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Might as well start this thread, to keep track of potential big films.

Sundance Awards

U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic The Birth of a Nation
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic Swiss Army Man
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic Morris from America
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, As You Are
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance Joe Seo, Spa Night
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Individual Performance Melanie Lynskey, The Intervention and Craig Robinson, Morris from America

U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary Weiner
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary Life, Animated
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing NUTS!
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking Trapped
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Writing Kate Plays Christine
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Vérité Filmmaking The Bad Kids

Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize Embrace of the Serpent
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Sand Storm
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic Belgica
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting Vicky Hernandéz & Manolo Cruz, Between Sea and Land
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Screenwriting Mi Amiga del Parque
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Unique Vision & Design The Lure

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary Sonita
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary All These Sleepless Nights
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Best Debut Feature When Two Worlds Collide
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Best Cinematography The Land of the Enlightened
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing We Are X

Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, Presented by Acura The Birth of a Nation
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary, Presented by Acura Jim: The James Foley Story
Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic Between Sea and Land
Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary Sonita
Audience Award: NEXT, Presented by Adobe First Girl I Loved


Wonder how much the Birth of a Nation awards were fueled by the White Oscars debate? And with a sale of $17.5m to Fox, it's going to have to perform better than 12 Years to earn that money back. Anyway, it's still a must-see personally, along with Morris From America (I liked the director's first movie and remember reading this script and liking it), Christine (great reviews but no awards), Little Men, Operation Avalanche (The Dirties is one of the best school shooting films I've seen), Goat, and Manchester By the Sea.

Am I the only person who thinks the narrative Grand Jury Prize has lost its usefulness? This is the fourth year in a row where a movie has swept both awards and it makes you wonder if Sundance should go the way of Toronto and just let the audiences pick the winner.

As for The Birth of a Nation winning, I'd say it had more to do with the studio influence. Amazon and Netflix had a buying spree on movies with limited appeal (though I think the documentary Amazon and Open Road teamed up to buy could have wide appeal, due to the football and ALS themes) so why not go for a film that stands a chance to play in more than a few theatres? As for the Grand Jury, I bet Lena Dunham didn't choose The Birth of a Nation (I bet she chose Manchester-by-the-Sea or Weiner-Dog) while everyone else probably went against her.

Meanwhile, I wonder how the reviews were for Ali and Nino. That's the narrative film that most intrigued me (due to the teaming of Asif Kapadia and Christopher Hampton).

numbersix wrote:

Wonder how much the Birth of a Nation awards were fueled by the White Oscars debate?

Considering that the director received a standing ovation before a single frame of the film had been shown, I'd say quite a bit.

Imagine how awkward it would have been in that room if the movie had turned out to be crap?

JohnErle wrote:

numbersix wrote:

Wonder how much the Birth of a Nation awards were fueled by the White Oscars debate?

Considering that the director received a standing ovation before a single frame of the film had been shown, I'd say quite a bit.

Imagine how awkward it would have been in that room if the movie had turned out to be crap?

I mean, I'd think that has more to do with the story of how hard Nate Parker worked for 7 years to get the film made.

Or even Vulture thought it was because the audience were supporters of the film: "Nate Parker's standing ovation began even before his film The Birth of a Nation screened at Sundance, as part of the audience rose to its feet for the writer-director-star’s brief pre-film introduction. Since nobody had yet seen the movie, that ovation was probably a testament to the enormous number of friends, cast, and crew that were in attendance."

But to think Sundance audiences were just applauding black people who stepped on a stage because of the Oscar stuff

I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of directors in the history of Sundance worked incredibly hard to get their films made and had lots of friends and family in attendance at the premiere, so Nate Parker is hardly unique in that regard.

You're the one who was arguing that Oscar voters would let race factor into their decision making process, so why is it so laughable that the Sundance crowd would over-compensate and do the same thing in reverse?

It's undeniable that the needed heat around the diversity question had an impact on the reception of the film. How much it's hard to say, but there's no question it was a factor.

And I'm very curious to see if all the armchair activists will put their money where their tweets are and pay to see Race in a few weeks. As misguided as the whole #OscarsSoWhite meme is, I won't complain if it helps my yearly draft.

I think Race would have played better in April. Had it stayed on its original date, it could have performed like a mini-42. But now, it will likely split its audience with Eddie the Eagle (another based on a true story film set during the Olympics).