2009 Sundance Film Festival Premiere ‘Precious’ Sweeps Spirit Awards

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Jessica Buzzard

On a rooftop in downtown L.A. last night, Lee Daniel’s Precious and nine other films supported in various ways by Sundance Institute’s programs were honored with Independent Spirit Awards. In total, 17 Sundance-supported films received 37 Spirit Award nominations. Marking the 25th anniversary of the Awards, the event took place in downtown Los Angeles at the new L.A. Live complex.

In addition to Best Feature, Precious was honored with Best Director for Lee Daniels, Best First Screenplay for Geoffrey Fletcher, Best Supporting Female for Mo’Nique, and Best Female Lead for Gabourey Sidibe. Accepting her award, Sidibe attributed her own independent spirit to a Todd Haynes film. “My mom used to pay me $2 to go to school,” she said, “and I saved up my money for a week so that I could see Welcome to the Dollhouse and that’s the first film I saw where I could say ‘I could do that.'”

Other Sundance-supported films receiving awards were:

Sasha Gervasi’s Anvil! The Story of Anvil for Best Documentary
 

Lone Scherfig’s An Education for Best Foreign Film

(500) Days of Summer (Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber for Best Screenplay)

Oren Moverman’s The Messenger (Woody Harrelson for Best Supporting Male)

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From the Archives: Revisit Robert Redford’s Words of Wisdom

To much of the world Robert Redford is Roy Hobbs, Bill McKay, Jeremiah Johnson, or invariably, The Sundance Kid. He is an artist, an activist, and a creative leader. But Robert Redford also inhabits another world, one where he’s known simply as “Bob.

From the Archives: Sundance Institute Founder Robert Redford on Why He’s Always Believed in the Power of Documentary Filmmaking

The Sundance Film Festival’s longstanding commitment to documentary has been driven by the personal connection founder and president Robert Redford feels for the form. Leading up to the premiere of Chicago 10, the second doc to ever open the Festival, we talked to Redford about the past, present, and possible future of documentaries.You made an early commitment to documentary.

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