Life Between Films

Last night, the Sundance elite got together for this year’s festival award ceremony in Park City. This year’s festival celebrated the work of Black filmmakers and actors with some of its top prizes. The biggest winner of the festival was Beasts of the Southern Wild, a film that showcases the talents of two Black leads. The film won the granddaddy of them all, the Grand Jury Prize, and also the US Dramatic Cinematography Award. Not bad for a 29-year old Benh Zeitlin’s first feature. Bonus, it was filmed in my home state of Louisiana. 

Another triumph went to Ava DuVernay who won the US Dramatic Directing Award for her film Middle of Nowhere. This win made her the first Black woman to ever win this award at Sundance. Kudos goes out to her. This film was also acquired for distribution at the festival so be on the look out for it. 

See the complete list of winners here.