04/02/2019 - The 2019 edition of the Sundance Film Festival has come to a successful close with almost all World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competition awards going to European (co-)productions

Last week, Park City, the hometown of the Sundance Film Festival, greeted hundreds of filmmakers, including a strong contingent from Europe. Ten out of the 12 films presented in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition were either European productions or co-productions, while in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, the number was even higher, as all 12 movies hailed from the Continent. Both the jury and the festival audience were clearly enamoured by Europe, as a huge share of their awards went to European titles. The Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition was presented to the UK’s The Souvenir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Joanna Hogg, starring Tilda Swinton and Honor Swinton Byrne, while Macedonia’s Honeyland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara K…
interview: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir S…
film profile] by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov took home the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize (as well as the Special Jury Prize for Impact for Change). The Sundance audience chose their favourites as well: Denmark’s Queen of Hearts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gustav Lindh
interview: May el-Toukhy
film profile] by May el-Toukhy was voted the best fiction (“dramatic”) film, while Austria’s Sea of Shadows [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Richard Ladkani was considered the best non-fiction title. The World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for No Borders was given to Midnight Traveler [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Hassan Fazzili, which was produced by the USA, Qatar, the UK and Canada. The other special trophy (World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award) went to Monos [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Alejandro Landes, a joint effort between Colombia, Argentina, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Uruguay.

Individual awards were presented to helmers Mads Brügger (Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary) for Cold Case Hammarskjöld [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mads Brügger
interview: Mads Brügger
film profile], a Danish-Norwegian-Swedish-Belgian film, and Lucia Garibaldi (Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic) for The Sharks [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which was co-produced by Uruguay, Argentina and Spain. DoPs Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma, who worked on Honeyland, received the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography. Finally, Polish acting legend Krystyna Janda was presented with the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting for her superb performance in Jacek Borcuch’s Dolce Fine Giornata [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacek Borcuch
film profile].

The motto of this year’s Sundance Film Festival was “risk independence”, as the programming team favoured bold and original works. On the other hand, the primary theme of the event was inclusion – of all the feature films and episodic content (one of the festival’s sidebars) accepted for Sundance in 2019, 41% were helmed by a female director, while the figure for shorts stood at 52%, making for a combined total of 45%. 55% of the accepted short films and 38% of the dramatic features had a black director. 

Here is the full list of the Sundance World Cinema Dramatic/Documentary Competition winners:

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Grand Jury Prize
The Souvenir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Joanna Hogg (UK/USA)

Directing Award
Lucía Garibaldi - The Sharks [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Uruguay/Argentina/Spain)

Special Jury Award
Monos [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Alejandro Landes (Colombia/Netherlands/Argentina/Germany/Denmark/Sweden/Uruguay/Switzerland)

Special Jury Award for Originality
We Are Little Zombies - Makoto Nagahisa (Japan)

Special Jury Award for Acting 
Krystyna Janda - Dolce Fine Giornata [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacek Borcuch
film profile] (Poland)

Audience Award
Queen of Hearts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gustav Lindh
interview: May el-Toukhy
film profile] - May el-Toukhy (Denmark)

World Cinema Documentary Competition

Grand Jury Prize
Honeyland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara K…
interview: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir S…
film profile] - Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov (Macedonia)

Directing Award 
Mads Brügger - Cold Case Hammarskjöld [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mads Brügger
interview: Mads Brügger
film profile] (Denmark/Norway/Sweden/Belgium)

Special Jury Award for No Borders
Midnight Traveler [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Hassan Fazzili (USA/Qatar/UK/Canada)

Special Jury Award for Impact for Change 
Honeyland - Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov

Special Jury Award for Cinematography
Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma - Honeyland  

Audience Award
Sea of Shadows [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Richard Ladkani (Austria)