years ago, reasonable doubts give way to willful belief – and the power of emotion threatens to overcome all rationality. Stars Andrea Riseborough, J. Smith-Cameron, Steve Buscemi, Ann Dowd and John Leguizamo.
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Creative Vision
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
U.S.A. (Director: RaMell Ross, Screenwriter: Maya Krinsky)
Composed of intimate and unencumbered moments of people in a community, this film is constructed in a form that allows the viewer an emotive impression of the Historic South – trumpeting the beauty of life and consequences of the social construction of race, while simultaneously a testament to dreaming.
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact
Crime + Punishment
U.S.A. (Director: Stephen Maing)
Over four years of unprecedented access, the story of a brave group of black and Latino whistleblower cops and one unrelenting private investigator who, amidst a landmark lawsuit, risk everything to expose illegal quota practices and their impact on young minorities.
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling
Three Identical Strangers
U.S.A. (Director: Tim Wardle)
New York,1980: three complete strangers accidentally discover that they’re identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds’ joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives – and could transform our understanding of human nature forever.
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking
Minding the Gap
U.S.A. (Director: Bing Liu)
Three young men bond together to escape volatile families in their Rust Belt hometown. As they face adult responsibilities, unexpected revelations threaten their decade-long friendship.
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Outstanding First Feature
Monsters and Men
U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Reinaldo Marcus Green)
This interwoven narrative explores the aftermath of a police killing of a black man. The film is told through the eyes of the bystander who filmed the act, an African-American police officer and a high-school baseball phenom inspired to take a stand.
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Excellence in Filmmaking
I Think We’re Alone Now
U.S.A. (Director: Reed Morano, Screenwriter: Mike Makowsky)
The apocalypse proves a blessing in disguise for one lucky recluse – until a second survivor arrives with the threat of companionship. Stars Peter Dinklage and Elle Fanning.
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Achievement in Acting
Benjamin Dickey, for BLAZE
U.S.A. (Director: Ethan Hawke, Screenwriters: Ethan Hawke, Sybil Rosen)
A reimagining of the life and times of Blaze Foley, the unsung songwriting legend of the Texas Outlaw Music movement; he gave up paradise for the sake of a song.
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award
Stephen Loveridge and M.I.A., for MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A.
Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, U.S.A. (Director: Stephen Loveridge)
Drawn from a never before seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions.
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing
Editors Maxim Pozdorovkin and Matvey Kulakov, for Our New President
Russia, U.S.A. (Director: Maxim Pozdorovkin)
The story of Donald Trump’s election told entirely through Russian propaganda. By turns horrifying and hilarious, the film is a satirical portrait of Russian media that reveals an empire of fake news and the tactics of modern-day information warfare.
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography
Cinematographers Maxim Arbugaev and Peter Indergand, for Genesis 2.0
Switzerland (Directors: Christian Frei, Maxim Arbugaev)
On the remote New Siberian Islands in the Arctic Ocean, hunters search for tusks of extinct mammoths. When they discover a surprisingly well-preserved mammoth carcass, its resurrection will be the first manifestation of the next great technological revolution: genetics. It may well turn our world upside down.
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Screenwriting
Screenwriters Julio Chavezmontes and Sebastián Hofmann, for Time Share (Tiempo Compartido)
Mexico, Netherlands (Director: Sebastián Hofmann, Screenwriters: Julio Chavezmontes, Sebastián Hofmann)
Two haunted family men join forces in a destructive crusade to rescue their families from a tropical paradise, after becoming convinced that an American timeshare conglomerate has a sinister plan to take their loved ones away.
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting
Valeria Bertuccelli, for The Queen of Fear
Argentina, Denmark (Directors: Valeria Bertuccelli, Fabiana Tiscornia, Screenwriter: Valeria Bertuccelli)
Only one month left until the premiere of The Golden Time, the long-awaited solo show by acclaimed actress Robertina. Far from focused on the preparations for this new production, Robertina lives in a state of continuous anxiety that turns her privileged life into an absurd and tumultuous landscape.
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting
Dead Pigs
China (Director and screenwriter: Cathy Yan)
A bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an expat architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a rapidly-modernizing Shanghai, China. Based on true events.
The NEXT Innovator Prize was announced as a tie
Night Comes On
U.S.A. (Director: Jordana Spiro, Screenwriters: Jordana Spiro, Angelica Nwandu)
Angel LaMere is released from juvenile detention on the eve of her 18th birthday. Haunted by her past, she embarks on a journey with her 10 year-old sister that could destroy their future.
We the Animals
U.S.A. (Director: Jeremiah Zagar, Screenwriters: Daniel Kitrosser, Jeremiah Zagar)
Us three, us brothers, us kings. Manny, Joel and Jonah tear their way through childhood and push against the volatile love of their parents. As Manny and Joel grow into versions of their father and Ma dreams of escape, Jonah, the youngest, embraces an imagined world all his own.
