PARK CITY, Jan. 25 - The funny thing is, they had no idea.
Riding back in a van with the cast of "Slam" following a Friday
night party at the Canyons resort, they were pointedly told, "You know
you guys are going to clean up at the Sundance awards."
None of them - Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn and company - had any idea what
I was talking about. "Is that why everybody has been telling us congratulations?"
one of the crew asked.
Yet as the actors piled out of the van and prepared for some more late-night
partying, the gang seemed to have not an inkling of what was in store for
the next evening.
What did indeed transpire was "Slam" joining the ranks of such
distinguished successes as "The Brothers McMullen"and "Welcome
to the Dollhouse" by winning the Sundance Dramatic Competition Award.
The other big winner Saturday night was another film created by minority
talent - "Smoke Signals" - the only feature ever written, directed
and starring solely Native Americans. The Miramax picture grabbed audience
award honors and the filmmaker award for director Chris Eyre. "Smoke
Signals" is based on a screenplay by writer Sherman Alexie.
The documentary category featured some interesting choices as well. Jury
voting resulted in a tie. "Frat House," the heavily lauded documentary
about fraternity hazing, took home honors for its young filmmakers Todd
Phillips and Andrew Gurland. The filmmakers shared their honors with Liz
Garbus and Jonathan Stack, whose "The Farm" chronicled life at
America's largest maximum security prison.
Other films capturing honors included Darren Aronofsky's "Pi"
and Barbara Kopple's "Wild Man Blues."
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