Sundance 2023 Announces the Winners of This Year's Fest

Was your favorite Sundance 2023 film recognized by the judges, the critics, and the fans? Let's find out...

The Sundance Film Festival has unveiled its Jury and Audience Award winners for 2023.

Jurors are announcing the winners of the fest live from The Ray Theater in Park City, Utah, and is live streaming to the festival's social media channels. the 2023 festival featured 111 features and 64 shorts, selected from over 15,856 submissions, and screened in Park City, Salt Lake City, and at the Sundance Resort. No Film School was live at the event over the past week. Not only did we watch many of these great films that were up for awards, but talked with the filmmakers behind these fantastic projects at one of the most prestigious indie film festivals in the world.

This is Sundance's first year back in person since the COVID-19 pandemic. While we were nervous about what acquisitions, festival turnout, and what Sundance means to the indie filmmaking world, this year's fest was marked by several large sales, including two sales of around $20 million for Fair Play and Flora and Son. It has been a great festival, and the movies reflected the filmmaking community's eagerness to come together again and celebrate art.

Check out the winners' list below, and let us know what you think of this year's Sundance 2023 in the comments below!

Sundance 2023 Winners

FESTIVAL FAVORITE AWARD: Radical, Director: Christopher Zalla

Grand Jury Prize: A Thousand And One, Director A.V. Rockwell

Audience Award: The Persian Version, Director Maryam Keshavarz

Directing Award: Sing J. Lee, The Accidental Getaway Driver

Jury Award: Creative Vision: Magazine Dreams, Director Elijah Bynum

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Maryam Keshavarz, The Persian Version

Special Jury Award: Acting: Lio Mehiel, Mutt

Jury Award: Ensemble: Theater Camp, Directors Molly Gordon, and Nick Lieberman

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Grand Jury Prize: Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, Directors Joe Brewster, and Michèle Stephenson

Audience Award: Beyond Utopia, Director Madeleine Gavin

Directing Award: Luke Lorentzen, A Still Small Voice

Special Jury Award: Clarity of Vision: The Stroll, Directors Kristen Lovell, and Zackary Drucker

Special Jury Award: Freedom of Expression: Bad Press, Directors Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler

Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: Daniela I. Quiroz, Going Varsity in Mariachi

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Audience Award: 20 Days in Mariupol (Ukraine), Director Mstylav Chernov

Grand Jury Prize: The Eternal Memory (Chile), Director Maite Alberdi

Directing Award: Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Estonia/France/Ireland), Director Anna Hints

Special Jury Award: Verite Filmmaking: Against the Tide (India), Director Sarvnik Kaur

Special Jury Award: Creative Vision: Fantastic Machine (Sweden/Denmark), Director Axel Danielson

WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION

Audience Award: Shayda (Australia), Director Noora Niasari

Grand Jury Prize: Scrapper (UK), Director Charlotte Regan 

Directing Award: Marija Kavtaradze, Slow (Lithuania/Spain/Sweden)

Special Jury Award: Creative Vision: Animalia (France/Morocco/Qatar), Director Sofia Alaoui

Special Jury Award: Best Performance: Rosa Marchant, When It Melts (Belgium/Netherlands)

Special Jury Award: Cinematography: Lílis Soares, Mami Wata (Nigeria)

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Audience Award: Kokomo City, Director D. Smith

Innovator Award: Kokomo City, Director D. Smith

SHORT FILMS AWARDS

Grand Jury Prize: When You Left Me On That Boulevard (U.S.A.), Director Kayla Abuda Galang

Jury Award: US Fiction: Rest Stop, Director Crystal Kayiza

Jury Award: Directing, International: Valeria Hofmann, AliEN0089 (Chile)

Jury Award: Directing, US: Jarreau Carrillo, The Vacation

Jury Award: Animation: The Flying Sailor, Directors Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (Canada)

Jury Award: Nonfiction: Will You Look At Me (China), Director Shuli Huang

Jury Award: International Fiction: The Kidnapping of the Bride (Germany), Director Sophia Mocorrea

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED WINNERS

Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize: The Pod Generation, Director Sophie Barthes

Amazon Studios Nonfiction Award: Jess Devaney, It’s Only Life After All

Amazon Studios Fiction Award: Kara Durrett, The Starling Girl

Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Nonfiction: Mary Manhardt

Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Fiction: Troy Takaki

Sundance/NHK Award: Olive Nwosu, Lady

Sundance Institute | Stars Collective Imagination Awards:

Tamara Shogaolu, 40 Acres

Navid Khonsari, Vassiliki Khonsari, and Andres Perez-Duarte, Block Party Bodega

Vanessa Keith, Year 2180

Gayle Stevens Volunteer Award: Carlos Sanchez