"Snow and Ashes" & "American Jihadist" Top Slamdance

The Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City, home of Slamdance. Photo by indieWIRE

Charles-Olivier Michaud's "Snow and Ashes" won the Sparky Award for Best Narrative Film and Mark Claywell's "American Jihadist" won the Sparky Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival.

The story of a war correspondent who has awakened from a coma in Eastern Europe, "Snow and Ashes" follows his search for a fellow journalist who has disappeared. Meanwhile, "American Jihadist" looks at militant Islam through the story of Isa Abdullah Ali, an African-American Muslin from D.C.

"Slamdance 16 celebrated, as always, the best in independent film and emerging talent," said Peter Baxter, co-Founder and president of Slamdance, in a statement. "Congratulations to all of our winners and especially to all of our filmmakers who have come together this week to strengthen our community."

Full list of Slamdance Winners:

GRAND JURY AWARDS

Grand Jury Sparky Award for Best Narrative Film
Winner: "Snow and Ashes", directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud
Special Jury Mention: "One Hundred Mornings," directed by Conor Horgan

Grand Jury Sparky Award for Best Documentary Film
Winner: "American Jihadist", directed by Mark Claywell

Grand Jury Sparky Award for Best Animated Short
Winner: "Seed", directed by Ben Richardson and Daniel Bird

Grand Jury Sparky Award for Best Narrative Short
Winner: "Prvi Dan Mira" (First Day of Peace), Mirko Rucnov
Special Jury Mention for a short documentary film: "Bout that Bout", directed by Nico Sabenorio

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Audience Sparky Award for Best Narrative Film
Winner: "The Wild Hunt", directed by Alexandre Franchi

Audience Sparky Award for Best Documentary Film
Winner: "Mind of the Demon: The Larry Linkogle Story", directed by Adam Barker

Audience Sparky Award for Best Anarchy Online Film
Winner: "Sugar Stick", directed by Laura Harris

Spirit of Slamdance Sparky Short Film Award
Winner: "Mosquito", directed by Jeremy Engle
Awarded by the Class of 2010 filmmakers to the film teams that best exhibit passion and talent, commitment to the independent community, and enthusiastically embrace all Slamdance has to offer.