Carlie Williams appears in Seeds by Brittany Shyne, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Brittany Shyne.

Seeds, Cutting Through Rocks Lead Sundance Documentary Winners

Canadian films and co-pros win in dramatic categories

4 mins read

Seeds and Cutting through Rocks leads the documentary winners at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The films won the Grand Jury Prizes for U.S. and World Cinema Documentary, respectively. Directed by Brittany Shyne, Seeds offers a poetic consideration of Black farmers who till their fields in the face of systemic inequality that continues the history of racism that informs the landscape. Cutting through Rocks, directed by Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni, profiles Sara Shahverdi as she makes history as the first woman elected to public officer in her remote Iranian town.

On the Audience Award front, Sundance attendees voted for André Is an Idiot and Prime Minister as the American and international favourites. The former is director Anthony Benna’s portrait of a man who faces the consequences of a cancer diagnosis caught too late. The latter, directed by Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz, goes behind the scenes with former New Zealand Prime Minsiter Jacinda Ardern during her time in office.

On the dramatic side, Sundance proved a great kickoff for some of the Canadian titles. Catherine Léger scored a screenwriting prize for the comedy Two Women, while Alireza Khatami won the World Cinema Directing Prize for the co-production The Things You Kill. Doc winner Cutting through Rocks is also a co-production.

Sundance runs through its final weekend with the overall audience favourite to be announced later. Many of the docs in competition are still looking for homes with business expected to pick up after the festival.

The non-fiction winners at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival are:

U.S. Grand Jury Prize – Documentary: Seeds – Dir. Brittany Shyne, Prod. Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize – Documentary: Cutting Through Rocks Dir/Prod: Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni

NEXT Innovator Award: Zodiac Killer Project – Dir/Prod. Charlie Shackleton, Prod. Catherine Bray, Anthony Ing

Audience Award – U.S. Documentary: André Is an IdiotDir. Anthony Benna, Prod. André Ricciardi, Tory Tunnell, Joshua Altman, Stelio Kitrilakis, Ben Cotner

Audience Award – World Cinema Documentary: Prime Minister – Dir. Michelle Walshe, Lindsay Utz, Prod. Cass Avery, Leon Kirkbeck, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, Katie Peck

Audience Award – Next: East of Wall – Dir/Prod. Kate Beecroft, Prod. Lila Yacoub, Melanie Ramsayer, Shannon Moss

Directing Award – U.S. Documentary: Geeta Gandbhir, The Perfect Neighbor

Directing Award – World Cinema: Mstyslav Chernov, 2000 Meters to Andriivka

Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award, U.S. Documentary: Parker Laramie, André is an Idiot

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Archival Storytelling: Selena y Los Dinos – Dir. Isabel Castro, Prod. Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, J. Daniel Torres, David Blackman, Simran Singh

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Life After – Dir. Reid Davenport, Colleen Cassingham

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Mr. Nobody Against Putin – Dir. David Borenstein, Prod. Helle Faber

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression: Coexistence, My Ass! – Dir/Prod. Amber Fares. Prod. Rachel Leah Jones, Valérie Montmartin

Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction: Christopher Radcliff, We Were the Scenery

Pat Mullen is the publisher of POV Magazine. He holds a Master’s in Film Studies from Carleton University where his research focused on adaptation and Canadian cinema. Pat has also contributed to outlets including The Canadian Encyclopedia, Paste, That Shelf, Sharp, Xtra, and Complex. He is the vice president of the Toronto Film Critics Association and an international voter for the Golden Globe Awards.

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