The Thrills (and Spills) from Sundance 2025

Posted: February 6, 2025

The Grand Jury Prize and More

For Sundance itself, this may well be the penultimate edition of the festival to hit Park City. No details of Sundance’s (potential) new home have been released yet, so as not to take away from the films themselves. It is still possible that the festival may remain in Utah, with Park City having made its shortlist, but for now, we have to wait and see.

In competition, we saw almost 90 films, representing more than 30 countries or territories, take part. The Grand Jury prize for the US Dramatic Competition went to the quirky satire, Atropia. Strangely, the picture is still looking for US distribution, probably due to some mixed reviews. Ricky (for the director) and Plainclothes (for ensemble cast) rounded out the top three.

The Screenwriting prize went to Sorry, Baby, a harsh but deep look at trauma set against the unlikely background of American academia. We certainly expect to see more from Eva Victor going forward. However, the film is still looking for buyers.

Other key Grand Jury winners include Seeds in the US documentary category, Sabar Bonda for World Cinema Dramatic, and Cutting through Rocks in the World Cinema Documentary category.

Where Audiences and Buyers Placed Their Votes

It’s not the first time we’ve seen a gap between critical acclaim (or otherwise) and the Grand Jury voting. So, what films playing at the festival most appealed to the attending audiences? Twinless took the audience award for US Dramatic, with André is an Idiot, East of Wall, Prime Minister, and DJ Ahmet also getting audience nods. Twinless, interestingly, also received a special acting award for its lead, Dylan O’Brien, in a complex role needing him to portray both halves of a twin set.

Interestingly, the NEXT Innovator award was given to Zodiac Killer Project, keeping the interest in true crime cinema high for another year. Meanwhile, Mad Bills to Pay took home the NEXT special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast, and the short film prize for science and technology features was taken home by SALLY.

As for festival sales? A Real Pain sold to Searchlight Pictures for $10M, while the biggest buy of the festival was, unsurprisingly, Netflix, which shelled out $17M for It’s What’s Inside. It’s a notably strange score, given there was much talk of if the film was even conventionally marketable. It’s also worth keeping an eye on A Different Man, which attracted much attention and will head to Berlin next. Another one will be The Outrun, which proved to be a surprisingly compelling watch despite its gritty nature. Saoirse Ronan’s performance may attract award attention later in the year, too.

All in all, it was a brisk and successful festival, and some compelling new indie titles saw their debut. It will be fascinating to see which attracts the most attention in the coming months.

Author : Reed Mendoza: