David Farnor | On 03, Feb 2019

After 10 days and 121 feature films, the 2019 Sundance Film Festival officially draws to a close today, and after a quiet year in 2018, this year has seen the return of major spending sprees from Amazon Studios, Netflix, HBO and even Apple’s fledging VOD platform.

Amazon led the charge upon Utah for the latest indie films, acquiring Honey Boy, The Report, Brittany Runs a Marathon and Late Night.

It’s only fitting, then, that Amazon should come away with the top audience prize, with Brittany Runs a Marathon winning the US Dramatic Audience Award last night – a promising sign for Amazon’s hopes at launching a breakout hit. Political campaign portrait Knock Down the House took hom the Audience Award for US Documentary, which will likely be the clincher that the movie needs to officially close its reported deal with Netflix.

Alma Har’el and Shia LaBeouf’s Honey Boy, which Amazon acquired this weekend, was given the US Dramatic Special Jury Award for Vision and Craft. The US Dramatic Special Jury Award for Achievement in Acting was presented to Rhianne Barreto for Share, which HBO acquired. And the Directing Award: US Documentary was presented to Yance Ford for American Factory, which Netflix reportedly nabbed this week, reuniting the streaming service with the director of Strong Island.

Netflix’s The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which marks the debut of Chiwetel Ejiofor, was presented with the 2019 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize as an outstanding feature film about science or technology. The filmmakers received a $20,000 cash award from Sundance Institute with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The Grand Jury Prizes were awarded to Clemency (U.S. Dramatic), One Child Nation (U.S. Documentary), Honeyland (World Cinema Documentary) and Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir (World Cinema Dramatic).

Of the 28 prizes awarded to 23 films – comprising the work of 27 filmmakers – 13 (56.5%) were directed by one or more women; eight (34.8%) were directed by one or more people of color; and one (4.3%) was directed by a person who identifies as LGBTQI+

Here’s the full list of feature film prize winners:

U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary

One Child Nation

U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic

Clemency

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary

Honeyland

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic

The Souvenir

Audience Award: U.S. Documentary

Knock Down the House

Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic

Brittany Runs a Marathon

The Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary

Sea of Shadows

Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic

Queen of Hearts

Audience Award: NEXT

The Infiltrators

Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic

Joe Talbot, for The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary

Mads Brügger, for Cold Case Hammarskjöld

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Moral Urgency

Jacqueline Olive, for Always in Season

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Emerging Filmmaker

Liza Mandelup, for Jawline

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing

Todd Douglas Miller, for Apollo 11

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography

Luke Lorentzen, Midnight Family

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Collaboration

Joe Talbot, The Last Black Man in San Francisco

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Achievement in Acting

Rhianne Barreto, for Share

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for No Borders

Hassan Fazzili, for Midnight Traveler

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Impact for Change

Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov, for Honeyland

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography

Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma, for Honeyland

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Originality
Makoto Nagahisa, for WE ARE LITTLE ZOMBIES

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award

Alejandro Landes, for Monos

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting

Krystyna Janda, for Dolce Fine Giornata

NEXT Innovator Prize

The Infiltrators

Add to Watchlist