Sundance Film Festival 2013 winners: ‘Fruitvale,’ ‘Blood Brother,’ and humanity

Saturday night’s award ending at the Sundance Film Festival 2013 is the culmination of 4,000 originally submitted feature films, 119 selected films, 51 first-time filmmakers, and the representation of 32 countries. The mere numbers make the Sundance Film Festival 2013 diverse, international, and inspiring.

After the Sundance Film Festival 2013 awards ceremony was held in Park City, Utah, on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, EOnline provided a list of the Sundance Film Festival 2013 winners. Park City has been Sundance's home since 1981.

“Fruitvale,” the drama that was based on the story of Oscar Grant, won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film.

“Blood Brother,” the documentary that depicts Steve Hoover's look at his best friend, who moved to India to help children with HIV, won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. documentary and the Audience Award for U.S. documentary.

However, "Fruitvale” or “Blood Brother” are not the only major winners of the Sundance Film Festival 2013, so is humanity, -- or the human experience.

When the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford, opened Sundance Film Festival 2013, he said that the creative talent and the voices at Sundance “reflects the times we're in.”

According to the San Francisco Chronicle report on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, for “the first time, half of the films featured at the festival were made by women.”

During an interview, Robert Redford emphasized that “What Sundance stands for is giving new voices and new filmmakers an opportunity to be seen and heard. … We show what's there, and what comes up will usually give you an indication of changing times. … The films featured at the festival, like all art, reflect and inspire change.”

By looking at Robert Redford’s words at the beginning of the Sundance Film Festival 2013 and by looking at “Fruitvale” and “Blood Brother” as winners at the end of the Sundance Film Festival 2013, it is becoming clear that these are indeed “changing times” that “reflect and inspire change.”

“Fruitvale” tackles the themes of a non-diverse society, prejudice, gun violence, and human mistakes. “Blood Brother” tackles the themes of disease, children, and the need for a positive global goal.

Anyone who follows the news on a local, national, or international level can see a reflection of the themes in “Fruitvale” and “Blood Brother” on an almost daily basis.

A society that is ready to accept “Fruitvale” and “Blood Brother” as Sundance’s winning films appears to be a society that is also ready to face some of the most challenging issues in modern times. It makes “Fruitvale” and “Blood Brother” not the only winners of the Sundance Film Festival 2013, but also humanity.

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