Me and Earl and the Dying Girl takes U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury and Audience Award at Sundance
Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Me and Earl and the Dying Girl took home both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at Saturday’s Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony in Park City, Utah. “I want to dedicate this to all the young filmmakers in my hometown of Laredo, Texas,” Alfonso Gomez-Rejon said onstage after receiving his award.
Thomas Mann, Olivia Cook & RJ Cyler
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl hit Sundance with a buzz, not only because of Gomez-Rejon’s profile, but for its notable cast comprised of established stars like Connie Britton (Nashville), and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) and the young talent that play the three lead characters Olivia Cook (Quija), and relative new comers RJ Cyler who plays Earl and Thomas Mann who plays Greg.
Gomez-Rejon received his BFA from NYU and his MFA from AFI after which he paid his dues working as a personal assistant to such film luminaries such as Martin Scorsese, Nora Ephron, Robert De Niro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Fom there he movd on to directing second unit for these directors as well as on the Academy Award winning Argo. He honed his skills directing episodes of Glee and American Horror Story as well as many national commercials. He was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding directing and executive producing for the miniseries American Horror Story: Coven. Most recently he directed the pilot for FOX’s Red Band Society.
Fox Searchlight and Indian Paintbrush teamed up to secure Me and Earl and the Dying Girl after a fierce bidding war for a rumored $12 million. Written by firstime screenwriter Jesse Andrews who wrote the book, the film is about high school seniors Greg and his friend Earl. Greg is perfectly content avoiding social interactions while secretly making spirited, bizarre films with Earl until his mother forces him to befriend a classmate with leukemia.
The complete list of Sundance Winners:
U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
U.S. Dramatic Audience Award Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
U.S. Dramatic Directing Award Robert Eggers for The Witch
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award Tim Talbott for The Stanford Prison Experiment
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Excellence in Cinematography Brandon Trost for Diary of a Teenage Girl
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Excellence in Editing Lee Haugen for Dope
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Collaborative Vision Advantageous
U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize The Wolfpack
U.S. Documentary Audience Award Meru
U.S. Documentary: Directing Award Matthew Heineman for Cartel Land
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Social Impact
3 ½ Minutes
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Verité Film Making Western
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Breakout First Feature (T)ERROR
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Cinematography Matthew Heineman, Matt Porwoll for Cartel Land
NEXT Audience Award James White
World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Slow West (United Kingdom / New Zealand)
World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award Umrika (India)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Directing Alanté Kavaïté for The Summer of Sangaile (Lithuania / France)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting Germain McMicking for Partisan (Australia)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting Jack Reynor for Glassland (Ireland)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting Regina Casé and Camila Márdila, The Second Mother (Brazil)
World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize The Russian Woodpecker (United Kingdom)
World Cinema Documentary Audience Award Dark Horse (United Kingdom)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Directing
Kim Longinotto: Dreamcatcher (United Kingdom)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Unparalleled Access The Chinese Mayor (China)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: For Impact Pervert Park (Sweden / Denmark)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Editing Jim Scott for How to Change the World (United Kingdom / Canada}
Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize The Stanford Prison Experiment
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