‘Nanny’ and ‘The Exiles’ win top prizes at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

The 2022 Sundance Film Festival announced its award winners Friday, with Nikyatu Jusu’s “Nanny” winning the U.S. dramatic competition grand jury prize and Ben Klein and Violet Columbus’ “The Exiles” winning the U.S. documentary grand jury prize. The audience awards went to Cooper Raiff’s “Cha Cha Real Smooth” for the U.S. dramatic competition and Daniel Roher’s “Navalny” for the U.S. documentary competition.

“The 2022 Sundance Film Festival once again met our audience wherever they happened to be,” said festival director Tabitha Jackson in a statement. “Whether you watched from home or one of our seven satellite screens, this year’s Festival expressed a powerful convergence; we were present, together, as a community connected through the work. And it is work that has already changed those who experienced it.”

Among the jury prizes, 53% of the feature films were directed by one or more women, while 42% were directed by one or more person of color.

In the world cinema dramatic competition, the grand jury prize went to Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s “Utama,” with the world cinema documentary grand jury prize going to Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes.” The audience awards went to Ali Haapasalo’s “Girl Picture” for world cinema dramatic and Alex Pritz’s “The Territory” for world cinema documentary. “Navalny” also won the festival favorite award.

Other prizes in the U.S. dramatic competition went to Jamie Dack for directing “Palm Trees and Power Lines.” The Waldo Salt screenwriting award went to K.D. Dávila for “Emergency.” A special jury award for uncompromising artistic vision went to Bradley Rust Gray for “blood.” A special jury award for ensemble cast went to John Boyega, Nicole Beharie, Selenis Leyva, Connie Britton, Olivia Washington, London Covington and Michael K. Williams for “892.”

In the U.S. documentary competition, the directing prize went to Reid Davenport for “I Didn’t See You There.” The Jonathan Oppenheim editing awards went to Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput for “Fire of Love.” A special jury award for impact for change went to “Aftershock.” A special jury award for creative vision went to “Descendant.”

The Next innovator award went to Chase Joynt for “Framing Agnes.”