Sundance-supported “Another Body” won the Special Jury Award for Innovation in Storytelling at the 2023 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival. Photo by Another Body
By Lucy Spicer
It’s easy for film lovers to fall into a slump as awards season comes to a close. The best way to keep the post–awards season blues at bay is to look to the future and get excited about all the new films that are currently making their way to audiences far and wide. We’re thrilled to do our part in January by championing independent artists and their new films at the Sundance Film Festival, and now we’re especially excited to see Sundance-supported projects continue to be recognized and honored at other film festivals throughout the year.
Award-winners were announced last night at the 2023 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film & TV Festival, whose program included 29 Sundance-supported films. Seven Sundance-supported films took home awards, including two feature films and one short film that premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in January. There’s nothing more gratifying than seeing projects we’ve supported through our Festival, Labs, fellowships, and grants come to fruition and be appreciated by audiences and juries alike.
Read on for the complete list of Sundance-supported winning films at SXSW.
Special Jury Award for Cinematography
Eric Branco, Story Ave — Feature Film Program
South Bronx native Kadir Grayson is a teen artistic talent on the brink of finding and losing himself at once. Blinded by the grief of losing his younger brother, Kadir runs away from home. He escapes via the beautifully dark and dangerous world of graffiti. His graf gang, Outside The Lines, consists of street kids with minds as criminal as they are artistic. Desperate to join the gang, Kadir attempts to rob Luis, an older Puerto Rican MTA conductor on the Story Ave subway platform. Luis offers him the cash he needs if Kadir agrees to have a meal with him. For the first time in his life, Kadir entertains the possibility of his artistic talent being a conduit to a better life.
Special Jury Award for Innovation in Storytelling
Another Body — Catalyst
Directors: Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn; Producers: Elizabeth Woodward, Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn; Screenwriters: Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn, Isabel Freeman
Another Body follows a college student’s search for justice after she discovers deepfake pornography of herself circulating online.
Documentary Short Competition Winner
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma) — Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship Program
Director: Sean Wang; Producers: Sean Wang, Sam Davis
Nǎi Nai (奶奶) is my grandma. Wài Pó (外婆) is also my grandma. Together, they are a grandma super team that dances, stretches, and farts their sorrows away. Introducing: my Nǎi Nai (奶奶) & Wài Pó (外婆). I hope you love them as much as I love them.
Texas Shorts Special Jury Award
When You Left Me On That Boulevard — 2023 Sundance Film Festival (Short Film Grand Jury Prize)
Writer-director: Kayla Abuda Galang; Producers: Alifya Ali, Kayla Abuda Galang, David Oconer, Udoy Rahim, Samantha Skinner
Teenager Ly and her cousins get high before a boisterous family Thanksgiving at their auntie’s house in southeast San Diego in 2006.
The Hope Award Presented by ACE91
STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie — 2023 Sundance Film Festival
Director: Davis Guggenheim; Producers: Davis Guggenheim, Annetta Marion, Jonathan King, Will Cohen
The improbable tale of a short kid from a Canadian army base who became the darling of 1980s Hollywood — only to find the course of his life altered by a stunning diagnosis. What happens when an incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease?
The Hope Special Award
Confessions of a Good Samaritan — Documentary Film Program
Director: Penny Lane; Producer: Gabriel Sedgwick
Director Penny Lane’s decision to become a good Samaritan by giving one of her kidneys to a stranger turns into a funny and moving personal quest to understand the nature of altruism. Confessions of a Good Samaritan is a provocative inquiry into the science, history, and ethics of organ transplantation, asking an ancient question in a whole new way: Who is your neighbor, and what do you owe them?
ZEISS Cinematography Award
Fancy Dance — Indigenous Program, Feature Film Program, 2023 Sundance Film Festival
Cinematographer: Carolina Costa, AMC
Following her sister’s disappearance, a Native American hustler kidnaps her niece from the child’s white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in hopes of keeping what is left of their family intact.
