“CODA” has made history yet again. After nabbing a record-breaking distribution deal with Apple, Siân Heder’s coming-of-age story about a teen girl who is also the only hearing member in a Deaf family has swept the 2021 Sundance Awards. It is the first film to ever receive all three top U.S. Dramatic honors. “CODA” won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, and Heder took home the Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic. The film also nabbed a U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast.
Blerta Basholli’s “Hive” was also among the big winners at the awards ceremony, which took place virtually on February 2. The story of woman defying the patriarchy and starting her own business in Kosovo won all three top World Cinema Dramatic awards: the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, the Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic, and the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic.
“Writing with Fire,” a doc centering the only Indian newspaper run by Dalit women from Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, scored the Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary and the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Impact for Change. Marion Hill’s “Ma Belle, My Beauty,” a portrait of two ex-lovers reuniting in Southern France, won the Audience Award: NEXT.
Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt received the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Emerging Filmmaker for “Cusp,” the story of three teen girls on the verge of “the dark corners of adolescence.” Meanwhile, Camilla Nielsson took home the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Vérité Filmmaking for “President,” which chronicles a game-changing election in Zimbabwe.
The Directing Award: U.S. Documentary went to Natalia Almada for “Users,” an exploration of motherhood, love, and AI. The Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary was presented to Kristina Motwani and Rebecca Adorno for “Homeroom,” which follows the teenagers of Oakland High School’s class of 2020 as they come of age “against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world.”
Concluding today, February 3, Sundance 2021 was held online and in person via Satellite Screens due to the pandemic. Sundance Institute CEO Keri Putnam describe this year’s edition as “a singular Festival for a singular moment.” She explained, “We’ve been able to elevate independent art and celebrate a wonderful slate of films by gathering in new ways, ways that worked thanks to adventurous audiences everywhere, eager to connect and engage with the work and with one another. Watching people come together to connect and discuss exciting new work has been incredibly rewarding — and a resounding confirmation that great independent storytelling inspires rich conversation.”
Sundance Film Festival Director Tabitha Jackson emphasized, “This was not a ‘virtual’ festival, it was a real festival and the power of these artists and their work was what made it so. It has been a privilege to help this work meet new audiences and enter the culture with such fanfare, especially now, when breaking through the noise is harder than ever.”
Head over to Sundance’s website to check out the full list of winners.
