2024 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners Announced: ‘In The Summer’ Wins Top Prize

The Sundance Film Festival announced its 2024 winners on January 26, two days before the festival’s end date. The Awards Ceremony took place at The Ray Theater in Park City, Utah. This year marks its 40th annual festival run taking place from January 18 to January 28.

In the Summer, a film director Alessandra Lacorazza, won the top honor, U.S. Grand Jury Prize, starring Lio Mehiel.

Last year, Mehiel told uInterview exclusively about the importance of trans representation.

“Whenever there is an uptick of queer or trans representation in the media, there is an equal and perhaps greater response from the other side … that are looking to suppress trans rights, trans agency [and] queer liberation,” Mehiel told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “While in Hollywood we are seeing trans representation and this film is able to be part of that movement, this film is more important now than ever because even just in Utah, they are trying to fast track anti-trans legislation.”

The award-winning films are available online nationwide from January 25 to January 28. Films will also be screened in person and online through the Festival platform on January 27 & 28.

See the full list of 2024 Sundance Film Festival award winners below.

Grand Jury Prizes
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, In The Summers (dir. Alessandra Lacorazza)
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, Porcelain War (dir. Brendan Bellomo)
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, Sujo (dir. Astrid Rondero & Fernanda Valadez)
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, A New Kind of Wilderness (dir. Silje Evensmo)

NEXT Innovator Award
Little Death (dir. Jack Begert)

Festival Favorite Award
Daughters (dir. Angela Patton & Natalie Rae)

Audience Awards
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary, Daughters (dir. Angela Patton & Natalie Rae)
Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, Dìdi (弟弟) (dir. Sean Wang)
Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary, Ibelin (dir. Benjamin Ree)
Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic, Girls Will Be Girls (dir. Shuchi Talati)
Audience Award: NEXT, Kneecap (dir. Rich Peppiatt)

Jury Awards for Directing, Screenwriting & Editing
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary, Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie for Sugarcane
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic, Alessandra Lacorazza for In The Summers
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary, Benjamin Ree for Ibelin
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic, Raha Amirfazli & Alireza Ghasemi for In The Land Of Brothers
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic, Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary, Carla Gutiérrez for FRIDA

Special Jury Awards
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Sound, Gaucho Gaucho (dir. Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw)
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for the Art of Change, Union (dir. Stephen Maing & Brett Story)
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Ensemble, Dìdi (弟弟) (dir. Sean Wang)
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance, Nico Parker for Suncoast (dir. Laura Chinn)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Craft, Nocturnes (dir. Anirban Dutta)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation, Johan Grimonprez for Soundtrack to a Coupe d’Etat (dir. Johan Grimonprez)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Original Music, Peter Raeburn for Handling the Undead (dir. Thea Hvistendahl)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting, Preeti Panigrahi for Girls Will Be Girls (dir. Shuchi Talati)
Special Jury Award for NEXT presented by Adobe, Desire Lines (dir. Jules Rosskam)