2012 Sundance Film Festival Winners: 'Beasts of the Southern Wild', 'Surrogate' and More

January 30, 2012 02:28:54 GMT

Other winners at the annual film festival include drug war documentary 'The House I Live In', a singer's life story 'Searching for Sugar Man' and millionaire family doc 'The Queen of Versailles'.

2012 Sundance Film Festival Winners: 'Beasts of the Southern Wild', 'Surrogate' and More

As the 2012 Sundance Film Festival came to its final day, winners of the special honors at the festival were announced. Benh Zeitlin's most buzzed-about surreal drama "Beasts of the Southern Wild" grabbed the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic film, while Ben Lewin's real-life film "The Surrogate" won the Audience Award at the annual prestigious movie fest.

Bringing along the 8-year-old star of the film, Quvenzhane Wallis, upon receiving the award, "Beasts" director, Zeitlin, said, "I hope with this movie there is a flag that goes up to allow directors to explore the world." Aside from the Grand Jury, the well-reviewed film also won a cinematography prize.

As for "The Surrogate", the controversial movie about an iron-lunged man who wants to lose his virginity with the help from a professional sex surrogate, won the prize for Best Ensemble. Along with "Beasts", the John Hawkes and Helen Hunt-starring film was acquired by Fox Searchlight at the festival and is expected to be released in the U.S. theaters sometime this year.

In addition to "Beasts" and "Surrogate", other special awards winners at this year's Sundance included "The House I Live In" which won the Grand Jury Prize for documentary pic, "The Queen of Versailles" which bagged U.S. Directing Award for documentary film, "Searching for Sugar Man" which nabbed the World Cinema Audience Award for documentary movie, and others.

This year's Sundance Film Festival was held from Thursday, January 19 to Sunday, January 29 in Park City, Utah. Around 181 qualified independent movies have been chosen to have their special screenings at the event. The closing awards ceremony was hosted by Parker Posey.

Of the prize-giving show, Sundance director John Cooper said, "Every year the Sundance Film Festival brings to light exciting new direction and fresh voices in independent film, and this year is no different."

"While these awards further distinguish those that have had the most impact on audiences and our jury, the level of talent showcased across the board at the Festival was really impressive, and all are to be congratulated and thanked for sharing their work with us," he added.

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival Winners:

Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - "The House I Live In"
World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic - "Violeta Went to Heaven" ("Violeta se Fue a Los Cielos")
World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary - "The Law in These Parts"
Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic - "The Surrogate"
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary - "The Invisible War"
World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic - "Valley of Saints"
World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary - "Searching for Sugar Man"
Best of NEXT Audience Award - "Sleepwalk with Me"
U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic - "Middle Of Nowhere"
U.S. Directing Award: Documentary - "The Queen of Versailles"
World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic - "Teddy Bear"
World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary - "5 Broken Cameras"
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award - "Safety Not Guaranteed"
World Cinema Screenwriting Award - "Young & Wild"
U.S. Documentary Editing Award - "Detropia"
World Cinema Documentary Editing Award - Indie Game: "The Movie"
Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary - "Chasing Ice"
Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic - "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic - "My Brother the Devil"
World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary - "Putin's Kiss"
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for an Agent of Change - "Love Free or Die"
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Defiance - "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry"
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Independent Film Producing - "Smashed and Nobody Walks"
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting - "The Surrogate"
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Artistic Vision - "Can"
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize for its Celebration of the Artistic Spirit - "Searching for Sugar Man"
Short Film Audience Award - "The Debutante Hunters"