It’s a wrap on Sundance 2022. Over 60 percent of Competition titles this year were directed or co-directed by women, and a number of them took home top honors.
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Nikyatu Jusu for “Nanny,” her supernatural story about an undocumented nanny who is being haunted. Juror Chelsea Bernard described the film as a “compassionate and horrifying portrayal of a mother being separated from her child,” and emphasized that it “cannot be contained by any one genre — it’s visually stunning, masterfully acted, impeccably designed from sound to visual effects,” and praised Jasu’s “overall vision,” which provides audiences with an “electrifying experience.”
Violet Columbus and Ben Klein were honored with the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary for “The Exiles,” a look inside documentarian Christine Choy’s search for three exiled dissidents from the Tiananmen Square massacre. Juror Joan Churchill praised the film for being “totally original, layered, philosophical, and non-linear — challenging our understanding of history. For celebrating the power of documentary filmmaking and the responsibility of the filmmaker to examine the truth.” In an interview with us, Columbus said, “I want people to think about how critical filmmaking can be within a historical context and that it’s never too late to tell an important story.”
The Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented to Jamie Dack for “Palm Trees and Power Lines,” the story of a 17-year-old girl’s relationship with a man twice her age. “The story is personal for me in some ways. A few years ago, I began looking back on some of the relationships I had when I was younger, and my perspective on them began to change,” Dack recalled in conversation with us. “At the time, I thought these relationships were something I was in control of and was consciously choosing for myself, but as an adult, I began to see ways in which that wasn’t exactly the case.” Describing “Palm Trees and Power Lines” as a “brave and subtle film that forces us to face something that is happening just under the surface all over the world,” juror Marielle Heller said that Deck “delicately walks us through how anyone’s desire for love and attention can lead you down a rabbit hole that’s impossible to escape from.”
K.D. Dávila landed the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic for “Emergency,” a drama about a a group of Black and Latino college students who are faced with the decision of whether they should call the police when an unusual emergency arises. Heller called Dávila’s script “wildly inventive and instantly compelling.”
The Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. went to Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput for “Fire of Love,” a tribute to scientists and lovers Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died in a volcanic explosion. Juror Peter Nicks commended the duo for distilling “a wealth of immersive archival material into a powerful story of human endeavor and love.” Director Sara Dosa told us she hopes the film inspired audiences to “think about what it means to live a meaningful life and die a meaningful death. Through their dedication to understanding how the earth works — at the cost of their own lives — Katia and Maurice exemplify that notion.”
Alli Haapasalo’s “Girl Picture,” a coming-of-age story about three Finnish teens searching for love and pleasure, scored the Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic. “I’d love it if people thought about how we see girls, both on-screen and off,” Haapasalo revealed in an interview with us. “One of the representations we are very used to is ‘girl as victim’ – there are many iterations of this. I really didn’t want to repeat that narrative. In ‘Girl Picture’ girls aren’t punished, shamed, belittled, patronized, or even warned. They explore their identities completely without danger, and nothing stops them from being who they are. You might say that this is a utopian world, but we really wanted everyone – and especially girls – to have a film like this to watch.”
Head over to Sundance’s website to see all of the other winners, including Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing’s “Midwives,” Martika Ramirez Escobar’s “Leonor Will Never Die,” Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee’s “Aftershock,” and more. We ran dozens of interviews with directors screening features at this year’s fest, which you can check out here.
