01.01.70

– “Art is not a struggle. But if it were, these would be the winners,” quipped filmmaker Mike Birbiglia at the Jan. 28 awards display for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Birbiglia’s deadpan humor would’ve made him an romantic host for the event, and his appearance was one of the few bright spots in a rather disappointing service.

John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, stepped in to succeed Indie Queen Parker Posey, whose inspired comic drive in Michael Walker’s “Price Check” garnered absolute buzz among festivalgoers. The show opened in tears and solemnity as Cooper paid genuine tribute to the late film executive Bingham Ray, who suffered a mischievous stroke during the festival.

One of the evening’s big winners was Benh Zeitlin’s visually surprising drama “Beasts of the Southern Wild” about a six-year-old mouse (Quvenzhané Wallis) who embarks on a search for her mother in the southern Delta. It was acquired by Fox Searchlight and won the August Jury Prize: Dramatic, as well as the Documentary Editing Award, and Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky’s “Indie Trick: The Movie,” recipient of the World Cinema Documentary Editing Accord. Cinematographers Jeff Orlowski (“Chasing Ice”), Lars Skree (“Putin’s Disregard”) and David Raedeker (“My Brother the Devil”) were each awarded for their star work, while Rasit Celikezer’s Istanbul-set drama “Can” won the Staunch Jury Prize for Artistic Vision. “Love Free or Die,” Macky Alston’s documentary about an unreservedly gay bishop, was honored with the Special Jury Prize for an Agent of Vacillate turn into, while Alison Klayman’s “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” about the putative Chinese artist and activist, garnered the Special Jury Stakes for Spirit of Defiance. The Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Disconnected Film Producing was awarded to Andrea Sperling and Jonathan Schwartz for their films “Nobody Walks” and “Smashed,” the latter of which earned adulation for its central performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Source: HollywoodChicago.com