This was a very different Sundance Film Festival for many reasons. Obviously, the pandemic led to this being the first that was completely virtual; there were fewer films as part of the overall slate, and the various competition juries were also much smaller. Whether that had anything to do with the utter dominance of the crowd-pleasing Opening Night film, Coda, I don’t know but the film walks in rarified air.
Coda, a film about a hearing child in a family of deaf adults coping with her responsibilities to them and her love of music, took the Dramatic, Audience, and Directing award for filmmaker Siân Heder. The film was also awarded a special ensemble prize for the cast, many of which are deaf, including co-star Marlee Matlin.
The Opening Night films performed well overall, as Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s directorial debut Summer of Soul (..Or When the Revolution Could Not be Televised) took the Grand Jury and Audience awards for documentaries.
Clifton Collins Jr., already earning future Oscar contender buzz for his moving performance in Jockey, won a Special Jury Prize for Best Actor.
The complete list of winners is below. You can check out our complete Sundance 2021 coverage here.
GRAND JURY PRIZES
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, for “Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)“
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to: Siân Heder, for “CODA”
The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to: Jonas Poher Rasmussen, for “Flee” / Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway
The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to: Blerta Basholli, for “Hive” / Kosovo, Switzerland, Macedonia, Albania
AUDIENCE AWARDS
The Audience Award: U.S. Documentary, Presented was presented to: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for “Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)“
The Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, Presented to: Siân Heder, for “CODA”
The Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic was presented to: Blerta Basholli, for “Hive”/ Kosovo, Switzerland, Macedonia, Albania
The Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary was presented to: Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, for “Writing With Fire” / India
The Audience Award: NEXT, Presented by Adobe was presented to: Marion Hill, for “Ma Belle, My Beauty” / U.S.A.
DIRECTING, SCREENWRITING & EDITING AWARDS
The Directing Award: U.S. Documentary was presented to: Natalia Almada, for “Users” / U.S.A., Mexico
The Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented to: Siân Header, for “CODA”
The Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary was presented to: Hogir Hirori, for “Sabaya” / Sweden
The Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic was presented to: Blerta Basholli, for “Hive” / Kosovo, Switzerland, Macedonia, Albania
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented to: Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch, for “On the Count of Three”
The Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary was presented to: editors Kristina Motwani and Rebecca Adorno, for “Homeroom”
SPECIAL JURY AWARDS
A U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast was presented to: the cast of “CODA,” for “CODA”
A U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Actor was presented to: Clifton Collins Jr., for “Jockey”
A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Emerging Filmmaker was presented to: Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt, for “Cusp”
A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Nonfiction Experimentation was presented to: Theo Anthony, for “All Light, Everywhere”
A World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Vérité Filmmaking was presented to: Camilla Nielsson, for “President” / Denmark, U.S.A., Norway
A World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Impact for Change was presented to: Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, for “Writing With Fire” / India
A World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting was presented to: Jesmark Scicluna, for “Luzzu” / Malta
A World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Creative Vision was presented to: Baz Poonpiriya, for “One for the Road: / China, Hong Kong, Thailand
NEXT INNOVATOR PRIZE PRESENTED BY ADOBE
The NEXT Innovator Prize presented by Adobe was presented to: Dash Shaw, for “Cryptozoo” / U.S.A.
SHORT FILM AWARDS
Jury prizes for short filmmaking were awarded at the same ceremony. The Short Film Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Lizard / United Kingdom (Director: Akinola Davies, Jr., Screenwriter: The Davies Brothers). The Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction was awarded to The Touch of the Master’s Hand / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Gregory Barnes. The Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction was awarded to Bambirak / U.S.A., Germany (Director and Screenwriter: Zamarin Wahdat). The Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction was awarded to Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma / U.S.A., Germany, France, Italy (Directors and Screenwriters: Topaz Jones, rubberband.). The Short Film Jury Award: Animation was awarded to Souvenir Souvenir / France (Director and Screenwriter: Bastien Dubois). A Short Film Special Jury Award for Acting was presented to Wiggle Room / U.S.A. (Directors and Screenwriters: Sam Guest, Julia Baylis). A Short Film Special Jury Award for Screenwriting was awarded to The Criminals / France, Romania, Turkey (Director and Screenwriter: Serhat Karaaslan).
EARLIER SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS
The 2021 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, presented to an outstanding feature film about science or technology, was presented to “Sons of Monarchs.” The filmmakers received a $20,000 cash award from Sundance Institute with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
The Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Award for Nonfiction went to Nicole Salazar, for “Philly D.A.”
The Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Award for Fiction went to Natalie Qasabian, for “Run.”
The Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Nonfiction went to Juli Vizza, and the Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Fiction went to Terilyn Shropshire.
The Sundance Institute | NHK Award went to Meryman Joobeur, for her film “Motherhood.”
