“Whiplash” grabbed two awards at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday night. The Miles Teller starrer won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for the US dramatic category. The last film to take home both awards was “Fruitvale Station”, starring Michael B Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer and Kevin Durand. Sony Pictures Classics acquired “Whiplash” at the festival for $3 million and aims to release it this year.
“Whiplash” Synopsis:
“Whiplash follows Andrew (Teller), a first-year college student as he begins his quest to become the core drummer of the top jazz orchestra in the country. Under the direction of a prestigious but borderline abusive instructor named Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), Andrew would do anything to become a famous musician. His commitment is put to the ultimate test when the unrelenting and eccentric band professor all but drives him to madness. Fletcher’s extreme teaching methods rattle Andrew’s faith in drumming…and in himself. In the end, the struggle is only worthwhile if Andrew is really the one-in-a-million talent that Fletcher believes him to be.”
“Whiplash” stars Miles Teller as an obsessed young drummer and J.K. Simmons as his abusive mentor
Director Damien Chazelle said:
“I remember my first time here was with a short, and the whole reason we made a short was because of my experiences as a drummer,”
He jokingly added:
“No-one wanted to finance the film because no-one wants to make a film about a jazz drummer – surprising.”
Other major Sundance Film Festival award winners include Rich Hill (U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary), Return to Homs (World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary), To Kill a Man (World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary), Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory (Audience Award: U.S. Documentary), The Green Prince (Audience Award: World Cinema), and Difret (Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic).
Would you like to know more? Check out our Craveonline sponsored content which include reviews of the award-winning films “Whiplash”, “Difret”, “The Skeleton Twins” (Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic), “Blind: (Screenwriting Award: World Cinema Dramatic), Dear White People (U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent), “Fishing Without Nets” (The Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic) and “I Origins” (Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize), or head on over to our “Sundance Film Festival” hub page for dozens more reviews, interviews, videos and additional coverage.
Check out the full winner list:
- Grand Jury Dramatic: “Whiplash”
- Grand Jury Documentary: “Rich Hill”
- Directing Award U.S. Dramatic: “Fishing Without Nets”
- Directing Award U.S. Documentary: “The Case Against 8”
- Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award U.S. Dramatic: “The Skeleton Twins”
- Editing Award U.S. Documentary: “Watchers of the Sky”
- Cinematography Award U.S. Dramatic: “Low Down”
- Cinematography Award U.S. Documentary: “E-TEAM”
- U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent: “Dear White People”
- U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Musical Score: “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter”
- U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Use of Animation: “Watchers of the Sky”
- U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Intuitive Filmmaking: “The Overnighters”
- Audience Award U.S. Dramatic: “Whiplash”
- Audience Award U.S. Documentary presented by Acura: “Alive Inside”
- Audience Award World Cinema Dramatic: “Difret”
- Audience Award World Cinema Documentary: “The Green Prince”
- Audience Award Best of NEXT: “Imperial Dreams”
- World Cinema Grand Jury Prize Dramatic: “To Kill a Man”
- Directing Award World Cinema Dramatic: “52 Tuesdays”
- Screenwriting Award World Cinema Dramatic: “Blind”
- Cinematography Award World Cinema Dramatic: “Lilting”
- World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Performance: “God Help the Girl”
- World Cinema Grand Jury Prize Documentary: “Return to Homs”
- Directing Award World Cinema Documentary: “20,000 Days on Earth”
- Editing Award World Cinema Documentary: “20,000 Days on Earth”
- Cinematography Award World Cinema Documentary: “Happiness”
- World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematic Bravery: “We Come as Friends”
- Shorts Audience Award: “Chapel Perilous”
- Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize: “I Origins”
