Instead of holding a virtual ceremony this year, Sundance announced all of the 2022 winners via tweets from the festival’s official Twitter account. Reactions from winners and festival personnel were also published on Twitter, following the lead of the prestigious festival’s second year of 100% virtuality.
Out of 84 feature films and 59 short films chosen from 14,849 submissions, juries and virtual audience members had the opportunity to vote for their favorites in a variety of categories.
One or more women directed 53% of this year’s jury-winning movies, while 42 percent were directed by one or more people of color. Jusu is the second Black woman to win the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Writing in the United States, following Chinonye Chukwu’s Clemency in 2019.
GRAND JURY PRIZES
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – Nanny / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Nikyatu Jusu)
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – The Exiles / U.S.A. (Directors: Ben Klein and Violet Columbus)
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – Utama / Bolivia/Uruguay/France (Director and Screenwriter: Alejandro Loayza Grisi)
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – All That Breathes / India, U.K. (Director and Producer: Shaunak Sen)
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary – Navalny / U.S.A. (Director: Daniel Roher)
Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic – Cha Cha Real Smooth / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Cooper Raiff)
Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic – Girl Picture / Finland (Director: Alli Haapasalo)
Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary – The Territory / Brazil/Denmark/United States (Director: Alex Pritz)
Audience Award: NEXT – Framing Agnes / Canada, U.S.A. (Director: Chase Joynt)
FESTIVAL FAVORITE AWARD
Navalny / U.S.A. (Director: Daniel Roher)
JURY AWARDS FOR DIRECTING, SCREENWRITING & EDITING
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary – I Didn’t See You There / U.S.A. (Director: Reid Davenport)
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic – Palm Trees and Power Lines / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Jamie Dack)
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary – A House Made Of Splinters / Denmark (Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont)
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic – KLONDIKE / Ukraine/Turkey (Director and Screenwriter: Maryna Er Gorbach)
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic – Emergency / U.S.A. (Director: Carey Williams, Screenwriter: KD Davila)
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary – Fire Of Love / U.S.A. (Director: Sara Dosa)
SPECIAL JURY AWARDS
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Uncompromising Artistic Vision – blood / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Bradley Rust Gray)
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Ensemble Cast – John Boyega, Nicole Beharie, Selenis Leyva, Connie Britton, Olivia Washington, London Covington, and Michael K. Williams for 892 / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Abi Damaris Corbin, Screenwriter: Kwame Kwei-Armah)
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Impact for Change – Aftershock / U.S.A. (Directors and Producers: Paula Eiselt, Tonya Lewis Lee)
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision – Descendant / U.S.A. (Director: Margaret Brown)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Documentary Craft – The Territory / Brazil/Denmark/United States (Director: Alex Pritz)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Excellence In Verité Filmmaking – Midwives / Myanmar (Director: Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Innovative Spirit – Leonor Will Never Die / Philippines (Director and Screenwriter: Martika Ramirez Escobar)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting – Teresa Sánchez for Dos Estaciones / Mexico (Director and Screenwriter: Juan Pablo González, Screenwriters: Ana Isabel Fernández, Ilana Coleman)
NEXT INNOVATOR AWARD PRESENTED BY ADOBE
Chase Joynt for Framing Agnes / Canada, U.S.A. (Director: Chase Joynt)
SHORT FILM AWARDS PRESENTED BY XRM Media
Short Film Grand Jury Prize – The Headhunter’s Daughter / Philippines (Director and Screenwriter: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan)
Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction – IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Walter Thompson-Hernández)
Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction – Warsha / France/Lebanon (Director and Screenwriter: Dania Bdeir)
Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction – Displaced / Kosovo (Director and Screenwriter: Samir Karahoda)
Short Film Jury Award: Animation – Night Bus / Taiwan (Director and Screenwriter: Joe Hsieh)
Short Film Special Jury Award: Ensemble Cast – Zélia Duncan, Bruna Linzmeyer, Camila Rocha, Clarissa Ribeiro, and Lorre Motta for A wild patience has taken me here / Brazil (Director and Screenwriter: Érica Sarmet)
Short Film Special Jury Award: Screenwriting – Sara Driver for Stranger Than Rotterdam with Sara Driver / United States (Directors: Lewie Kloster, Noah Kloster, Screenwriter: Sara Driver)