‘Atropia,’ ‘Seeds’ Lead Film Festival’s 2025 Winners List

Atropia, Seeds, Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) and Cutting Through Rocks were among the key winners at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

During a ceremony held Friday in Park City, Atropia won the Grand Jury prize for U.S. Dramatic Competition, while Seeds picked up the U.S. Documentary Competition award. Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) prevailed for the jury prize for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section, while Cutting Through Rocks nabbed the award for World Cinema Documentary Competition.

Among the audience awards, Twinless won in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, and André Is an Idiot topped the U.S. Documentary Competition. DJ Ahmet collected the audience award for World Cinema Dramatic Competition, with Prime Minister prevailing for the World Cinema Documentary Competition.

Additionally, Zodiac Killer Project landed the NEXT innovator award, with East of Wall receiving the audience award for the NEXT section.

Sundance Institute acting CEO Amanda Kelso said in a statement, “We congratulate all of our filmmakers and award winners on a successful 2025 Sundance Film Festival and thank them for the stories they shared with our audiences. These works spoke to our commitment to fostering empathy, understanding, and a more vibrant, inclusive society through storytelling, and it was an honor to celebrate them together as a community.”

Added festival director Eugene Hernandez, “Arriving at our Awards Ceremony after seven days of connection and discovery is especially rewarding this year. We are thrilled to honor these filmmakers for their inventiveness, generosity, and for the valuable conversations, moments of levity, and deep insights their work has offered. We share our gratitude with the State of Utah, audiences, staff, volunteers, and everyone who makes the Sundance Film Festival possible.”

Director of programming Kim Yutani said, “We have such admiration and respect for all of the films in this year’s program, and we want to congratulate everyone who had a hand in creating the works being honored at our Awards Ceremony today. Our programming team is so thrilled to have introduced these moving and impactful works to our audiences this Festival, and we look forward to following the journeys of each of these talented artists and their projects.”

This year’s festival jury included Reinaldo Marcus Green, Arian Moayed and Celine Song for the U.S. Dramatic Competition; Steven Bognar, Vinnie Malhotra and Marcia Smith for the U.S. Documentary Competition; Ava Cahen, Wanuri Kahiu and Daniel Kaluuya for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition; Daniela Alatorre, Laura Kim and Kevin Macdonald for the World Cinema Documentary Competition; Kaniehtiio Horn, Maggie Mackay and Kibwe Tavares for the Short Film Program Competition; and Elijah Wood for the NEXT section.

Additional prizes awarded at the festival are below.

Directing Award: U.S. Documentary: Geeta Gandbhir for The Perfect Neighbor

Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic: Rashad Frett for Ricky

Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary: Mstyslav Chernov for 2000 Meters to Andriivka

Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic: Alireza Khatami for The Things You Kill

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic: Eva Victor for Sorry, Baby

Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary: Parker Laramie for André Is an Idiot

SPECIAL JURY AWARDS

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting: Dylan O’Brien for Twinless

U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast: Plainclothes

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Archival Storytelling: Selena y Los Dinos

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Life After

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision: Georgi M. Unkovski for DJ Ahmet

 World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Writing: Two Women

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Mr. Nobody Against Putin

World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression: Coexistence, My Ass!

NEXT Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast: Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)