And the winners are...

A recap of the 26th annual Sundance film festival.

Every January, thousands of people travel to Park City, Utah, and it’s not to go skiing. Sunday marked the end of the 26th annual Sundance Film Festival, which began on Jan. 17, with the showing of Blueprint Pictures “In Bruges,” a film set in Belgium starring Colin Farrell and directed by Martin McDonagh.

The event that has given pop culture such films as “Napoleon Dynamite” and “The Blair Witch Project” first started as an awkward, Mormon-based tourist trap. 1978 marked the first ever Utah/United States Film Festival put on by the Utah Film commission in Salt Lake City.

According to bbc.co.uk, the actual festival first came about in 1981 when actor Robert Redford founded the Sundance Institute, named after his famous character the Sundance Kid, in order to engage hungry filmmakers and reveal new talent to the market. And it has been a healthy market ever since. According to filmschoolrejects.com, filmmakers have been able to auction off their movies to the highest Hollywood bidder.

For example, dark comedy “Choke,” based on the novel by the same name, directed by Clark Gregg and starring Sam Rockwell, was purchased by Fox Searchlight Pictures for $5 million.

The Andrew Fleming film “Hamlet 2” starring Amy Poehler and David Arquette, was nabbed up by Focus Features for $10 million.
Besides being an open market, the festival has allowed for independent directors, actors, and screenwriters to break into the industry.

For example, most people have heard of directors Kevin Smith (“Clerks”), Quentin Tarantino (“Reservoir Dogs”) and Steven Soderbergh (“Sex, Lies, and Videotape”), but not many know that their careers ignited after they all won Sundance awards.

According to comingsoon.net, the films shown at the festival are always reviewed by a jury of people in the industry, either as critics or contributors. This year some notable jury members were “Grey’s Anatomy” actress Sandra Oh and former winner Quentin Tarantino.

This year, 122 films were shown at the festival, and awards for 28 categories were presented by actor William H. Macy at the closing ceremony on Saturday, Jan. 26.
According to cinemablend.com, two of the big, highlighted winners this year were “Trouble the Water” and “Frozen River.”

“Water,” directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, won the Grand Jury Prize for documentaries. Produced by Elsewhere Films, it tells the survival story of an aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husband in New Orleans when trapped by deadly floodwaters.

“River,” directed by Courtney Hunt and produced by Frozen River Pictures, nabbed the Grand Jury Prize for dramas. It delivers the story of a trailer-home mom and an Indian girl who team up to smuggle illegal Canadian immigrants into the U.S. The film stars Melissa Leo and Michael O’ Keefe.

Perhaps the strangest film to achieve acclaim this year was Bob Sweden’s “King of Ping Pong,” a movie directed by Jens Jonsson. Winner of the World Cinema Jury Prize for dramas, the film narrates the life of a bullied teenager who excels only in ping pong. His struggles with his younger brother and recently exposed family history lend the film its vexing conflict. It stars Hampus and Jerry Johansson.

Since its creation, the festival has tweaked the independent scene each time, bringing a unique feel every year; in 2008, it appears that real-life situations are the new mass appeal, as evidenced in the success of documentaries this year.