Sundance 2023: ‘A Thousand And One’, ‘The Persian Version, ‘Radical’ Take Top Festival Awards

Today, the Sundance Film Festival announced the winners of their 2023 awards. After a two-year hiatus in which the event ran virtually, the festival returned to in-person and so there was a more traditional announcement. But the importance of the awards was all the same. Taking the top prize of U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Drama was A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One. The Audience Award for Drama went to The Persian Version, which also earned writer/director Maryam Keshavarz the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.

The Festival Award, basically for the most popular film, went to the uplifting Eugenio Derbez dramedy Radical.

The full list of Sundance 2023 award winners is below:

Amazon Studios Fiction Award – Kara Durrett, “The Starling Girl”
Amazon Studios Nonfiction Award – Jess Devaney, “It’s Only Life After All”
Sundance/NHK Award – Olive Nwosu, “Lady”
Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize – “The Pod Generation”
Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Fiction – Mary Manhardt
Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Nonfiction – Troy Takaki
Sundance Institute | Stars Collective Imagination Awards – Tamara Shogaolu, “40 Acres”
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision – “Fantastic Machine”
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Verite Filmmaking – “Against The Tide”
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary – Anna Hints, “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood”
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – “The Eternal Memory”
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Creative Vision – Sofia Alaoui, “Animalia”
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Cinematography – Lílis Soares, “Mama Wata”
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Best Performance – Rosa Marchant, “When It Melts”
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic – Marija Kavtaradze, “Slow”
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – “Scrapper”
Short Film Special Jury Award: Directing, International – Valeria Hofmann, “AliEN0089”
Short Film Special Jury Award: Directing, US – Jarreau Carrillo, “The Vacation”
Short Film Jury Award: Animation – “The Flying Sailor”
Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction – “Will You Look At Me”
Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction – “The Kidnapping of the Bride”
Short Film Jury Award: US Fiction – “Rest Stop”
Short Film Grand Jury Prize – “When You Left Me On That Boulevard”
NEXT Innovator Award – D. Smith, “Kokomo City”
Audience Award: NEXT – “Kokomo City”
Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary – “20 Days in Mariupol”
Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic – “Shayda”
Audience Award: US Documentary – “Beyond Utopia”
Audience Award: US Dramatic – “The Persian Version”
Festival Favorite Award – “Radical”
US Documentary Special Jury Award: Clarity of Vision – “The Stroll”
US Documentary Special Jury Award: Freedom of Expression – “Bad Press”
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: US Documentary – Daniela I. Quiroz, “Going Varsity in Mariachi”
Directing Award: US Documentary – Luke Lorentzen, “A Still Small Voice”
US Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”
US Dramatic Special Jury Award: Ensemble – “Theater Camp”
US Dramatic Special Jury Award: Creative Vision – “Magazine Dreams”
US Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting – Lio Mehiel, “Mutt”
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: US Dramatic – Maryam Keshavarz, “The Persian Version”
Directing Award: US Dramatic – Sing J. Lee, “The Accidental Getaway Driver”
US Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – “A Thousand and One”

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.