2008 Sundance Film Festival

The 2008 Festival furthered its mission of representing international voices by showcasing films from 35 countries, including the first independent feature film ever from Jordan, CAPTAIN ABU RAED. Among the 207 total films from the U.S. and around the world, dramatic features included FROZEN RIVER, SUGAR, and THE WACKNESS along with the documentaries AMERICAN TEEN, MAN ON WIRE, and TROUBLE THE WATER. This year saw a record number of shorts submissions as the Festival's shorts lineup reaffirmed the boundary-pushing possibilities of the genre with MADAME TUTLI PUTLI, I MET THE WALRUS, and SALIM BABA. The Festival website offered more live coverage for audiences to experience the Festival from all over the globe. Each day throughout the Festival a free short was available to watch online, along with other videos and podcasts of highlights from panels to interviews with filmmakers.

  • Awards
  • Credits
  • Panels
  • Projects

Sleep Dealer

Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize

Fields of Fuel

Audience Award: U.S. Documentary

The Wackness

Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic

Man on Wire

Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary

Captain Abu Raed

Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic

American Teen

Directing Award: U.S. Documentary

Ballast

Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Editing Award Documentary

Patti Smith: Dream of Life

Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary

Ballast

Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic

King of Ping Pong

Excellence in Cinematography Award: World Dramatic

Trouble the Water

Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary

Frozen River

Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Dramatic

Man on Wire

Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema Documentary

King of Ping Pong

Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema Dramatic

Aquarium

Honorable Mention Short Filmmaking

August 15th

Honorable Mention Short Filmmaking

La Corona (The Crown)

Honorable Mention Short Filmmaking

Spider

Honorable Mention Short Filmmaking

Oiran Lyrics

Honorable Mention Short Filmmaking

Suspension

Honorable Mention Short Filmmaking

W.

Honorable Mention Short Filmmaking

Soft

Jury Prize International Short Filmmaking

Sikumi

Jury Prize Short Filmmaking

my olympic summer

Jury Prize Short Filmmaking

The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo

Special Jury Prize Documentary

Choke

Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Cast

Anywhere, USA

Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Independence

Sleep Dealer

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award

Recycle

World Cinema Cinematography Award Documentary

Durakovo: Village of Fools

World Cinema Directing Award Documentary

Mermaid

World Cinema Directing Award Dramatic

The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins

World Cinema Documentary Editing Award

I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster

World Cinema Screenwriting Award

Blue Eyelids

World Cinema Special Jury Prize Dramatic
 

Eugene Jarecki

Documentary Competition Juror

Heidi Ewing

Documentary Competition Juror

Steven Okazaki

Documentary Competition Juror

Annie Sundberg

Documentary Competition Juror

Michelle Byrd

Documentary Competition Juror

Mary Harron

Dramatic Competition Juror

Diego Luna

Dramatic Competition Juror

Marcia Gay Harden

Dramatic Competition Juror

Amir Bar-Lev

World Documentary Competition Juror

Ilda Santiago

World Documentary Competition Juror

Leena Pasanen

World Documentary Competition Juror

Shunji Iwai

World Dramatic Competition Juror

Lucrecia Martel

World Dramatic Competition Juror

Jason Reitman

Short Film Competition Juror

Jon Bloom

Short Film Competition Juror

Michael Polish

Alfred P. Sloan Prize Juror

John Underkoffler

Alfred P. Sloan Prize Juror

Benedict Schwegler

Alfred P. Sloan Prize Juror

Evan Schwartz

Alfred P. Sloan Prize Juror

Taika Waititi

Awards Ceremony Presenter

Chad Allen

Awards Ceremony Presenter

Jan Schütte

World Dramatic Competition Juror

Sandra Oh

Dramatic Competition Juror
 

1977

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures

A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy

A Raisin in the Sun

A Relationship in Four Days

A Work in Progress—Terra Nova: The Antarctic Suite

Absurdistan

Advantage

Adventures of Power

Alone in Four Walls

Along the Way

American Son

American Teen

An American Soldier (The Recruiter)

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Anywhere, USA

Aquarium

Assassination of a High School President

August

August 15th

Baghead

Ballast

Be Kind Rewind

Be Like Others

Because Washington Is Hollywood for Ugly People

Bend It

Bigger, Stronger, Faster*

Birds of America

Blind Date

Blue Eyelids

Bottle Shock

Breadmakers

Buyo

By Modern Measure

Captain Abu Raed

Carlin

casting a glance

Cherries

Chief

Choke

Chonto

Chronic Town

Count Backwards from Five

Crossbow

CSNY Déjà Vu

Darkgame and Best Flame War Ever

Death in Love

Dennis

Derek

Diminished Capacity

Dinner with the President: A Nation`s Journey

Dog

Dog Lovers

Donkey Punch

Downloading Nancy

Dugong

Durakovo: Village of Fools

Eat, for This Is My Body

Edward II

Farewell Packets of Ten

FCU: Fact Checkers Unit

Fear(s) of the dark

Fields of Fuel

Flighty

Flow: For Love of Water

For the Love of God

Force 1 TD

Frozen River

Funny Games

Gas Zappers

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

God Builds Like Frank Lloyd Wright

Goliath

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

Good Dick

Green Porno (Dragonfly)

Green Porno (Firefly)

Green Porno (Spider)

Half - Life

Hamlet 2

Harvest Time

Henry Poole Is Here

Home Movies 300

I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster

I Have Seen the Future

I Love Sarah Jane

I Met the Walrus

I.O.U.S.A.

Ignite

In Bruges

In Prison My Whole Life

Incendiary

Invisible Threads: A Virtual Sweatshop in Second Life

Just Another Love Story

Juvenile

Kicking It

kids + money

King of Ping Pong

L.A.S.E.R. TAG

La Corona (The Crown)

Lapsus

Lloyd Neck

Love Comes Lately

Madame Tutli-Putli

Made in America

Man

Man on Wire

Máncora

Megane

Mermaid

Mike Kelley

Momma's Man

Motion Studies: Inertia

My Biodegradable Heart

my olympic summer

NERAKHOON (The Betrayal)

Next Year's Bad News Bears

Nikamowin (Song)

North Starr

Number One

Oiran Lyrics

On the Assassination of the President

Otto; or, Up with Dead People

Paradise

Pariah

Patti Smith: Dream of Life

Peg Mirror and Snow Mirror

Perro Come Perro

Phoebe in Wonderland

Pilgrimage

please stand back! (zurrueckbleiben bitte)

Plot Point

Poster Children and Heroes of the Revolution

Pretty Bird

puujee

Quentin Tarantino Presents Hell Ride

Quid Pro Quo

Recycle

Red

Reversion

Riprendimi

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Salim Baba

Savage Grace

Scoring

Secrecy

Seven Intellectuals in Bamboo Forest, Part 4

Seven Intellectuals in Bamboo Forest, Part 5

SEVILLA ? (?) 06

Sick Sex

Sikumi

Sleep Dealer

Sleepwalkers

Sleepwalking

Slingshot Hip Hop

Smart People

Smile

Soft

Spider

STRANDED: I've come from a plane that crashed on the mountains

Strangers

Sugar

Sunlit Shadows

Sunshine Cleaning

Suspension

Teat Beat of Sex

The Adventures of Baxter & McGuire: The Boss

The Apology Line

The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins

The Black List

The Broken

The Composers Lab Experiment: Braden King, Shahzad Ali Ismaily, Deborah Johnson

The Deal

The Deep

The Drift

The Drummer

The Escapist

The Execution of Solomon Harris

The Funeral

The Great Buck Howard

The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo

The Guitar

The History of America

The Last Word

The Linguists

The Living End

The Loss of a Wrestling Match

The Mark

The Merry Gentleman

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

The Object

The Order of Myths

The Pearce Sisters

The Rambler

The Second Line

The Sound of People

The Visitor

The Wackness

The Wave

The Wind and the Water

The Women of Brukman

The Year of Getting to Know Us

The Yellow Handkerchief

Time Crimes

Towelhead

Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North

Tracking Transience: The Orwell Project

Transsiberian

Triage: Dr. James Orbinski's Humanitarian Dilemma

Trouble the Water

U2 3D

Under the Bombs

Untitled #1 (from the series Earth People 2507)

Up the Yangtze

W.

Waves

Welcome

What Just Happened?

Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?

Wind, Ten Years Old

Wrestling

Xanadu

Yasukuni

Young@Heart

Yours Truly

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. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected]