Lee Daniels’ Push: Based on a novel by Sapphire took three top awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, receiving the Dramatic Grand Jury
Prize, the Audience Award and a special acting prize for Mo’Nique. The dark, inspirational story of a young woman finding her way out of nightmarish circumstances in 1980s Harlem has yet to find a distributor -- though its chances have now greatly improved. This film is not to be confused with Push, the Dakota Fanning-Chris Evans sci-fi thriller that opens in February.
Ondi Timoner’s We Live in Public
won the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury
Prize. The film is also seeking distribution. In fact, many of the major prize winners aren't guaranteed studio release. Charlyne Yi and co-writer Nicholas Jasenovec received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for Paper Heart, a hybrid documentary-improv comedy starring Yi and her real life boyfriend, Michael Cera (of Superbad and Juno fame).
One of this year's success stories, Lone Scherfig’s An Education, starring Carey Mulligan and Peter Saarsgard, won the World Cinema Audience Award and was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics.
IndieWIRE has the complete list of Sundance Winners.
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