by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE

Ira Sachs' dramatic feature "Forty Shades of Blue" and Eugene Jarecki's documentary "Why We Fight" were awarded the top American jury prizes in the American Independent Feature Film Competition at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Tonight in Park City, UT, the festival also honored Leonard Retel Helmrich's documentary "Shape of the Moon" and Zézé Gamboa's dramatic feature "The Hero," honored with the World Cinema Competition prizes.

[Ira Sachs accepting his Sundance Grand Jury Prize. Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE]

Grand Jury Prizes

Sachs' "Forty Shades of Blue," his second feature, depicts a love triangle involving a Russian woman (Dina Korzun), her Memphis music producer boyfriend (Rip Torn), and his son (Darren Burrows). Sachs wrote the film with Michael Rohatyn and it was produced by Margot Bridger, Mary Bing, Jawal Nga, Donald Rosenfeld, and Sachs.

Eugene Jarecki's second doc feature, "Why We Fight," examines the American military-industrial complex. It was produced by Susannah Shipman and Jarecki.

Both films were supported by the Sundance Institute. Sachs took his film to the Sundance screenwriters lab in 1998 after screening "The Delta" at Sundance in 1997, while Jarecki was awarded a Sundance Documentary Fund grant last year. His previous film is the 2002 acclaimed doc, "The Trials of Henry Kissinger."

Leonard Retel Helmrich's documentary “Shape of the Moon" won the top award at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in November, where it had its world premiere. It explores the life of a poor family living amongst the world's largest Muslim population and struggling with everyday life. Gamboa's "The Hero," an Angolan/Portuguese/French production which has screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival, is the story of a soldier returning home from war after losing his leg to a land mine.

Audience Awards

Henry-Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro's "Murderball," a look at an American quadriplegic rugby team, won the documentary audience award, while Craig Brewer's story of a pimp hoping to make it as rapper, "Hustle & Flow," won the dramatic audience prize. In the World Cinema Audience Awards, Peter Raymont's "Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire" from Canada won the doc award and Susanne Bier's "Brothers" from Denmark won the dramatic prize.

American Directing Awards

Two American filmmakers were selected as the best directors of the Sundance Film Festival. Jeff Feuerzeig was awarded the Documentary Directing Award for "The Devil and Daniel Johnston,” while Noah Baumbach was presented the Dramatic Directing Award for "The Squid and the Whale."

Other Jury Awards

Baumbach was also honored for the script for his new feature, "The Squid and the Whale." American Dramatic jurors Chris Eyre, Vera Farmiga, John C. Reilly, B. Ruby Rich, and Christine Vachon awarded a special jury prize for acting to Amy Adams for her role in "Junebug" and Lou Pucci for his performance in "Thumbsucker."

The American dramatic jury was also struck by the work of two other competition filmmakers, presenting Special Jury Prizes for Originality of Vision to Miranda July for her film "Me and You and Everyone We Know" and Rian Johnson for "Brick."

For excellence in cinematography, Gary Griffin was honored with an award for the doc “The Education of Shelby Knox” and Amelia Vincent was awarded for the feature “Hustle & Flow.”

Geoffrey Richman and Conor O'Neill were awarded a special jury prize for editing for their work on "Murderball," by American doc jurors Jean-Philippe Boucicaut, Gail Dolgin, Steve James, Jehane Noujaim, and Stacy Peralta. The jury also awarded a special jury prize to Jessica Sanders’ “After Innocence.”

World Cinema doc jurors Miriam Cutler, Jean Perret and Penny Woolcock presented special jury prizes to Sean McAllister's "The Liberace of Baghdad" from the U.K. and Simone Bitton's French/Israeli production "Wall". The World Cinema dramatic jurors Antonia Bird, Mike Goodridge and Fernando León de Aranoa gave special jury prizes to Maren Ade for "The Forest For the Trees" from Germany and Jorge Gaggero for his Argentine/Spanish production, "Live-In Maid."

Short Film Awards

Patricia Riggen won the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking for her documentary short "Family Portrait," the story of a family that was photographer for Life Magazine in 1968 by Gordon Parks. Andrea Arnold won the Jury Prize in International Short Filmmaking for her U.K. film "Wasp."

The shorts jury awarded a special recognition prize to Terrence Fisher and Daniel Howard's "Bullets In The Hood: A Bed-Stuy Story," and presented honorable mentions to Eric Escobar's "One Weekend a Month," Chris Landreth's "Ryan," Katherine Leggett's "Small Town Secrets," Taika Waititi's "Tama Ru," and Cary Fukunaga's "Victoria Para Chino."

Sundance/NHK and Alfred P. Sloan Prizes

The previously announced Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards were presented to Caitlin Mitulescu for "How I Spent the End of the World" from Europe, Rodrigo Moreno for "The Minder" from Latin America, Richard Press for "Virtual Love" from the United States, and Mipo Yo for "Yomoyama Blues" from Japan.

Werner Herzog won the 2005 Alfred P. Sloan Prize for his new film, "Grizzly Man."

[Pictured: Eugene Jarecki accepts his Grand Jury Prize. Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE]

Complete list of winners:

Grand Jury Prize American Documentary
"Why We Fight", directed by Eugene Jarecki

Grand Jury Prize American Dramatic
"Forty Shades of Blue", directed by Ira Sachs

Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary
"Shape of the Moon", directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich

Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Dramatic
"The Hero", directed by Zeze Gamboa

Audience Award American Documentary
"Murderball", directed by Henry-Alex Rubin & Dana Adam Shapiro

Audience Award, American Dramatic
"Hustle & Flow", directed by Craig Brewer

Audience Award World Cinema Documentary
"Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallair", directed by Peter Raymont

Audience Award World Cinema: Dramatic
"Brothers", directed by Susanne Bier

Directing Award Documentary
"The Devil and Daniel Johnston", directed by Jeff Feuerzeig

Directing Award Dramatic
"The Squid and the Whale", directed by Noah Baumbach

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
"The Squid and the Whale", written by Noah Baumbach

Excellence in Cinematography Award Documentary
"The Education of Shelby Knox"

Excellence in Cinematography Award Dramatic
"Hustle & Flow"

Special Jury Prize Dramatic - Acting
Amy Adams for the film "Junebug"
Lou Pucci for the film "Thumbsucker"

Special Jury Prize Dramatic - Originality of Vision
"Me and You and Everyone We Know", directed/Screenwriter Miranda July
"Brick", directed by Rian Johnson

Special Jury Prize Documentary
"After Innocence", directed by Jessica Sanders
"Murderball", edited by Geoffrey Richman & Conor O'Neill; Assistant Editors: David Egan, Jamie Gross, Steven Walker

Special Jury Prize World Documentary
"Wall", directed by Simone Bitton
"The Liberace of Baghdad", directed by Sean McAllister

Special Jury Prize World Dramatic
"The Forest for the Trees", directed by Maren Ade
"Live-In Maid", directed by Jorge Gaggero

Grand Jury Prize for Short Filmmaking: American
"Family Portrait", directed by Patricia Riggen

Grand Jury Prize for Short Filmmaking: International
"Wasp", directed by Andrea Arnold

Special Jury Award in Short Filmmaking (Honorable Mentions)
"One Weekend a Month", directed by Eric Escobar
"Ryan", directed by Chris Landreth
"Small Town Secrets", directed by Katherine Leggett
"Tama Tu", directed by Taika Waititi
"Victoria Para Chino", directed by Cary Fukunaga

Special Jury Award in Short Filmmaking
"Bullets in the Hood: A Bed-Stuy Story", directed by Terrence Fisher and Daniel Howard

Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award (SPLIT)
"The Way I Spent the End of the World", directed by Catalin Mitulescu
"The Minder", directed by Rodrigo Moreno
"Virtual Love", directed by Richard Press
"Yomoyama Blues", directed by Mipo Oh

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Prize
"Grizzly Man", directed by Werner Herzog