The Sundance Film Festival closed Sunday after an awards ceremony Saturday night that saw the trilogy Personal Velocity, win the top grand jury prize. The jurors awarded Daughter From Danang the top prize in the documentary category. Gary Winick took the dramatic directing award for his critically acclaimed Tadpole.
Today’s New York Times observed that, beyond the awards, several films also scored well on the acquisitions market, with Tadpole selling to Miramax for $5 million, the Jennifer Aniston comedy The Good Girl, selling to Fox Searchlight for $4 million, and the John Malkovich-directed The Dancer Upstairs going for more than $3 million. In all, at least thirteen films found buyers at Sundance, published reports said.
The William Morris Agency’s Cassian Elwes told the Times: “Can you believe it? …I came here expecting it would be a really dead festival, and instead there’s been so much activity, it’s just amazing.”
The newspaper itself commented, “While Sundance…may have lost its tabloid buzz and celebrity glitter, some feel that after two decades it has returned to basics and regained its soul.”
