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Here are the big winners at Sundance — all screening this weekend in person and online

‘In the Summers,’ ‘Porcelain War,’ ‘Daughters.’ ‘Dìdi (弟弟),’ and ‘A Real Pain’ among the award recipients.

Park City • Stories of survival — siblings dealing with their volatile father, artists in Ukraine, a Mexican kid outrunning the cartels, and a farm family coping with the loss of their mother — were among the top winners at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival’s awards ceremony.

The festival continues through Sunday, with the award winners screening in person in Park City and Salt Lake City — and online screenings on the Sundance web portal.

Director Alessandra Lacorazza’s “In the Summers,” a semi-autobiographical look at two siblings spending their vacations with their father in New Mexico, won the Grand Jury Prize and the Directing Award in the U.S. Dramatic competition, in a ceremony held Friday at The Ray in Park City.

Lacorazza said she dedicated the story to her mom, “who fought so hard for us to stay in the U.S. Being an immigrant mom is really, really hard, and I know that I would not be here without her.” Lacorazza said her mother would have been at Friday’s ceremony, but she was stuck at the airport.

(Sundance Institute) Sasha Calle, left, and Lio Mehiel star in director Alessandra Lacorazza's "In the Summers," which won the Grand Jury Prize and Directing award in the U.S. Dramatic competition of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

“Porcelain War,” director Brendan Bellomo’s look at three artists staying behind to fight the Russian invasion of Ukraine, won the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Documentary competition.

The Grand Jury Prize In the World Cinema Dramatic competition went to the Mexican drama “Sujo,” written and directed by Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, which follows a boy trying to avoid the cycle of violence that killed his father, a gunman for a Mexican cartel.

The documentary “A New Kind of Wilderness,” directed by Silje Evensmo Jacobesen, won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary competition. It follows a Norwegian farm family, who have grown up in and around nature, adjusting to town life after their mother dies of cancer.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Director Sean Wang expresses his excitement after wining the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award for “Didi,” at the Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony in Park City, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024.

Another multiple award winner was director Sean Wang’s “Dìdi (弟弟),” which won the Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic category and a special jury prize for its ensemble cast. Wang’s semi-autobiographical story follows a 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy (played by Izaac Wang, no relation) in a Bay Area suburb in 2008.

The Festival Favorite, decided by audience vote from all of Sundance’s titles, went to “Daughters,” which follows incarcerated Black men in the Washington, D.C., area preparing for a daddy-daughter dance. The film also won the Audience Award in the U.S. Documentary category.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Angela Patton sheds tears of joy as she celebrates with her son Kenneth Walker, left, and her mother Grace Walker after winning the Audience Award for U.S. Documentary “Daughters” at the Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony in Park City, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024.

Audience Award winners in the World Cinema categories were: The Indian film “Girls Will Be Girls,” about a teen’s sexual awakening at a Himalayan boarding school; and the documentary “Ibelin,” about the death of a young Norwegian gamer and the online community he left behind.

“Ibelin” also won the Directing Award for Benjamin Rees. “Girls Will Be Girls” won a special jury prize for Preeti Panigrahi’s performance.

The most recognizable face among the winners was actor Jesse Eisenberg, who received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for “A Real Pain.” Eisenberg wrote, directed and portrayed one of two cousins — the other played by Kieran Culkin — on a heritage tour of Poland to honor their departed grandmother, a Holocaust survivor.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jesse Eisenberg signs posters after winning for Screenwriting in U.S. Dramatic for “A “Real Pain” during the Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony in Park City, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024.

More stories of survival emerged among the other award winners as they accepted their trophies.

Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, who received the Directing Award for the U.S. Documentary entry “Sugarcane,” described the personal connection they had to their subject: The abuse at a Canadian Indigenous boarding school.

NoiseCat said, “64 years ago, my dad was born at an Indian School and left in the school’s incinerator. But he survived and here we are.”

NoiseCat noted that the school highlighted in the film was one of many in North America — 139 in Canada and more than 400 in the United States, including in Utah.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie celebrate for Directing U.S. Documentary “Sugarcane” at the Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony in Park City, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024.

Kassie dedicated their win to former Chief Rick Gilbert, who “went all the way to the Vatican to confront the priest of the Catholic order who abused him.” Gilbert died, Kassie said, while they were editing the film.

Anupama Srinivasan, who co-directed the World Cinema Documentary title “Nocturnes,” said the movie was “not your typical Indian film.”

“Nocturnes,” which showed researchers studying varieties of moths in the eastern Himalayas, received a special jury prize for craft. Srinivasan said the award was “an acknowledgement that people from all parts of the world can also make films like this. … It’s an acknowledgement that we have a right to be here.”

Being at Sundance is an accomplishment in itself, said the festival’s director, Eugene Hernandez.

“All of you were chosen from tens of thousands of submissions to be with us this year,” Hernandez told the filmmakers at the award ceremony. “Your work moved us, inspired us and compelled us to bring you to this festival and to invite you here.”

The festival this year marked its 40th edition operated by Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute. The occasion allowed for some looking back, celebrating classic films that have played Sundance in the past — including “The Times of Harvey Milk,” “Mississippi Masala” and “Napoleon Dynamite.”

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sundance Film Festival programmers, led by festival director Eugene Hernandez, right, gather at the Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony in Park City, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024.

Sundance Film Festival winners

U.S. Dramatic competition

Grand Jury Prize • “In The Summers.”

Audience Award • “Dìdi (弟弟).”

Directing Award • Alessandra Lacorazza for “In The Summers.”

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award • Jesse Eisenberg for “A Real Pain.”

Special Jury Prize for Breakthrough Performance • Nico Parker for “Suncoast.”

Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Cast • “Dìdi (弟弟)” — Izaac Wng, Joan Chen, Shirley Chen and Chang Li Hua.

U.S. Documentary competition

Grand Jury Prize • “Porcelain War.”

Audience Award • “Daughters.”

Directing Award • Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie for “Sugarcane.”

Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award • Carla Gutiérrez for “Frida.”

Special Jury Prize for Sound • “Gaucho Gaucho.”

Special Jury Prize for “Art of Change” • “Union.”

World Cinema Dramatic competition

Grand Jury Prize • “Sujo” (Mexico / United States / France).

Audience Award • “Girls Will Be Girls” (India / France / United States / Norway).

Directing Award • Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi for “In the Land of Brothers” (Islamic Republic of Iran / France / Netherlands)

Special Jury Prize for Original Music • Peter Raeburn for “Handling the Undead” (Norway).

Special Jury Prize for Acting • Preeti Panigrahi in “Girls Will Be Girls” (India / France / United States / Norway).

World Cinema Documentary competition

Grand Jury Prize • “A New Kind of Wilderness” (Norway).

Audience Award • “Ibelin” (Norway).

Directing Award • Benjamin Ree for “Ibelin” (Norway).

Special Jury Prize for Craft • “Nocturnes” (India / United States).

Special Jury Prize for “Cinematic Innovation” • Joan Grimonprez for “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” (Belgium / France / Netherlands).

Festival Favorite

Winner • “Daughters”

Next

Next Innovator Award • “Little Death.”

Audience Award • “Kneecap.”

Special Jury Award • “Desire Lines.”

Alfred P. Sloan Prize

Winner • “Love Me,” directed by Sam and Andy Zuchero. (Previously announced; given to a film with a science or technology theme.)

Short Film Program

The award winners for the Shorts category were announced Tuesday, chosen from 53 shorts in this year’s festival, which were selected from 12,098 submissions.

Grand Jury Prize • “The Masterpiece,” directed by Álex Lora.

Jury Prize, Nonfiction • “Bob’s Funeral,” directed by Jack Dunphy.

Jury Prize, International Fiction • “The Stag” (Taiwan), directed by Chien-An Chu.

Jury Prize, U.S. Fiction • “Say Hi After You Die,” directed by Kate Hollowell.

Jury Prize, Animation • “Bug Diner,” directed by Phoebe Jane Hart.

Special Jury Prize, Directing (International) • Makoto Nagahisa, “Pisko the Card Child is in Love″ (Japan).

Special Jury Prize, Directing (U.S.) • Masha Ko, “The Looming.”

Slamdance Film Festival

There were a total of 9,000 submissions for this year’s Slamdance Film Festival. According to a release from the festival, all the films in the narrative features and documentary features categories are “directorial debuts without U.S. distribution.”

The features come from 20 different countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Palestine, Russia, and the UK amongst them.

AGBO Fellowship • Kiarash Dadgar, “The Steak.”

George Starks Spirit of Slamdance Award Winner • Radha Mehta, director of “DOSH” (United States)

Narrative Feature, Grand Jury Prize • “The Accident” (Giuseppe Garau); Honorable mention: “The Complex Forms” (Fabio D’Orta).

Narrative Feature, Audience Award • “African Giants” (Omar Kamara).

Outstanding Acting Award • John Lawson for “Daruma.”

Documentary Feature, Grand Jury Prize • “Inheritance” (Matt Moyer, Amy Toensing); Honorable mention: “Petro” (Sean Mattison).

Documentary Feature, Audience Award • “Demon Mineral” (Hadley Austin).

Unstoppable, Grand Jury Prize • “Good Bad Things” (Shane Stanger); Honorable mention: “Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World” (Julio C. Palacio).

Unstoppable, Audience Award • “Good Bad Things” (Shane Stanger).

Breakouts Feature, Grand Jury Prize • “Chaperone” (Zoe Eisenberg); Honorable mention: “Slide” (Bill Plympton).

Episodes, Grand Jury Prize • “Restorage” (E’an Verdugo); Honorable mention: “Dog Spelled Backwards” (Tim Almeida).

Episodes, Audience Award • “Night Drives” (Jono Hunter).

Narrative Shorts, Grand Jury Prize • “Fishing” (Josie Charles); Honorable mention: “European Man...American Beach” (Rex Shannon).

Documentary Short, Grand Jury Prize • “Friends on the Outside” (Annabel Moodie); Honorable mention: “Remember, Broken Crayons Colour Too” (Ursa Kastelic, Shannet Clemmings).

Experimental Short, Grand Jury Prize • “Light of Light” (Neritan Zinxhiria); Honorable mention: “Entrance Wounds” (Calum Walte).

Animated Shorts, Grand Jury Prize • “Edith And The Tall Child” (Kohana Wilson); Honorable Menton: “Lil Sherbet” (Xinhe Zhao).