Nuisance Bear and To Hold a Mountain topped the documentary winners at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The films won the Grand Jury Prizes for U.S. Documentary and World Cinema Documentary, respectively. Sundance announced the winners today in a ceremony and via a release.
Directed by Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman and produced by Michael Code, Will N. Miller, Teddy Leifer, Nuisance Bear expands upon Osio Vanden and Weisman’s short documentary of the same name. The film observes the effects of climate change in the Arctic by following a single bear as it navigates forced shifts to its migration pattern and the humans it encounters along the way.
The jury playfully acknowledged that Nuisance Bear was the “least polarizing” film in the competition, noting, “This film tells an enormous story with great drama, beauty and verve, and powerfully confronts the realities of climate change, the tensions between Indigenous tradition and Western capitalist encroachment, and the complexities of humanity’s relationship with the natural world. It also features a standout sequence that is, like the film itself, humorous, terrifying, and unforgettable.” A24 has Nuisance Bear for U.S. distribution, while a Canadian distributor has yet to be announced.
On the World Cinema side, To Hold a Mountain, directed, written, and produced Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić, and produced by Quentin Laurent and Rok Biček, the co-production between Serbia, France, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Croatia observes a mother and daughter in their traditional homestead in the mountains of Montenegro at a moment of change.
“This visually and emotionally stunning film transported us to a remote mountain top and into the most intimate moments of a family fighting to protect not only their land, but their way of life,” noted the jury in a statement. “The truest example of the power of cinema to make the personal political.”
Meanwhile, the Audience Awards went to American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez for U.S. Documentary and One in a Million for World Cinema. The former is directed by David Alvarado and produced by Lauren DeFilippo, Everett Katigbak, and Amanda Pollak, while the latter is directed by Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes and produced by Raney Aronson-Rath, Will Anderson, James Bluemel, and Andrew Palmer. American Pachuco tells the story of Chicano filmmaker Luis Valdez, while One in a Million charts a decade-long survival story of a family of Syrian refugees seen primarily through the eyes of a young daughter as she comes of age in Germany. Also winning for documentary with the NEXT Audience Award was anikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]. Directed by Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil, who produced with Steve Holmgren, Grace Remington, Jacque Clark, Franny Alfano, the film offers an artistic exploration of Indigenous history and ancestry. These films join the previously announced short film jury winners.
The full list of Sundance documentary winners is as follows:
U.S. Grand Jury Prize – Documentary: Nuisance Bear – Dir. Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman, Prod. Michael Code, Will N. Miller, Teddy Leifer
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize – Documentary: To Hold a Mountain – Dir. Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić, Prod. Quentin Laurent, Rok Biček
Audience Award – U.S. Documentary: American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez – Dir/Prod. David Alvarado, Prod. Lauren DeFilippo, Everett Katigbak, Amanda Pollak
Audience Award – World Cinema Documentary: One in a Million – Dir. Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes, Prod. Raney Aronson-Rath, Will Anderson, James Bluemel, Andrew Palmer
Audience Award – NEXT: Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] – Dir./ Prod. Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, Prod. Steve Holmgren, Grace Remington, Jacque Clark, Franny Alfano
Directing Award – U.S. Documentary: J.M. Harper, Soul Patrol
Directing Award – World Cinema Documentary: Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes, One in a Million
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award – U.S. Documentary: Matt Hixon, Barbara Forever
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Journalistic Excellence: Who Killed Alex Odeh? – Dir. Jason Osder, William Lafi Youmans, Prod. Dawne Langford, William Lafi Youmans, Jason Osder, Daniel J. Chalfen
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Impact for Change: The Lake – Dir./Prod. Abby Ellis, Prod. Fletcher Keyes
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Journalistic Impact: Birds of War – Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak, Prod. Sonja Henrici
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Civil Resistance: Everybody To Kenmure Street – Dir./Prod. Felipe Bustos Sierra, Prod. Ciara Barry
NEXT Special Jury Award for Creative Expression: TheyDream – Dir./Prod. William David Caballero, Prod. Erin Ploss-Campoamor, Elaine del Valle, Brad Jones
