'Twinless,' 'Atropia,' receive high honors at 2025 Sundance Film Festival

PARK CITY, Utah -- For the past week, Park City, Utah has been the hub for filmmakers and movie-lovers alike at the Sundance International Film Festival, where 94 feature-length and episodic works and 57 short films have screened.

The festival, known for highlighting the "best in indie storytelling," announced its 2025 Sundance Film Festival Award winners, with the Festival Favorite Award winner to come.

This year, "Atropia," directed and written by Hailey Gates, won the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.

On The Red Carpet attended the film's premiere, where star Alia Shawkat explained how the film came to be. "Hailey and I worked together on a short film that inspired the feature, so we kind of came together in a moment of 'artistic constipation,' you could say. And we were like, 'What are we doing? Let's just make this a feature. We have this world. We have this character.'"

"Atropia" is a war satire film produced by filmmaker Luca Guadagnino. The short film Shawkat refers to is "Shako Mako," a project the pair worked together on in 2019.

Actor Callum Turner also stars, revealing that Shawkat "sent me a message that said, 'We've got this thing. Do you want to be a part of it? Here's the short.' And I watched the short, and as soon as I finished it, I was like, 'Yeah, I'm in.'"

Grand Jury Prizes were also awarded to "Seeds" in the U.S. Documentary Competition, "Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears)" in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition and "Cutting Through Rocks" in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. The NEXT Innovator Award presented by Adobe was given to "Zodiac Killer Project."

For Audience awards, "Twinless," directed, written and starring James Sweeney, took home the win in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.

We spoke with Sweeney at the premiere of his film, where he told us, "It's just a huge validation. The films and filmmakers who have premiered their films here... I'm at a loss for words. I'm speechless."

Dylan O'Brien co-stars and serves as an executive producer. "It's really cool to have it recognized like this. This is what it's all about. This is the best part of any version of a premiere," he said. He noted there were "a lot of moments where we didn't think that this was going to happen" in the development process.

O'Brien also won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting for the film.

Other Audience awards were given to "André is an Idiot" in the U.S. Documentary Competition, "DJ Ahmet" in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition and "Prime Minister" in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. "East of Wall" won the audience award for NEXT presented by Adobe.

At the "Plainclothes" premiere, we spoke with the cast and crew about what makes the film special. They were awarded the Special Jury Award for U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast.

Director and writer Carmen Emmi explained the film's synopsis. "Plainclothes is a story set in the '90s. It's about an undercover police officer named Lucas, whose job is to lure and arrest men who are cruising in a public bathroom, and it's about what happens when his world gets turned upside down and he falls in love with someone he's supposed to arrest."

"All the themes in it are universal - love, unrequited love, lost love, desire, passion, pleasure - it's humanity. Yes, it's told through the eyes, the lens of two queer characters, but we're all experiencing this," said star Russell Tovey.

Actress Maria Dizzia spoke with us about Emmi, saying, "Not every special thing gets to be a part of Sundance, and so, it just feels wonderful that he's being recognized."

This year, the 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.

The 2025 Sundance International Film Festival wraps up February 2.