The Sundance Film
Festival drew to a close on Sunday after giving its top
honors to two movies, Quinceanera and God
Grew Tired of Us, that peered inside
multiethnic U.S. communities and world culture.
Quinceanera, which looks at Hispanic traditions
in a Los Angeles community, and God Grew Tired of
Us, about three Sudanese refugees in the United States,
won the best drama and documentary awards,
respectively, from both Sundance juries and audiences,
marking the first time that has ever occurred. Another
documentary, Iraq in Fragments, earned three
Sundance prizes--more than any other film--by
giving audiences a picture of the Iraq war from the
points of view of people living in three disparate
regions of that country.
Sundance is the
top gathering for independent movies in the United
States, and in the past U.S. filmmakers there focused mainly
on their country and allowed international writers and
directors to look at the world. But that changed this
year. "I think the U.S. was so insular in the 1990s,
and I don't know if it was 9/11, but there was something
that opened it up," festival director Geoffrey Gilmore told
Reuters."There's filmmakers here, almost every single one of
them, who are thinking about [the world] when they
work, and we saw it throughout the festival," Gilmore
added.
Sundance also
serves as a launchpad for many movies that will make the
rounds of art-house cinemas in 2006 and, as a result, is
closely watched for its influence on U.S. culture. "I
thought Africa, by and large, had been forgotten. At
least, I got that sense living in America," said
God Grew Tired director Christopher Quinn.
God Grew Tired of Us tells of Sudanese boys
who were taken from their homes in a civil war and marched
across a desert to refugee camps. Director Quinn
documents them forming a community, and he shows three
of them emigrating to the U.S. and blending their
culture into life in America.
Quinceanera offers insight into Hispanic
families through the eyes of teenagers living in Los
Angeles, and gay directors Wash Westmoreland and
Richard Glatzer (The Fluffer) said they hoped the
movie could shed light on Hispanic traditions that are
dying in modern U.S. cities.
James Longley won
Sundance awards for directing and cinematography for Iraq
In Fragments, and he, Billy McMillin, and
Fiona Otway won for best documentary editing. "[Iraq] is an
important subject that needs to be more detailed and
appreciated, and if the movie can help a little to
illuminate that, then I'll be happy," Longley told
Reuters.
Last year,
Sundance organizers began giving out awards for
internationally made movies too, and in that arena, French
neo-noir thriller 13 (Tzameti), won the jury
prize for best world drama, and Mexico's In the
Pit, about workers building a bridge, was picked
by the jury for world documentary. The international
audience award for best drama went to New Zealand's
No. 2, which tells of a woman's plans to
bring her family together for one big celebration. Best
documentary went to the immigration tale De
Nadie (About Nobody) from Mexico.
The Sundance
award for best dramatic film directing went to Dito Montiel
for A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, in
which a man looks back on his youth. The prize for dramatic
film cinematography was won by Tom Richmond for
Right at Your Door, about mass hysteria
after a dirty bomb explodes. The screenwriting honor
went to Hilary Brougher for Stephanie Daley, about
two women dealing with grief. (Bob Tourtellotte,
additional reporting by Jane Clark, Reuters)