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Park City • Stories of young love and slow death took the big prizes at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
"Like Crazy," a romantic drama between an American college kid (Anton Yelchin) and an Englishwoman (Felicity Jones) took the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic films, at a ceremony Saturday in Park City.
Director Drake Doremus thanked his cast and crew, and his parents "for showing me what love is. … This movie is about love, and love never dying."
Jones also won a special jury prize for her performance.
The Grand Jury Prize for U.S. documentaries went to "How to Die in Oregon," Peter D. Richardson's look at Oregon's death-with-dignity law and the terminally ill people who have chosen to take advantage of it.
Richardson thanked "the extraordinary individuals who allowed me to document their lives for four years."
In the World Cinema categories, the Grand Jury Prizes went to the Norwegian domestic comedy-drama "Happy, Happy," and the documentary "Hell and Back Again," which follows a company of U.S. Marines in Afghanistan and an injured sergeant's return home.
The Audience Awards for U.S.-made films went to "Circumstance," Maryam Keshavarz's story of liberal Iranian girls dealing with political oppression and young love; and "Buck," Cindy Meehl's documentary portrait of horse trainer Buck Brannaman.
One of the night's most touching moments came when Jon Foy accepted the Directing Prize for U.S. documentaries for "Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles," a documentary about strange messages embedded in mosaic street art.
Foy, who worked cleaning houses while making his movie, said, "I had no idea such things were possible in life." He also gave this advice to other filmmakers: "Never give up, because if you give up you know what will happen — but if you don't give up, you never know what will happen."
The biggest laugh of the night — besides emcee Tim Blake Nelson starting the awards show dressed as a giant snowflake — was when writer-director Sam Levinson won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for his dysfunctional family comedy "Another Happy Day."
"When I introduced my film, I cried, so I don't know what the f—-'s going to happen now," Levinson said.
Audience Awards in World Cinema went to "Kinyarwanda," about survivors of the Rwandan genocide, and "Senna," a documentary biography of Formula One racer Ayrton Senna.
The big winners are set to screen one last time in Park City on Sunday, the festival's final day.
movies@sltrib.com Sundance Film Festival major winners
Announced Saturday night in Park City.
Grand Jury Prize
U.S. Documentary • "How to Die in Oregon," directed by Peter D. Richardson
U.S. Dramatic • "Like Crazy," directed by Drake Doremus
World Cinema Documentary • "Hell and Back Again," directed by Danfung Dennis (United Kingdom)
World Cinema Dramatic • "Happy, Happy," directed by Anne Sewitsky (Norway)
Audience Award
U.S. Documentary • "Buck," directed by Cindy Meehl
U.S. Dramatic • "Circumstance," written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz
World Cinema Documentary • "Senna," directed by Asif Kapadia (United Kingdom)
World Cinema Dramatic • "Kinyarwanda," written and directed by Alrick Brown (Rwanda)
Best of NEXT • (Voted by the eight filmmakers in the NEXT program) > "to.get.her," writen and directed by Erica Dunton
Directing Award
U.S. Documentary • Jon Foy, "Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles"
U.S. Dramatic • Sean Durkin, "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
World Cinema Documentary • James Marsh, "Project Nim" (United Kingdom)
World Cinema Dramatic • Paddy Considine, "Tyrannosaur" (United Kingdom)
Screenwriting Award
U.S. Dramatic • (Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award) > Sam Levinson, "Another Happy Day"
World Cinema Dramatic • Erez Kav-El, "Restoration" (Israel)
Documentary Editing Award
U.S. Documentary • Matthew Hamachek and Marshall Curry, "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
World Cinema Documentary • Göran Hugo Olsson, "The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975" (Sweden)
Excellence in Cinematography Award
U.S. Documentary • Eric Strauss, Ryan Hill and Peter Hutchens, "The Redemption of General Butt Naked"
U.S. Dramatic • Bradford Young, "Pariah"
World Cinema Documentary • Danfung Dennis, "Hell and Back Again" (United Kingdom)
World Cinema Dramatic • Diego F. Jimenez, "Your Dead Ones" (Colombia)
Special Jury Prize
U.S. Documentary • "Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey," directed by Constance Marks
U.S. Dramatic • Felicity Jones, "Like Crazy"
U.S. Dramatic • "Another Earth," directed by Mike Cahill
World Cinema Documentary • "Position Among the Stars," directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich (The Netherlands)
World Cinema Dramatic • "Tyrannosaur," directed by Paddy Considine (United Kingdom)