1996 Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival of '96 drew record crowds (close to 10,000 people) to view the largest array of films ever shown at the Festival. To complicate matters - and reassert the notion that nature waits not for independent film - it snowed some ten feet in ten days. Inspirational Australian biopic SHINE was one highlight that went on to capture the public consciousness, as did BIG NIGHT, a collaboration between two actors-turned-directors, Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott. The Piper-Heidsieck tribute to independent vision was awarded to Woody Allen regular Dianne Wiest, and the Festival featured a retrospective of the films of American storyteller William Wellman.
Awards
Audience Award Dramatic
Care of the Spitfire Grill | Excellence in Cinematography Award Documentary
Cutting Loose |
Excellence in Cinematography Award Dramatic
Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day | Filmmaker Trophy Dramatic
Girls Town |
Freedom of Expression Award
The Celluloid Closet | Grand Jury Prize Documentary
Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern |
Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
Welcome to the Dollhouse | Honorable Mention Latin American Cinema
Guantanamera |
Honorable Mention Latin American Cinema
Wild Horses (Caballos Salvajes) | Honorable Mention Short Filmmaking
Pig! |
Honorable Mention Short Filmmaking
Dry Mount | Special Jury Prize for Acting
I Shot Andy Warhol |
Special Jury Recognition
When We Were Kings | Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
Big Night |
Credits
| Joan Churchill
Documentary Competition Juror | Ada Gay Griffin
Documentary Competition Juror |
| Alan Raymond
Documentary Competition Juror | Ellen Schneider
Documentary Competition Juror |
| Theodore Thomas
Documentary Competition Juror | Gregg Araki
Dramatic Competition Juror |
| Bobby Bukowski
Dramatic Competition Juror | Ulu Grosbard
Dramatic Competition Juror |
| Julianne Moore
Dramatic Competition Juror | Elizabeth Pinkus
Dramatic Competition Juror |
| Lynn Holst
Latin American Cinema Juror | Emmanuel Lubezki
Latin American Cinema Juror |
| Zita Carvalhosa
Short Film Competition Juror | Mary Jane Skalski
Short Film Competition Juror |
| Geoff Stier
Short Film Competition Juror | Geoffrey Gilmore
Director of Programming, Sundance Film Festival |
Panels
Projects
As you use our Online Archives, please understand that the information presented from Festivals, Labs, and other activities is taken directly from official publications from each year. While this information is limited and doesn't necessarily represent the full list of participants (e.g. actors and crew), it is the list given to us by the main film/play/project contact at the time, based on the space restrictions of our publications. Each entry in the Online Archives is meant as a historical record of a particular film, play, or project at the time of its involvement with Sundance Institute. For this reason, we can only amend an entry if a name is misspelled, or if the entry does not correctly reflect the original publication.
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