Sundance!

 Jake Chamelin

Sunday brought to a close the thirtieth Sundance Film Festival, a mammoth ten day celebration of independent film. Culminating with the awards ceremony, audience members can cast ballots to vote for the best films in various categories, from drama to documentary, from the United States and the rest of the world.

Taking home the U.S. Grand Jury Prize in Dramatic Film from the festival this year was Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash. Chazelle directed his first film while still an undergraduate student at Harvard back in 2009, and his latest feature is a gripping story about Andrew, a young man striving for greatness while attending an extremely competitive New York music conservatory. Andrew is a talented drummer who is haunted by his father’s failed writing career, and pledges his life to his music, practicing until his hands literally bleed. Miles Teller’s performance as Andrew is perhaps one of the fiercest roles he has played in his career, and the film builds to a climax that audiences will not soon forget.

Taking the U.S. Grand Jury Prize in the documentary category this year was Rich Hill. Directed by Tracy Droz Tragos, Rich Hill is a glimpse into the lives of three adolescent boys in a tiny Missouri town, and their individual strife and hardship as they deal with coming of age in an isolated and dying town. Throughout the documentary Tragos is able to shed light onto a situation that has become too often the norm in rural America; that simply surviving is a cause for happiness. Yet the young boys are resilient, and Tragos uplifts their hope for a brighter future through her film.

After thirty years, Sundance continues to grow and be one of the greatest promoters of independent film not only in the United States, but throughout the world. If this year’s batch of festival films are any indication, independent cinema is alive and well, thanks to institutions like Sundance.