TONY Bui, a 26-year-old American immigrant who returned to his native Vietnam to film his debut feature “Three Seasons,” took two of independent filmmaking’s top awards last night at the closing ceremony of the Sundance Film Festival.
“Three Seasons,” a neo-realist melodrama about four characters struggling in the chaos of modern Vietnam, won both the Grand Jury prize for drama and the coveted Audience Award for best dramatic feature.
042 . 0000.00″Three Seasons,” the first American feature to be filmed in Vietnam, was widely praised here for its visual splendor, even by those who thought the script underdeveloped.
“I’m glad I’m under a bit of medication here,” a subdued Bui told the awards audience, many of whom were suffering from the same flu bug that swept the festival and sent Bui to the doctor at week’s end.
The Grand Jury award in the documentary competition went to director Chris Smith for “American Movie,” a hu042 . 0000.05morous look at the travails of Mark Borchardt, an aspiring independent filmmaker in a small Wisconsin town.
“If it wasn’t for [Sundance], we’d still be making films in our basement, like Mark,” Smith said, accepting the prize.
The Audience Award for documentaries went to the noncompetition pic “Genghis Blues,” director Roko Belic’s account of a blind black blues singer’s journey to the Tuva region of Asia, where he learned about the distinct vocal style of Tuvan singers.
Two of the event’s headlin042 . 0000.05ing acquistions received festival honors. “Tumbleweeds” director Gavin O’Connor received the Filmmakers Trophy (drama), voted on by a peer group of filmmakers. “Happy, Texas” star Steve Zahn took a Special Jury Prize for comedic performance.
The Directing Award for drama went to Eric Mendelsohn, whose melancholic dramatic feature “Judy Berlin” follows lonely residents of Babylon, L.I., as they ruminate on their hopes and disappointments.
Vietnam War widow Barbara Sonneborn won the docu042 . 0000.00mentary Directing Award for “Regret to Inform,” a collection of interviews with wives of both American and Vietnamese soldiers who died in the conflict.
First-time directors Frank Whaley and Audrey Wells shared the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Wells, author of “The Truth About Cats and Dogs,” won for her screenplay “Guinevere,” which details a young woman’s romance with an exploitive older photographer, and actor Whaley was honored for his writing of “Joe the King,” a ’70s-era drama about a boy growing up with an alcoholic father.
042 . 0000.00 00000
