Sundance 2022 Award Winners: ‘Nanny,’ ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth,’ and ‘Navalny’ Win Big

Sundance 2022 has officially crowned its winners. On Friday, the Sundance Film Festival’s awards were announced on Twitter via @sundancefest. Juries and audience members alike weighed in to select winners across a variety of categories, out of 84 feature films and 59 short films.

The grand jury prizes went to Nikyatu Jusu‘s feature directorial debut “Nanny,” for the coveted U.S. Dramatic title, along with Christine Choy’s “The Exiles” for U.S. Documentary, Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” for World Cinema Documentary, and Alejando Loayza Grisi’s “Utama” for World Cinema Dramatic.

The Audience Awards were earned by U.S. documentary “Navalny” and Cooper Raiff’s “Cha Cha Real Smooth” for U.S. Dramatic. “Navalny” also won the Festival Favorite Award.

Jusu is the second Black woman ever to win the Grand Jury Prize U.S. Dramatic, following Chinonye Chukwu in 2019 for “Clemency.”

“This year’s entire program has proven that no matter the context, independent storytelling remains a pivotal tool in expanding critical dialogues, and these stories will and must be shared,” Sundance CEO Joana Vicente said.

Coming-of-age dramedy “Cha Cha Real Smooth” made headlines after being acquired by AppleTV+. As of print, the other festival winners are yet to have U.S. distribution.

Festival Director Tabitha Jackson noted, “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.”

For the 2022 festival, 53 percent of jury prize-winning features were directed by one or more women, and 42 percent were directed by one or more person of color.

This year’s jurors included: Chelsea Barnard, Marielle Heller, and Payman Maadi for U.S. Dramatic Competition; Garrett Bradley, Joan Churchill, and Peter Nicks for U.S. Documentary Competition; Andrew Haigh, Mohamed Hefzy, and La Frances Hui for World Cinema Dramatic Competition; and Emilie Bujès, Patrick Gaspard, and Dawn Porter for World Cinema Documentary Competition.

Joey Soloway was the juror for the NEXT competition section and Penelope Bartlett, Kevin Jerome Everson, and Blackhorse Lowe juried the Short Film Program Competition.

“We are so grateful for this year’s jurors who brought their expertise and passion to their decision-making process,” said the Festival’s Director of Programming Kim Yutani, “We congratulate the award winners and we’re so thankful to each and every film in the program that made the 2022 Sundance Film Festival such a huge success.”

See below for the full list of winners in all categories, ranging from the Audience Awards to Grand Jury and Special Jury Prizes for films in the U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, World Dramatic, and World Documentary Competitions, NEXT, presented by Adobe, and the Short Film program.

GRAND JURY PRIZES

U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – “Nanny” / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Nikyatu Jusu, Producers: Nikkia Moulterie, Daniela Taplin Lundberg)

U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – “The Exiles” / U.S.A. (Directors: Ben Klein, Violet Columbus, Producers: Maria Chiu, Ben Klein, Violet Columbus)

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – “Utama” / Bolivia/Uruguay/France (Director and Screenwriter: Alejandro Loayza Grisi, Producers: Santiago Loayza Grisi, Federico Moreira, Marcos Loayza, Jean-Baptiste Bailly-Maitre)

World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary – “All That Breathes” / India, U.K. (Director and Producer: Shaunak Sen, Producers: Aman Mann, Teddy Leifer)

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Audience Award: U.S. Documentary – “Navalny” / U.S.A. (Director: Daniel Roher, Producers: Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Shane Boris)

Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic – “Cha Cha Real Smooth” / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Cooper Raiff, Producers: Dakota Johnson, Ro Donnelly, Erik Feig, Jessica Switch, Cooper Raiff)

Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic – “Girl Picture” / Finland (Director: Alli Haapasalo, Screenwriters: Ilona Ahti, Daniela Hakulinen, Producers: Leila Lyytikäinen, Elina Pohjola)

Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary – “The Territory” / Brazil/Denmark/United States (Director: Alex Pritz, Producers: Will N. Miller, Sigrid Dyekjær, Lizzie Gillett, Anonymous)

Audience Award: NEXT – “Framing Agnes” / Canada, U.S.A. (Director: Chase Joynt, Producers: Samantha Curley, Shant Joshi, Chase Joynt)

FESTIVAL FAVORITE AWARD

“Navalny” / U.S.A. (Director: Daniel Roher, Producers: Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Shane Boris)

JURY AWARDS FOR DIRECTING, SCREENWRITING & EDITING

Directing Award: U.S. Documentary – “I Didn’t See You There” / U.S.A. (Director: Reid Davenport, Producer: Keith Wilson)

Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic – “Palm Trees and Power Lines” / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Jamie Dack, Screenwriter: Audrey Findlay, Producers: Leah Chen Baker, Jamie Dack

Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary – “A House Made Of Splinters” / Denmark (Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont, Producer: Monica Hellström)

Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic – “KLONDIKE” / Ukraine/Turkey (Director and Screenwriter: Maryna Er Gorbach, Producers: Maryna Er Gorbach, Mehmet Bahadir Er, Sviatoslav BulakovskyI)

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic – “Emergency” / U.S.A. (Director: Carey Williams, Screenwriter: KD Davila, Producers: Marty Bowen, Isaac Klausner, John Fischer)

Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary – “Fire Of Love” / U.S.A. (Director: Sara Dosa, Producers: Shane Boris, Ina Fichman, Sara Dosa)

SPECIAL JURY AWARDS

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Uncompromising Artistic Vision – “blood” / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Bradley Rust Gray, Producers: David Urrutia, Bradley Rust Gray, So Yong Kim, Elika Portnoy, Alex Orlovsky, Jonathon Komack Martin)

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Ensemble Cast – John Boyega, Nicole Beharie, Selenis Leyva, Connie Britton, Olivia Washington, London Covington, and Michael K. Williams for “892” / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Abi Damaris Corbin, Screenwriter: Kwame Kwei-Armah, Producers: Ashley Levinson, Salman Al-Rashid, Sam Frohman, Kevin Turen, Mackenzie Fargo)

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Impact for Change – “Aftershock” / U.S.A. (Directors and Producers: Paula Eiselt, Tonya Lewis Lee)

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision – “Descendant” / U.S.A. (Director: Margaret Brown, Producers: Essie Chambers, Kyle Martin)

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Documentary Craft – “The Territory” / Brazil/Denmark/United States (Director: Alex Pritz, Producers: Will N. Miller, Sigrid Dyekjær, Lizzie Gillett, Anonymous)

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Excellence In Verité Filmmaking – “Midwives” / Myanmar (Director: Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing, Producers: Bob Moore, Ulla Lehman, Mila Aung-Thwin, Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing)

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Innovative Spirit – “Leonor Will Never Die” / Philippines (Director and Screenwriter: Martika Ramirez Escobar, Producers: Monster Jimenez, Mario Cornejo)

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting – Teresa Sánchez for “Dos Estaciones” / Mexico (Director and Screenwriter: Juan Pablo González, Screenwriters: Ana Isabel Fernández, Ilana Coleman, Producers: Jamie Gonçalves, Ilana Coleman, Bruna Haddad, Makena Buchanan)

NEXT INNOVATOR AWARD PRESENTED BY ADOBE

Chase Joynt for “Framing Agnes” / Canada, U.S.A. (Director: Chase Joynt, Producers: Samantha Curley, Shant Joshi, Chase Joynt

SHORT FILM AWARDS PRESENTED BY XRM Media

Short Film Grand Jury Prize – “The Headhunter’s Daughter” / Philippines (Director and Screenwriter: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, Producer: Hannah Schierbeek)

Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction – “IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME” / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Walter Thompson-Hernández, Producer: Stuart McIntyre)

Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction – “Warsha” / France/Lebanon (Director and Screenwriter: Dania Bdeir, Producer: Coralie Dias)

Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction – “Displaced” / Kosovo (Director and Screenwriter: Samir Karahoda, Producer: Eroll Bilibani)

Short Film Jury Award: Animation – “Night Bus” / Taiwan (Director and Screenwriter: Joe Hsieh, Producers: Wan Lin Lee, Joe Hsieh, Joe Chan)

Short Film Special Jury Award: Ensemble Cast  – Zélia Duncan, Bruna Linzmeyer, Camila Rocha, Clarissa Ribeiro, and Lorre Motta for “A wild patience has taken me here” / Brazil (Director and Screenwriter: Érica Sarmet, Producers: Lívia Perez, Silvia Sobral, Érica Sarmet)

Short Film Special Jury Award: Screenwriting – Sara Driver for “Stranger Than Rotterdam with Sara Driver” / United States (Directors: Lewie Kloster, Noah Kloster, Screenwriter: Sara Driver)

EARLIER SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS

The 2022 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, presented to an outstanding feature film about science or technology, was presented to After Yang. The filmmakers received a $20,000 cash award from Sundance Institute with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Award for Nonfiction went to Su Kim for “Free Chol Soo Lee” (U.S. Documentary Competition).

The Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Award for Fiction went to Amanda Marshall “God’s Country” (Premieres).

The Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Nonfiction went to Toby Shimin, and the Sundance Institute | Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Fiction went to Dody Dorn.

The Sundance Institute | NHK Award went to Hasan Hadi for his film, “The President’s Cake.”