Push Takes Sundance Grand Jury Award

Push (A Novel by Sapphire) is a story about the abuses a teenager faces in her everyday life while living in an inner-city. When the movie Precious (which was based on the novel Push) came in front of the audience, it moved everyone. It was a story worth telling and both the audience and the jury of the Sundance Film Festival were awestruck. The movie won the Grand Jury award as well as the audience award in the segment of the U.S dramatic competition held in Park City.

Gabourey Sidibe Precious
Image Credit: Screendaily.com

After the Mexican-American masterpiece “Quinceanera” released in 2006, which was a coming-of-age story, Precious was the second film to won both these awards. These awards helped increase the stardom of the main lead of the film Gabourey Sidibe. Recently, the main lead of that film was in a lot of limelight and the reason was losing weight. Here, check out Gabourey Sidibe weight loss and know how she looks now.

Mo’Nique played the character of an abusive mother in the film and she won a special jury award for her acting. The movie Precious was directed by Lee Daniels and the script was written by Damien Paul.

Then on Saturday night, multiple awards were given to several winners in the annual bash hosted by Jane Lynch.

“An Education” by Lone Scherfig was about a girl (Carey Mulligan) who falls in love with a much older man. The movie was based in the London in 1960s. It won the award for the world cinema audience in the dramatic category. Also, it won the World Cinematography Award in that category.

“Sin Nombre” by Cary Joji Fukunaga was a story about Mexican immigrants in the U.S. It won the best directing award in the U.S. dramatic category. Also, it won the excellence in cinematography award.

“Five Minutes of Heaven” directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel and written by Guy Hibbert won the directing award for world cinema in the dramatic category. Also, it won the world cinema screenwriting award.

“Afghan Star” by Havana Marking won the audience award for the documentary in the world cinema category. Also, it won the world cinema directing award for documentary. The film is about of group of Afghan singers who try to compete in Pop Idol competition while living in the repressive area of the Taliban.

“Rough Aunties” by Kim Longinotto also attracted a lot of interest from both audience and jury. It was a story about children living in South African slums, who faced a lot of abuse. The movie won the world cinema jury award for best documentary.

“The Cove” by Louie Psihoyos was a documentary based on the efforts of environmentalists who were fighting the poaching of Dolphins on the Japanese coast. It won the audience award in the category of U.S documentary.

There were a few more films that won awards. “We Live In Public” a technology-based documentary by Ondi Timoner won the U.S documentary grand jury award. “The Maid” a story of a dysfunctional household by Sebastian Silva won the world cinema jury award.

On the other hand, “Push” even after have a difficult subject matter gained a lot of praise and attention. The critical response it got was overwhelming. All the performances, screenplay, direction everything gained appreciation.

“Precious” or “Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire” was a story based on “Precious Jones” played by Gabourey Sidibe. Her character is of an illiterate teenage girl who gets raped by her father. Then she gets emotionally abused by her mother. Despite all the hardships she stays strong and finds hope in life.

Lee Daniels who directed the movie also produced the interracial drama “Monster’s Ball” in 2001. Halle Berry won an Oscar for that film.

However, winning an award at the Sundance Film Festival does not guarantee commercial success in the mainstream. “Capturing the Friedmans” and “Maria Full of Grace” were two films that did great in the festival as well as commercially.

Similarly, “Man on Wire” and “Frozen River” both received many prestigious awards at the Sundance Film Festival and then they even got Oscar nominations.

There were a few more awards that were announced that day. “Paper Heart” by Charlyne Yi and Nicholas Jasenovec got the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. It was a quasi-documentary for a romantic comedy. “El General” a Mexican political drama, directed by Natalia Almada, won the directing award for the U.S. documentary.

“Sergio” by Greg Barker and Karen Schmeer the editor of the film got the U.S. documentary award for best editing. World Cinema award went to “Burma VJ” by Janus Billeskov and Thomas Papapetros.

“The September Issue” by Anna Wintour won the U.S. documentary excellence award for cinematography. “Big River Man” a swimming documentary got the world cinema version award.

“Louise-Michel” by Gustave de Kervern and Benoit Delépine was a French-language film. It was a dark comedy that featured the story of works who get laid-off and then they plan to get revenge with the help of the Mafia. The film got a special jury prize for its original concept.

“Tibet in Song”, “Humpday”, and “Good Hair” got other special jury awards. “The maid” by Catalina Saavedra and “Adam” by Fox Searchlight got the Alfred P.Sloan award for a picture that has a character or theme based on science.

The jury for U.S. dramatic had Scott McGehee, Virginia Madsen, Mike White, Boaz Yakin, and Maud Nadler. Then the jury for the documentary had Carl Deal, Patric Creadon, Sam Pollard, Andrea Meditch, and Marina Zenovich. The jury for World Cinema had Vibeke Windelo, Christine Jeffs, and Colin Brown. While the jury for the World documentary had Thom Powers, Hubert Sauper, and Gillian Armstrong.