Atropia starring Alia Shawkat and Callum Turner earned the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Dramatic Competition award at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, and Seeds was named the U.S. Documentary Competition winner. The 2025 winners were announced today during a ceremony held at The Ray Theatre in Park City.
Additional Grand Jury Prize winners include Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) and Cutting Through Rocks. Audience Awards went to Twinless (U.S. Dramatic Competition), André is an Idiot (U.S. Documentary Competition), DJ Ahmet (World Cinema Dramatic Competition), Prime Minister (World Cinema Documentary Competition), and East of Wall (NEXT).
“We congratulate all of our filmmakers and award winners on a successful 2025 Sundance Film Festival and thank them for the stories they shared with our audiences,” stated Amanda Kelso, Acting CEO, Sundance Institute. “These works spoke to our commitment to fostering empathy, understanding, and a more vibrant, inclusive society through storytelling, and it was an honor to celebrate them together as a community.”
94 feature-length films and episodic works and 57 short films screened during the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
2025 Sundance Film Festival Awards
GRAND JURY PRIZES
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Atropia / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Hailey Gates, Producers: Naima Abed, Emilie Georges, Luca Guadagnino, Lana Kim, Jett Steiger) — When an aspiring actress in a military role-playing facility falls in love with a soldier cast as an insurgent, their unsimulated emotions threaten to derail the performance. Cast: Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Chloë Sevigny, Tim Heidecker, Jane Levy. World Premiere.
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to Seeds / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Brittany Shyne, Producers: Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon) — An exploration of Black generational farmers in the American South reveals the fragility of legacy and the significance of owning land. World Premiere.
The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) / India, U.K., Canada (Director and Screenwriter: Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, Producers: Neeraj Churi, Mohamed Khaki, Kaushik Ray, Hareesh Reddypalli, Naren Chandavarkar, Sidharth Meer) — Anand, a 30-something city dweller compelled to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in the rugged countryside of western India, tenderly bonds with a local farmer struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, Anand must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress. Cast: Bhushaan Manoj, Suraaj Suman, Jayshri Jagtap. World Premiere.
The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار) / Iran, Germany, U.S.A., Netherlands, Qatar, Chile, Canada (Directors and Producers: Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni) — As the first elected councilwoman of her Iranian village, Sara Shahverdi aims to break long-held patriarchal traditions by training teenage girls to ride motorcycles and stopping child marriages. When accusations arise questioning Sara’s intentions to empower the girls, her identity is put in turmoil. World Premiere.
NEXT INNOVATOR AWARD PRESENTED BY ADOBE
The NEXT Innovator Award Presented by Adobe was awarded to Zodiac Killer Project / U.S.A., U.K. (Director and Producer: Charlie Shackleton, Producers: Catherine Bray, Anthony Ing) –– Against the backdrop of sunbaked parking lots, deserted courthouses, and empty suburban homes — the familiar spaces of true crime, stripped of all action and spectacle — a filmmaker describes his abandoned Zodiac Killer documentary and probes the inner workings of a genre at saturation point. World Premiere.
AUDIENCE AWARDS
The Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, Presented by Acura was awarded to Twinless / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: James Sweeney, Producer: David Permut) — Two young men meet in a twin bereavement support group and form an unlikely bromance. Cast: Dylan O’Brien, James Sweeney, Lauren Graham, Aisling Franciosi, Tasha Smith, Chris Perfetti. World Premiere.
The Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic, Presented by United Airlines was awarded to DJ Ahmet / North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia (Director and Screenwriter: Georgi M. Unkovski, Producers: Ivan Unkovski, Ivana Shekutkoska) — Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, finds refuge in music while navigating his father’s expectations, a conservative community, and his first experience with love — a girl already promised to someone else. Cast: Arif Jakup, Agush Agushev, Dora Akan Zlatanova, Aksel Mehmet, Selpin Kerim, Atila Klince. World Premiere.
The Audience Award: U.S. Documentary, Presented by Acura was awarded to André is an Idiot / U.S.A. (Director: Anthony Benna, Producers: André Ricciardi, Tory Tunnell, Joshua Altman, Stelio Kitrilakis, Ben Cotner) — André, a brilliant idiot, is dying because he didn’t get a colonoscopy. His sobering diagnosis, complete irreverence, and insatiable curiosity, send him on an unexpected journey learning how to die happily and ridiculously without losing his sense of humor. World Premiere.
The Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary, Presented by United Airlines was awarded to Prime Minister / U.S.A. (Directors: Michelle Walshe, Lindsay Utz, Producers: Cass Avery, Leon Kirkbeck, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, Katie Peck) — A view inside the life of former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, capturing her through five tumultuous years in power and beyond as she redefined leadership on the world stage. World Premiere.
The Audience Award: NEXT, Presented by Adobe was awarded to East of Wall / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Kate Beecroft, Producers: Lila Yacoub, Melanie Ramsayer, Shannon Moss) –– After the death of her husband, Tabatha — a young, tattooed, rebellious horse trainer — wrestles with financial insecurity and unresolved grief while providing refuge for a group of wayward teenagers on her broken-down ranch in the Badlands. Cast: Tabatha Zimiga, Porshia Zimiga, Scoot McNairy, Jennifer Ehle. World Premiere.
JURY AWARDS FOR DIRECTING, SCREENWRITING, and EDITING
The Directing Award: U.S. Documentary was presented to Geeta Gandbhir for The Perfect Neighbor / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Geeta Gandbhir, Producers: Nikon Kwantu, Alisa Payne, Sam Bisbee) — A seemingly minor neighborhood dispute in Florida escalates into deadly violence. Police bodycam footage and investigative interviews expose the consequences of Florida’s “stand your ground” laws. World Premiere.
The Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented to Rashad Frett for Ricky / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Rashad Frett, Screenwriter: Lin Que Ayoung, Producers: Pierre M. Coleman, Simon TaufiQue, Sterling Brim, DC Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Josh Peters, Mark Steele) — Newly released after being locked up in his teens, 30-year-old Ricky navigates the challenging realities of life post-incarceration, and the complexity of gaining independence for the first time as an adult. Cast: Stephan James, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Titus Welliver, Maliq Johnson, Imani Lewis, Simbi Kali, Andrene Ward-Hammond. World Premiere.
The Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary was presented to Mstyslav Chernov for 2000 Meters to Andriivka / Ukraine (Director and Producer: Mstyslav Chernov, Producers: Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath) — Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that this war may never end. World Premiere.
The Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic was presented to Alireza Khatami for The Things You Kill / Turkey, France, Poland, Canada (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Alireza Khatami, Producers: Elisa Sepulveda Ruddoff, Cyriac Auriol, Mariusz WÅ‚odarski, Michael Solomon) — Haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, a university professor coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance. Cast: Ekin Koç, Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, Hazar Ergüçlü, Ercan Kesal. World Premiere.
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented to Eva Victor for Sorry, Baby / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Eva Victor, Producers: Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins) — Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on… for everyone around her, at least. Cast: Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi, Kelly McCormack. World Premiere.
The Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary was presented to Parker Laramie for André is an Idiot / U.S.A. (Director: Anthony Benna, Producers: André Ricciardi, Tory Tunnell, Joshua Altman, Stelio Kitrilakis, Ben Cotner) — André, a brilliant idiot, is dying because he didn’t get a colonoscopy. His sobering diagnosis, complete irreverence, and insatiable curiosity, send him on an unexpected journey learning how to die happily and ridiculously without losing his sense of humor. World Premiere.
SPECIAL JURY AWARDS
A U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting was presented to Dylan O’Brien for Twinless / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: James Sweeney, Producer: David Permut) — Two young men meet in a twin bereavement support group and form an unlikely bromance. Cast: Dylan O’Brien, James Sweeney, Lauren Graham, Aisling Franciosi, Tasha Smith, Chris Perfetti. World Premiere.
A U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast was presented to Plainclothes / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Carmen Emmi, Producers: Colby Cote, Arthur Landon, Eric Podwall, Vanessa Pantley) — A promising undercover officer assigned to lure and arrest gay men defies orders when he falls in love with a target. Cast: Tom Blyth, Russell Tovey, Maria Dizzia, Christian Cooke, Gabe Fazio, Amy Forsyth. World Premiere.
A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Archival Storytelling was presented to Selena y Los Dinos / U.S.A. (Director: Isabel Castro, Producers: Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, J. Daniel Torres, David Blackman, Simran Singh) — Selena Quintanilla — the “Queen of Tejano Music” — and her family band, Selena y Los Dinos, rose from performing at quinceañeras to selling out stadium tours. The celebration of her life and legacy is chronicled through never-before-seen footage from the family’s personal archive. World Premiere.
A U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award was presented to Life After / U.S.A. (Director: Reid Davenport, Producer: Colleen Cassingham) — In 1983, a disabled Californian woman named Elizabeth Bouvia sought the “right to die,” igniting a national debate about autonomy, dignity, and the value of disabled lives. After years of courtroom trials, Bouvia disappeared from public view. Disabled director Reid Davenport narrates this investigation of what happened to Bouvia. World Premiere.
A World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision was presented to Georgi M. Unkovski for DJ Ahmet / North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia (Director and Screenwriter: Georgi M. Unkovski, Producers: Ivan Unkovski, Ivana Shekutkoska) — Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, finds refuge in music while navigating his father’s expectations, a conservative community, and his first experience with love — a girl already promised to someone else. Cast: Arif Jakup, Agush Agushev, Dora Akan Zlatanova, Aksel Mehmet, Selpin Kerim, Atila Klince. World Premiere.
A World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Writing was presented to Two Women / Canada (Director: Chloé Robichaud, Screenwriter and Producer: Catherine Léger, Producer: Martin Paul-Hus) — Violette is having a difficult maternity leave. Florence is dealing with depression. Despite their careers and families, they feel like failures. Florence’s first infidelity is a revelation. When having fun is far down the list of priorities, sleeping with a delivery guy could be revolutionary. Cast: Karine Gonthier-Hyndman, Laurence Leboeuf, Félix Moati, Mani Soleymanlou, Sophie Nelisse, Juliette Gariépy. World Premiere.
A World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award was presented to Mr. Nobody Against Putin / Denmark, Czech Republic (Director and Screenwriter: David Borenstein, Producer: Helle Faber) — As Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, primary schools across Russia’s hinterlands are transformed into recruitment stages for the war. Facing the ethical dilemma of working in a system defined by propaganda and violence, a brave teacher goes undercover to film what’s really happening in his own school. World Premiere.
A World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression was presented to Coexistence, My Ass! / U.S.A., France (Director and Producer: Amber Fares, Screenwriter and Producer: Rachel Leah Jones, Screenwriter: Rabab Haj Yahya, Producer: Valérie Montmartin) –– Comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi creates a personal and political one-woman show about the struggle for equality in Israel/Palestine. When the elusive coexistence she’s spent her life working toward starts sounding like a bad joke, she challenges her audiences with hard truths that are no laughing matter. World Premiere.
A NEXT Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast was presented to Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Joel Alfonso Vargas, Producer: Paolo Maria Pedullà ) –– Rico’s summer is a mix of chasing girls and hustling homemade cocktails out of a cooler on Orchard Beach, the Bronx. But when Destiny, his teenage girlfriend, crashes at his place with his family, it’s only a matter of time before his carefree days come spiraling down. Cast: Juan Collado, Destiny Checo, Yohanna Florentino, Nathaly Navarro. World Premiere. Fiction.
The post Sundance Film Festival 2025 Announces Awards Winners appeared first on ShowbizJunkies.
0 Comments