The Georgia filmed movie Birth of a Nation takes home the top Sundance Awards.
Nate Parker’s The Birth of A Nation, the drama about a slave revolt that became the sensation of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, has won the festival’s audience and one of the biggest prizes of the year.
The movie, which centers around the real-life rebellion led by Nat Turner, debuted to standing ovations at Sundance only days after the Motion Picture Academy changed their rules in response to the #OscarsSoWhite backlash.
Birth of a Nation was sold to Fox Searchlight for $17.5 million, after being offered for $20 million by Netflix.
“I made this film for one reason — in the hope of creating change agents,” said writer/director/star Nate Parker during the film’s Q&A. “You can watch this film and see there are systems that were in place that were corrupt and corrupted people. And the legacy of that still lives with us.”
Some of the biggest movies premiering at Sundance, would later become Oscar Best Picture nominees Whiplash, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Winter’s Bone and Fruitvale Station.
U.S. Dramatic
Directing Award, U.S., dramatic: Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan, Swiss Army Man
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Chad Hartigan, Morris From America
Special Jury Award — Individual Performance: Melanie Lynskey, The Intervention
Special Jury Award — Individual Performance: Craig Robinson, Morris From America
Special Jury Award — Breakthrough Performance: Joe Seo, Spa Night
Special Jury Award: Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, As You Are
U.S. Documentary
Grand Jury Prize: Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, Weiner
Audience Award: Brian Oakes, Jim: The James Foley Story
Directing: Roger Ross Williams, Life, Animated
Special Jury Award — Vérité Filmmaking: Keith Fulton, Lou Pepe, The Bad Kids
Special Jury Award — Writing: Robert Greene, Kate Plays Christine
Special Jury Award — Social Impact Filmmaking: Dawn Porter, Trapped
NEXT Audience Award: Kerem Sanga, First Girl I Loved
World Cinema Dramatic
Audience Award: Manolo Cruz and Carlos del Castillo, Between Sea and Land
Grand Jury Prize: Elite Zexer, Sand Storm
Directing Award: Felix van Groeningen, Belgica
Special Jury Award — Unique Vision and Design: Agnieszka Smoczyńska, The Lure
Special Jury Award — Screenwriting: Inés Bortagaray, Ana Katz, Mi Amiga Del Parque
Special Jury Award — Acting: Vicky Hernandéz, Manolo Cruz, Between Sea and Land
World Cinema Documentary
Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, Sonita
Directing: Michal Marczak, All These Sleepless Nights
Special Jury Award — Best Editing: Mako Kamitsuna, John Maringouin, We Are X
Special Jury Award — Best Cinematography: Pieter-Jan De Pue, The Land of the Enlightened
Special Jury Award — Best Debut Feature: Mathew Orzel, Heidi Brandenburg, When Two Worlds Collide
