Push is a Sundance hit
I’ve been heavy on the Oscar coverage lately, but there’s another little film event going on right now. The Sundance Film Festival announced its award winners today, the last day of the festival. The big winner was Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire, which won three awards including the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, Audience Award: Dramatic, and a Special Jury Prize for Acting (Mo’Nique).
The three awards tie a festival record, but Push also became only the third film in festival history to win both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. (The others were Three Seasons in 1999 and Quinceañera in 2006.) The story sounds pretty grim. It follows a teenage girl from Harlem who is twice impregnated by her father but has the chance to enroll in an alternative school, giving her a chance at a new direction in life. Mo’Nique won the acting award for playing the girl’s mentally ill mother.
This won’t be the last time you hear about Push. The Weinstein Company and BET have been circling the picture for a joint release. Now that it is the big winner, I imagine a deal will be announced shortly despite what will likely be a tough sell to audiences.
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