The acerbic war film comedy that doesn’t really take place in a war zone (Iraq) but instead, a manufactured training base landed the top honors at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Hailey Gates’ feature debut Atropia claimed the coveted US Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and while some previous winners would go onto win the Audience Award, it is Twinless by James Sweeney that nabbed that honor (the film also won US Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting for Dylan O’Brien). Our favorite film from the ten selections in Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: US Dramatic. Brittany Shyne Seeds lands the highest docu award with the US Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – this is also a feature debut which is an exploration of Black generational farmers in the American South with the what it means to own land. Best Director prize went to Geeta Gandbhir for The Perfect Neighbor. Here are all the winners listed below:
GRAND JURY PRIZES
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Atropia
The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to Seeds
The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears)
The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار)
NEXT INNOVATOR AWARD PRESENTED BY ADOBE
The NEXT Innovator Award Presented by Adobe was awarded to Zodiac Killer Project
AUDIENCE AWARDS
The Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, Presented by Acura was awarded to Twinless
The Audience Award: U.S. Documentary, Presented by Acura was awarded to André is an Idiot
The Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic, Presented by United Airlines was awarded to DJ Ahmet
The Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary, Presented by United Airlines was awarded to Prime Minister.
The Audience Award: NEXT, Presented by Adobe was awarded to East of Wall
JURY AWARDS FOR DIRECTING, SCREENWRITING, and EDITING
The Directing Award: U.S. Documentary was presented to Geeta Gandbhir for The Perfect Neighbor
The Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented to Rashad Frett for Ricky
The Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary was presented to Mstyslav Chernov for 2000 Meters to Andriivka
The Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic was presented to Alireza Khatami for The Things You Kill
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented to Eva Victor for Sorry, Baby
The Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary was presented to Parker Laramie for André is an Idiot
SPECIAL JURY AWARDS
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting was presented to Dylan O’Brien for Twinless
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast was presented to Plainclothes
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Archival Storytelling was presented to Selena y Los Dinos
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award was presented to Life After
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision was presented to Georgi M. Unkovski for DJ Ahmet
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Writing was presented to Two Women
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award was presented to Mr. Nobody Against Putin
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression was presented to Coexistence, My Ass!
NEXT Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast was presented to Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)
