Sundance Feels "Blue," Gets in "Flow"

Sundance jurors were tickled pink by Forty Shades of Blue.

Ira Sachs' family drama about a Russian woman (Dina Korzun) who marries a legendary music producer (Rip Torn) twice her age in order to immigrate to America took the American Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the closing ceremonies of the indie film fest on Saturday.

The film, set in Memphis, was something of a surprise winner, as it failed to attract much Sundance buzz and met with mixed reviews overall.

Less of a shocker was the jurors' decision to award Why We Fight, a doc examining 50 years of American militarism, with the American Documentary Grand Jury Prize.

The film, lauded for its provocative, yet fair dissection of the Iraq war, was made by Eugene Jarecki, brother of Andrew Jarecki, whose film, Capturing the Friedmans, won the same prize in 2003.

"I came to the festival 12 years ago with my first short film," Eugene Jarecki said upon winning. "What Sundance has become is more than just a film festival or a platform for individual voices.

"I am encouraged to see that this event has become so big in the world's eyes and has a real distinct soul."

Sundance moviegoers tapped Craig Brewer's Hustle & Flow, the musical tale of a pimp (Terrence Howard) who strives to become a rapper, for the American Dramatic Audience Award. The film also scored the biggest distribution deal of the festival after it was snapped up by Paramount/MTV Films for a reported $9 million.

For the American Documentary Audience Award, festgoers picked Murderball, a sports doc that centers on the frenzied competition between wheelchair-bound quadriplegics as they vie for the Paralympic gold medal in rugby.

The festival's inaugural World Cinema Dramatic Jury Prize was given to The Hero, an Angola-France-Portugal coproduction by filmmaker Zeze Gamboa that examines the struggle of Angolans trying to heal themselves and their country after 30 years of civil war.

Dutch filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich's Shape of the Moon, about three generations of a Christian family living among Muslims in Jakarta, Indonesia, took home the World Cinema Documentary Jury Prize.

The World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award was given to Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier's Brothers--the story of two brothers, one who fights in Afghanistan and the other less virtuous brother who steps up to help his brother's family.

For the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award, audiences picked Peter Raymont's Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire, a profile of the Canadian general who could do nothing to keep the peace during the 1994 massacre in Rwanda.

Noah Baumbach's film The Squid and the Whale, a semiautobiographical comedy about divorce, starring Laura Linney, generated some of the biggest buzz at Sundance and scored both the American Directing Award and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.

Here's a complete list of the winners at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival:

Audience Award World Cinema: Documentary: Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire
Audience Award World Cinema: Dramatic: Brothers
Audience Award American Documentary: Murderball
Audience Award American Dramatic: Hustle & Flow
Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary: Shape of the Moon
Jury Prize for World Cinema Dramatic: The Hero
Grand Jury Prize Documentary: Why We Fight
Grand Jury Prize Dramatic: Forty Shades of Blue
Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award (Tie): The Way I Spent the End of the World; The Minder; Virtual Love; Yomoyama Blues
Alfred P. Sloan Prize: Grizzly Man
Special Jury Award in Short Filmmaking: Family Portrait
Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking: International: Wasp
Special Jury Award in Short Filmmaking (Honorable Mention) (Tie): One Weekend a Month; Ryan; Small Town Secrets; Tama Tu; Victoria Para Chino
Special Jury Award in Short Filmmaking: Bullets in the Hood: A Bed-Stuy Story
Special Jury Prize Dramatic: Acting (Tie): Amy Adams, Junebug; Lou Pucci, Thumbsucker
Special Jury Prize Dramatic: Originality of Vision (Tie): Me and You and Everyone We Know; Brick
Special Jury Prize Documentary (Tie): After Innocence; For Editing: Murderball
Special Jury Prize World Documentary (Tie): Wall; The Liberace of Baghdad
Special Jury Prize World Dramatic (Tie): The Forest for the Trees; Live-In Maid
Excellence in Cinematography Award Documentary: The Education of Shelby Knox
Excellence in Cinematography Award: Dramatic: Hustle & Flow
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: The Squid and the Whale
Directing Award Documentary: Jeff Feuerzeig, The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Directing Award Dramatic: Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale

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