Sundance Winners Focus on Character Journeys

Most of the award-winning docs coming out of Sundance this year have one thing in common: they are riveting character-driven journeys.

While it could easily have been a wonky essay doc, One Child Nation (U.S. Grand Jury Prize) examines China’s one-child policy through the eyes of director Nanfu Wang. The inciting incident? Wang gets pregnant. The journey? To return to China. The central question? What were the consequences of this population experiment? (Spoiler alert: tragic!)

Midnight Traveler, which received the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award, is another personal documentary. The catalyst? The Taliban puts a bounty on director Hassan Fazili’s head. The journey? Flee the Taliban and find asylum.

Next up: Honeyland, which won both the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize and Special Jury Award for Impact for Change. The inciting incident? Beekeepers break the rule, taking more than their half of honey from the bees. The Journey? Europe’s last female bee-hunter must save the bees before it’s too late.

Finally, Knock Down the House follows a time-proven narrative arc: the congressional race of wanna-be politicians. Of the four challengers, former bartender Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wins the race in a dramatic climax scene, giving this character-driven film the Audience Award for a U.S. Documentary and a predicted deal with Netflix.

One final note: The average length of these four award-winners is 87 minutes. (Midnight Traveler is 90 min; One Child Nation is 85 min; Knock Down the House is 86 min; and Honeyland is 87 min.)

I’ve attended many Sundance awards ceremonies in the past, and they never fail to thrill me. Check out the Sundance live stream yourself and be inspired!