Last night, the 23rd annual Slamdance Film Festival announced the feature and short film recipients of this year’s Sparky Awards. A jury of filmmakers and industry professionals determined the Slamdance Jury Awards for Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, and Short Film categories. The Audience Awards and the Spirit of Slamdance, an award given by the filmmakers of Slamdance 2017 to the director who best embodies the spirit of the Festival, were also bestowed. The award winners were announced at the festival’s annual Awards Ceremony at the Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City, Utah.
“Independent film is made beautiful not by those individual artists that form celebrity culture but by creative collaboration” said Peter Baxter, Slamdance Co-Founder and President. “At Slamdance this year we’ve experienced an entire program of beautiful independent film and the promise of great emerging artists continuing the legacy of what we set out to do. With our awards we honor several filmmakers yet we know and must acknowledge Slamdance has just been made stronger by everyone of them who has taken part.”
The Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature went to Daniel Warth’s “Dim The Fluorescents,” while the Prize for Best Documentary Feature went to Stefan Avalos’ “Strad Style,” which also won the Documentary Feature Audience Award. The Narrative Feature Audience Award was given to Bill Watterson’s “Dave Made a Maze.” The Spirit of Sundance Award went to the film team behind “Neighborhood Food Drive.”
READ MORE: ‘What Lies Upstream’ Selected To Be Slamdance Festival Opening Night Film
Read the full list of winners, and honorable mentions, below.
Jury Awards:
Narrative Features
Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize
“Dim the Fluorescents”
(Canada) World Premiere
Director: Daniel Warth; Screenwriter(s): Miles Barstead, Daniel Warth
Narrative Features Honorable Mention
“Kate Can’t Swim”
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Josh Helman; Screenwriter(s): Jennifer Allcott, Josh Helman
Documentary Features, Documentary Shorts
Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize
“Strad Style”
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Stefan Avalos
Documentary Feature Honorable Mention
“The Modern Jungle”
(Mexico/USA)
Director(s) & Screenwriter(s): Charles Fairbanks, Saul Kak
Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize
“Moriom”
(Switzerland)
Director(s): Francesca Scalisi, Mark Olexa
Documentary Short Honorable Mention
“Irregulars”
(Italy)
Director: Fabio Palmieri
Narrative Shorts/Animated Shorts
Narrative Shorts Grand Jury Prize
“No Other Way To Say It”
(USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Tim Mason
Narrative Shorts Honorable Mention
“Oh What a Wonderful Feeling”
(Canada)
Director and Screenwriter: François Jaros
Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize
“Hold Me (Ca Caw Ca Caw)”
(USA)
Renee Zhan
Animated Shorts Honorable Mention
“My Father’s Room”
(South Korea) North American Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Nari Jang
Experimental Shorts/Anarchy Shorts
Experimental Shorts Grand Jury Prize
“UpCycles”
(USA)
Director: Ariana Gerstein
Experimental Shorts Honorable Mention
“Blua”
(Colombia)
Director and Screenwriter: Carolina Charry Quintero
Anarchy Shorts Grand Jury Prize
“Ape Sodom”
(Canada)
Director and Screenwriter: Maxwell McCabe-Lokos
Anarchy Shorts Honorable Mention
“Horseshoe Theory”
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Jonathan Daniel Brown
Spirit of Slamdance Award Winner
“Neighborhood Food Drive”
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Jerzy Rose; Screenwriter(s): Halle Butler, Mike Lopez, Jerzy Rose
Audience Award:
Narrative Feature
“Dave Made a Maze”
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Bill Watterson; Screenwriter(s): Steven Sears, Bill Watterson
Documentary Feature
“Strad Style”
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Stefan Avalos
Beyond Feature
“Future ‘38”
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Jamie Greenberg
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