Robert Redford may have recently suggested that the Sundance Film Festival isn’t about politics, but it’s pretty tough to avoid getting political when the night of your end-of-festival awards ceremony coincides with the second big anti-Donald Trump protest in as many weeks. So, despite Redford’s assurances, the Sundance Awards ceremony ended up being very political, with virtually everybody on stage to either present or accept an award acknowledging Trump’s ban on Muslim immigrants and refugees in some way.
Even the awards themselves seemed a little political—or at least politically inspired—with Macon Blair’s I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore taking the Grand Jury Prize. The movie is about a depressed woman who finally cracks under the weight of society’s many assholes and decides to try and take revenge on some people who broke into our house. It already as a distribution deal with Netflix (and a trailer), meaning it wasn’t one of the more high-profile films at the festival, but apparently the Sundance jury really responded to its “standing up to assholes” message.
The top director award went to Beach Rats’ Eliza Hittman, who noted while accepting her award that “nothing is more taboo in this country than a woman with ambition.” The top documentary award went to Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini’s Dina, and Matt Ruskin’s Crown Heights won the Audience Award for a dramatic film.
You can see the full list of winners at this Hollywood Reporter story.