The Sundance 2023 has concluded its first-in person festival since 2020 and has announced its winners with an in-person awards show. A.V. Rockwell’s feature-film directorial debut “A Thousand and One” and the Nikki Giovanni project won the top Jury Prizes in dramatic and documentary categories.
They are just two of the films we highlighted here that won high awards
Check out all the 2023 Sundance winners below.
A Thousand and One
U.S. Dramatic Competition: Grand Jury Prize
Convinced it’s one last, necessary crime on the path to redemption, unapologetic and free-spirited Inez kidnaps 6-year-old Terry from the foster care system. Holding on to their secret and each other, mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability in New York City.
Director: A.V. Rockwell
Screenwriter: A.V. Rockwell
Producer: Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Lena Waithe, Rishi Rajani, Brad Weston
Cast: Teyana Taylor, Will Catlett, Josiah Cross, Aven Courtney, Aaron Kingsley Adetola
Magazine Dreams
U.S. Dramatic Competition: Special Jury Award: Creative Vision
An amateur bodybuilder struggles to find human connection as his relentless drive for recognition pushes him to the brink.
Director: Elijah Bynum
Screenwriter: Elijah Bynum
Producer: Jennifer Fox,Dan Gilroy, Jeffrey Soros, Simon Horsman
Executive Producer: Jonathan Majors, Luke Rodgers, Andrew Blau
Cast: Jonathan Majors, Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige, Mike O’hearn, Harrison Page, Harriet Sansom Harris
Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
U.S. Documentary Competition: Grand Jury Prize
Intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of poetry take us on a journey through the dreamscape of legendary poet Nikki Giovanni as she reflects on her life and legacy.
Director: Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson
Producer: Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson
The Stroll
U.S. Documentary Competition: Special Jury Award
The history of New York’s Meatpacking District, told from the perspective of transgender sex workers who lived and worked there. Filmmaker Kristen Lovell, who walked “The Stroll” for a decade, reunites her community to recount the violence, policing, homelessness, and gentrification they overcame to build a movement for transgender rights.
Director: Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker
Producer: Matt Wolf
Mami Wata
World Cinema Dramatic Competition: Special Jury Award: Cinematography
When the harmony in a village is threatened by outside elements, two sisters must fight to save their people and restore the glory of a mermaid goddess to the land.
Director: C.J. “Fiery” Obasi
Screenwriter: C.J. “Fiery” Obasi
Producer: Oge Obasi
Cast: Evelyne Ily, Uzoamaka Aniunoh, Kelechi Udegbe, Emeka Amakeze, Rita Edochie, Tough Bone
KOKOMO CITY
NEXT Audience Award and NEXT Innovator Award
Four Black transgender sex workers explore the dichotomy between the Black community and themselves while confronting issues long avoided.
Director: D. Smith
Executive Producer: Stacy Barthe, William Melillo
Producer: D. Smith, Harris Doran, Bill Butler
Cast: Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell, Dominique Silver
The Pod Generation
Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize
In a not-so-distant future, amid a society madly in love with technology, tech giant Pegazus offers couples the opportunity to share their pregnancies via detachable artificial wombs or pods. And so begins Rachel and Alvy’s wild ride to parenthood in this brave new world.
Director: Sophie Barthes
Screenwriter: Sophie Barthes
Producer: Geneviève Lemal, Yann Zenou, Nadia Kamlichi, Martin Metz
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Emilia Clarke, Rosalie Craig, Vinette Robinson, Jean-marc Barr