Prizes abound as sun sets on Sundance

PARK CITY — "Hustle & Flow," a musical drama about a pimp who attempts to go "straight" by starting a rap-music career, garnered prizes and cash during Saturday night's awards ceremony at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Earlier in the week, the distribution rights for Craig Brewer's film sold for $9 million to Paramount Pictures, one of the richest deals in the festival's history. It also won two prizes: the American Dramatic Audience Award, given to the best dramatic feature, and American Excellence in Cinematography Award, for Amelia Vincent.

Also taking home two prizes was "Murderball," Henry-Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro's examination of the sport of quadriplegic rugby. The film won the American Documentary Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize for Editing (given to Geoffrey Richman and Conor O'Neill).

Director Ira Sach's "Forty Shades of Blue" won Sundance's American Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, while "The Hero" won on the world dramatic side. Grand Jury Prizes for Documentaries went to the American competition's "Why We Fight" and the world competition selection "Shape of the Moon."

Noah Baumbach, the writer-director of "The Squid and the Whale," won twice as well — receiving both the American Directing Award and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for outstanding achievement in writing.

Filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig won the documentary-directing award for "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," while Gary Griffin won the documentary cinematography award for "The Education of Shelby Knox."

Audience Awards for World Cinema went to the Danish drama "Brothers" and the Canadian documentary "Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire."

Veteran filmmaker Werner Herzog's documentary "Grizzly Man" won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize, an award designed to "increase the visibility of outstanding independent films on science and technology," which includes a $20,000 cash award.

And in the American dramatic competition, Special Jury Prizes also went to "Me and You and Everyone We Know" and "Brick" — both for "originality of vision" — and actors Lou Pucci and Amy Adams for their performances (in "Thumbsucker" and "Junebug," respectively).

Receiving Special Jury Prizes in world cinema were the documentaries "The Liberace of Baghdad" and "Wall" and the comedy-drama "Live-in Maid."