Virgin Mountain was awarded the top prize at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, taking home the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature.

Dagur Kári’s Virgin Mountain Wins Top Prizes At TFF

The Icelandic-Danish film from writer director Dagur Kári, tells the story of a 43-year-old virgin who joins a dance class. Tribeca Film Festival founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal presented Kári with the award on Thursday at the prize ceremony. Whoopi Goldberg and Dylan McDermott were just a few members of the World Narrative Competition Jury that determined the winner.

“With its mixture of humor and pathos, this film captured our hearts. Beyond the relatively small frame of a mismatched love story, the film deals with the issues of bigotry, loneliness, bullying, mental illness, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit and the meaning of love,” said the Jury in a statement.

Virgin Mountain also took home awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actor in a Narrative Film for lead, Gunnar Jónsson.

Fellow Danish film, Bridgend took home awards for Best Cinematography, Best Narrative Editing and Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film. Democrats, yet another Danish film, won the prize for Best Documentary Feature.

Young American filmmaker Zachary Treitz won the award for Best New Narrative Director for his feature Men Go To Battle. “Zachary Treitz presented us with a combination of approaches not all that easy to put together: a unique and sincere vision, alongside off-beat humor, alongside historical and emotional authenticity,” wrote the Jury.

Full List Of Tribeca Film Festival Awards:

World Narrative Competition Categories

The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature: Virgin Mountain (Iceland, Denmark) – written and directed by Dagur Kári

Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film: Virgin Mountain – Gunnar Jónsson

Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film: Hannah Murray in Bridgend (Denmark)

Best Cinematography: Magnus Jønck for Bridgend

Best Screenplay: Dagur Kári for Virgin Mountain

Best Narrative Editing: Oliver Bugge Coutté for Bridgend

World Documentary Competition Categories

Best Documentary Feature: Democrats (Denmark) – directed by Camilla Nielsson

Special Jury Mention: In Transit (USA) – directed by Albert Maysles, Nelson Walker, Lynn True, David Usui and Ben Wu

Best Documentary Editing: Valerio Bonelli for Palio (UK, Italy)

Best New Narrative Director Competition

Best New Narrative Director: Zachary Treitz for Men Go To Battle (USA)

Special Jury Mention: Stephen Fingleton for The Survivalist (Northern Ireland, UK)

New Documentary Director Competition

Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award: Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands for Uncertain (USA)

Special Jury Mention: Erik Shirai for The Birth of Saké (USA)

Short Film Competition

Best Narrative Short: Listen (Finland, Denmark) – directed by Hamy Ramezan and Rungano Nyoni

Special Jury Mention Narrative Short: Statistical Analysis of Your Failing Relationship – directed by Miles Jay

Best Documentary Short: Body Team 12 (Liberia) – directed by David Darg

Special Jury Mention Documentary Short: We Live This – directed by James Burns (USA)

Student Visionary Award: Catwalk (Sweden) – directed by Ninja Thyberg

Special Jury Mention Student Visionary Award: Kingdom of Garbage (Iraq, UK) – directed by Yasir Kareem

BOMBAY SAPPHIRE STORYSCAPES AWARD: Door Into the Dark created by Amy Rose and May Abdalla at Anagram (UK)

THE NORA EPHRON PRIZE: Sworn Virgin – directed by Laura Bispuri and written by Francesca Manieri and Bispuri (Albania, Germany, Italy, Kosovo, Switzerland)

Special Jury Mention Nora Ephron Prize: Being 14 – written and directed by Hélène Zimmer (France)

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.