Rare double wins at Sundance
What's remarkable about the triumph of "Quinceanera" at the Sundance Film Festival awards announced on Saturday night is that the movie about a pregnant teen Latina won both of the top prizes for best dramatic films — the one determined by a mass audience vote and the other bestowed by the fest's jury of pro filmmakers. There was also an overlap in the choices made by the fest jury and audience for best documentary: "God Grew Tired of Us," about Sudanese refugees in the U.S.
"It's never happened before," fest director Geoffrey Gilmore noted. "It's happened in one category, but never in both."
"Quinceanera" was also shown recently at Kinderfilmfest in Berlin.
(Kitchen Sink Entertainment)
Sundance's jury and audience have agreed on the fest's best drama film only one other time. In 1999, both prizes went to "Three Seasons," a lushly stylized tale of a former U.S. soldier returning to Vietnam to find a daughter he may have fathered during the war.
When the jury and audience awards split, it's fascinating to see the difference between the tastes of the establishment pros and the regular filmgoers filling the screening rooms, many of whom are also pros, of course.
Audiences tend to pick films that have a higher profile after the fests: "Hustle & Flow," "Maria Full of Grace," "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," "Longtime Companion" and "sex, lies & videotape." Occasionally, the jury prize goes to movies that hang on in the awards derby ahead, like "American Splendor," "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and "You Can Count on Me," but judges usually opt for more obscure films because they feel they're deserving works that need an extra push to get critical attention and distribution deals. But whatever happened to so many of them, like "Heat and Sunlight," "In the Soup" and "Sunday"?
I believe the doble award is because now, people want to see movies about real people(Napopleon Dynamite, Real Women have Curbs) and more movies like this are to come. People are getting tired of the classical stereotype of white vs. black (Crash, Monster's Ball) Hollywood needs to start study demographic and democracy in movies. Diversity is what make our culture richer and richer. Good for the filmmakers who have a vision, Congratulations!!!
Posted by: J. A. | January 29, 2006 at 11:30 PM
I'm especially thrilled for Richard Glatzer, co-director of "Quinceañera," whose "Divorce Court"-themed debut film, "Grief," was one of the most underrated comedies of the 1990s.
Posted by: helmetz | January 29, 2006 at 08:20 PM