Sundance 2021 closed late last night with awards handed out across documentary and fiction categories. The doc winners are:
Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee picked up the World Cinema Jury Prize. The animated doc tells the extraordinary story of Amin, an Afghan refugee who came to Denmark at an early age as an unaccompanied minor.
The Directing Award went to Hogir Hirori for Sabaya, a documentary about a small group of determined people risking their lives to rescue Yazidi women and girls held as sex slaves by ISIS in the packed and dangerous al-Hol Camp in northwestern Syria.
The Documentary Special Jury Award in Impact for Change went to Writing With Fire, directed by Rintu Thomas Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh. The film tells the uplifting story of Khabar Lahariya (KL), a digital news agency in Uttar Pradesh in India, run by women journalists from the Dalit community.
The Special Jury Award in Verite Filmmaking was won by President, directed Camilla Nielsson. The documentary chronicles the controversial Zimbabwe general election of 2018.
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize – Documentary went to Summer of Soul, directed by Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson.
The Directing Award: U.S. Documentary was won by Natalia Almada for Users
The U.S. Audience Award: Documentary went to Summer of Soul, by Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson
The Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary was won by Kristina Motwani and Rebecca Adorno for Homeroom
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Awards:
Special Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker goes to Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt for Cusp
Nonfiction Experimentation – All Light, Everywhere, dir. Theo Anthony,
