“In the Summers,” a moving drama starring Puerto Rican musician René Pérez Joglar, known as Residente, about the complicated relationship of an addict father and his daughters, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 40th Sundance Film Festival in the documentary category “Porcelain War” about a Ukrainian couple who create fragile, intricately painted ceramics while war rages around them.
Both awards, announced Friday in Park City, Utah, are aimed at first-time directors. “In the Summers” was written and directed by Colombian-American queer filmmaker Alessandra Lacorazza. It poetically follows a flawed father and his daughters over nearly two decades. Lacorazza also received the directing award.
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“For queers, for Latinos, for immigrants, this is for you,” said Lacorazza, whose film is set in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Residente shared his joy about the news on social media. “We won Best Dramatic Film at Sundance! I still can't believe it… Thank you to this new family that I have tattooed on my soul, brothers and sisters. The energy during filming was so special that it is inexplicable. A team full of Latinos who, above all, gave their all,” he wrote.
“Porcelain War” is the second documentary about the Ukrainian war to win at Sundance, following “20 Days in Mariupol” last year. Directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev.
“This award is thanks to the courage of the Ukrainian people,” Bellomo said. “And this award is for the beauty of the people of Ukraine.”
“Sujo,” a Mexican film from filmmakers Astrid Romero and Fernanda Valadez about an orphan boy trying to escape the clutches of drug trafficking violence, won the Grand Jury Prize for the world’s best drama film. “A New Kind of Wilderness,” about a Norwegian family seeking to live outside social norms, won the Jury Prize for Best Documentary in the World.
The Sundance audience-voted festival award went to “Daughters,” Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s moving documentary that follows four girls as they prepare for a special dance with their incarcerated parents. “Daughters” also won the Audience Award for Best American Documentary.
Sean Wang's “Dìdi,” a coming-of-age film portraying a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy, won the audience award for best American drama. “Dìdi” also won a jury prize for its ensemble.
“Ibelin,” acquired by Netflix at Sundance, won the audience award for best world cinema documentary and a jury award for direction by Benjamin Ree. The film tells the story of Mats Steen, a Norwegian who died at the age of 25 from a degenerative muscle disease. It was only after his death that his parents learned how widely known and celebrated Steen was on the Internet through his personal blog and through the video game World of Warcraft.
“Girls Will Be Girls,” about a boarding school in the Himalayas, won the audience award for the best film drama in the world. The film “Little Death,” produced by Darren Aronofsky and starring David Schwimmer as a television writer, won the NEXT Innovator Award. The winner of the audience award was the Irish drama “Kneecap,” about a rap trio from Belfast and starring Michael Fassbender.
Honorees will be available to watch via streaming on the festival's website from Saturday morning until the end of Sundance on Sunday.
Sundance winners are often among the most celebrated films of the year. Last year's festival featured Céline Song's “Past Lives,” which was nominated for best film and best screenplay at the Oscars on Tuesday. Other Sundance titles that made it to the Oscars include “CODA,” the 2022 best picture winner, “Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” and “Minari.”
The 40th edition of the festival brought high-profile films such as Jesse Eisenberg's acclaimed “A Real Pain,” starring the director and Kieran Culkin; Will Ferrell and Harper Steele’s “Will & Harper” road trip; and the emotional documentary “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.”
That year, “A Real Pain,” which also won a screenwriting award for Eisenberg, was one of the top-selling films, grossing $10 million through its purchase by Searchlight Pictures. Neon has acquired Steven Soderbergh's ghost story Presence. And the horror thriller “It's What's Inside” was sold to Netflix for $17 million.