Ashley Judd is an American actress. She grew up in a family of performing artists, the daughter of country music singer Naomi Judd and the half-sister of country music singer Wynonna Judd. Her acting career has spanned more than three decades, and she has become heavily involved in global humanitarian efforts and political activism.
Thora Birch is an American actress, producer, and director. She made her feature film debut in 1988 with a starring role in Purple People Eater, for which she received a Young Artist Award for "Best Actress Under Nine Years of Age". Birch rose to prominence as a child star during the 1990s through a string of parts in films such as Paradise (1991), Patriot Games (1992), Hocus Pocus (1993), Monkey Trouble (1994), Now and Then (1995), and Alaska (1996). Her breakthrough into adult-oriented roles came with her portrayal of Jane Burnham in American Beauty (1999), for which she earned a nomination for that year's BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress.
Hoop Dreams is a 1994 American documentary film directed by Steve James, and produced by Frederick Marx, James, and Peter Gilbert, with Kartemquin Films. It follows the story of two African-American high school students, William Gates and Arthur Agee, in Chicago and their dream of becoming professional basketball players.
Big Night is a 1996 American comedy-drama film co-directed by Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci. The film stars Tucci, alongside Minnie Driver, Ian Holm, Isabella Rossellini, Allison Janney and Tony Shalhoub.
In the Company of Men is a 1997 American black comedy film, written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy, and Stacy Edwards. The film, which was adapted from a play written by LaBute, and served as his feature film debut, won him the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.
De-Lovely is a 2004 American musical biopic directed by Irwin Winkler and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay by Jay Cocks is based on the life and career of Cole Porter, from his first meeting with his wife, Linda Lee Thomas, until his death. It is the second biopic about the composer, following 1946's Night and Day.
The Waterdance is a 1992 American drama film directed by Neal Jimenez and Michael Steinberg and starring Eric Stoltz, Wesley Snipes, William Forsythe, and Helen Hunt. It was written by Neal Jimenez. The film is a semi-autobiographical story about a young fiction writer who becomes tetraplegic fully paralyzed in a hiking accident and works to rehabilitate his body and mind at a rehabilitation center.
William Todd Field is an American filmmaker and former actor. He is known for directing In the Bedroom (2001), Little Children (2006), and Tár (2022), which were nominated for a combined fourteen Academy Awards. Field has personally received six Academy Award nominations for his films, two for Best Picture, two for Best Adapted Screenplay, one for Best Director, and one for Best Original Screenplay.
Jonathan Raymond is an American writer living in Portland, Oregon. He is best known for writing the novels The Half-Life and Rain Dragon, and for writing the short stories and novels adapted for the films Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, and First Cow, all directed by Kelly Reichardt, with whom he co-wrote the screenplays.
Victor Nunez is a film director, professor at the Florida State University College of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts, and a founding member of the Independent Feature Project. He is best known for directing Ulee's Gold, a critically acclaimed movie starring Peter Fonda and Patricia Richardson. Nunez was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2008 and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2016.
Man Push Cart is a 2005 American independent film by Ramin Bahrani that tells the story of a former Pakistani rock star who sells coffee and bagels from his pushcart on the streets of Manhattan.
Household Saints is a 1993 film starring Tracey Ullman, Vincent D'Onofrio and Lili Taylor. It is based on the novel by Francine Prose and directed by Nancy Savoca. The film explores the lives of three generations of Italian-American women over the course of the latter half of the 20th century. The film's executive producer is Jonathan Demme, a long-time friend of Savoca's, and her first real employer in the world of film.
Come Early Morning is a 2006 American film starring Ashley Judd and Jeffrey Donovan. It marked the directorial debut of Joey Lauren Adams. The film was shot throughout the metropolitan Little Rock, Arkansas area including Pulaski Heights, and Adams' hometown of North Little Rock. The film was an official selection for the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. It premiered for wide release in Little Rock on December 14, 2006.
Ballast is a 2008 film directed by Lance Hammer. It competed in the Dramatic category at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography. The film received six nominations at the 24th Independent Spirit Awards.
When I Was a Boy is a 1993 short film directed by Todd Field, Alex Vlacos and Matthew Modine. It is an experimental piece about a grown man reflecting on how he was reared by his mother and treated by others as a child. The piece premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival in front of Victor Nuñez's Grand Jury Prize winning Ruby in Paradise in which Field stars and Vlacos was the cinematographer. That same year it was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's New Directors/New Films Festival.
Neema Barnette is an American film director and producer, and the first African-American woman to direct a primetime sitcom. Barnette was the first African-American woman to get a three-picture deal with Sony. Since then, she accumulated a number of awards, including a Peabody, an Emmy and NAACP Image Award.
Jack Goes Boating is a 2010 American romantic drama film directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and stars Hoffman in the title role, as well as Amy Ryan, John Ortiz and Daphne Rubin-Vega. The film's script was written by Robert Glaudini, based on his 2007 play Jack Goes Boating. The film's cast was mostly the same as that of the play's premiere at The Public Theater, although Amy Ryan replaced Beth Cole. The film was produced by Overture Films and Relativity Media. It premiered at the 26th Sundance Film Festival and was later released in the United States on September 17, 2010.
The Interrupters is a 2011 documentary film, produced by Kartemquin Films, that tells the story of three violence interrupters who try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once employed. It examines a year in which Chicago drew national headlines for violence and murder that plagued the city.
The Big Sick is a 2017 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Showalter and written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani. It stars Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Adeel Akhtar, and Anupam Kher. Gordon and Nanjiani wrote the film based on their relationship; it follows an interracial couple who must deal with cultural differences after Emily (Kazan) becomes ill.
This is the list of the winners of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for dramatic features.
