The Sundance Film Festival newest indie crown was handed to the drama Forty Shades of Blue, winning the festival’s Grand Jury prize on Saturday.
The family drama, directed by Ira Sachs, stars Rip Torn as the aging husband, Dina Korzun as his Russian bride and Darren Burrows as the estranged son whose visit hurls their lives into turmoil.
Director Eugene Jarecki ‘s Why We Fight claimed the festival’s grand-jury prize for documentaries. Ironically, his brother Andrew‘s acclaimed Capturing the Friedmans won the same award in 2003.
Meanwhile, the festival’s Audience Award went to hip-hop film Hustle & Flow, a tale about a two-bit pimp and drug dealer (Terrence Dashon Howard) who enlists an odd assortment of allies in a bid to break into the hip-hop music scene. Written and directed by Craig Brewer, the film also became the most successful film in Sundance history when it was sold to bosses at Paramount Pictures and MTV for $9 million earlier in the week.
Noah Baumbach won awards for writing and directing drama The Squid and the Whale, about kids dealing with their parent’s divorce.
Here is a partial list of winners:
Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
Forty Shades of Blue — director: Ira Sachs
Audience Award American Dramatic
Hustle & Flow — director/screenwirter: Craig Brewer
Grand Jury Prize Documentary
Why We Fight — director/screenwriter: Eugene Jarecki
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
The Squid and the Whale — director/screenwriter: Noah Baumbach
Directing Award Dramatic
The Squid and the Whale — Director/screenwriter: Noah Baumbach
Directing Award Documentary
The Devil and Daniel Johnston — director: Jeff Feuerzeig
Audience Award World Cinema: Documentary
Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallair — director: Peter Raymont
Audience Award World Cinema: Dramatic
Brothers — director: Susanne Bier
Audience Award American Documentary
Murderball — directors: Henry-Alex Rubin & Dana Adam Shapiro
Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary
Shape of the Moon — director: Leonard Retel Helmrich
Jury Prize for World Cinema Dramatic
The Hero — director: Zeze Gamboa
