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\u201cI got so many no\u2019s for so long, I thought no was my middle name,\u201d Nikyatu Jusu, the director of last year\u2019s U.S. Dramatic Jury Prize winner \u201cNanny\u201d told a crowd while accepting an honorary Vanguard Award from the Sundance Film Festival. \u201cSundance is the reason the industry could no longer ignore me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jusu was one of four Sundance alums honored Thursday night at a fundraiser and awards gala called \u201cOpening Night: A Taste of Sundance.\u201d And in the case of each of them, Sundance offered a launching pad to the point that Hollywood needed to know their name. But it was also a time to celebrate now that Sundance was back in person for the first time since 2020. The festival marked the occasion by trotting out people who have stuck with Sundance and everything it stands for even as their careers have taken them to new heights.<\/p>\n
Jusu in particular said she fell into a \u201cdeep depression\u201d when she learned that 2022\u2019s Sundance would be virtual, but she described the people in the room Thursday night as the survivors of the pandemic who now have to \u201cchip away\u201d at making a better world for everyone.<\/p>\n
Among the other honorees on Thursday were Luca Guadagnino, who won the Sundance Institute International Icon Award, W. Kamau Bell, who won the Vanguard Award for Nonfiction, and Ryan Coogler, who won the Variety Visionary Award. And Thursday\u2019s event from the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse in Park City boasted several hundred festival goers, donors, industry professionals, and talent all eager to kick off Sundance 2023 and see what a return to an in-person environment had in store. They were additionally treated to a brief acoustic performance by the Indigo Girls and a plated meal.<\/p>\n
Jusu was introduced by \u201cSorry to Bother You\u201d filmmaker Boots Riley, who in true character pulled his introductory speech out of a massive red hat. Lena Waithe introduced Coogler, describing him as \u201cquiet royalty\u201d who \u201crefuses to speak the King\u2019s English.\u201d Bell was introduced by Roger Ross Williams, who has the film \u201cCassandro\u201d in the festival this year. And Guadagnino was introduced by Dakota Johnson, who had the joke of the evening when she said that she originally tried out for the part of the peach in \u201cCall Me By Your Name.\u201d But had she gotten the role, she \u201cwould\u2019ve been another woman Armie Hammer tried to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each of the honorees discussed what Sundance has meant to them and their careers. For Coogler, who made his breakout with \u201cFruitvale Station\u201d nearly a decade ago to the day, he recalled being in the Sundance Institute lab with filmmakers like David Lowery, Chloe Zhao, and Marielle Heller and being struck by the ambition around him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember sitting there listening to these filmmakers talk about the passion they had for their first feature film and watching their short, I had this strange feeling that the whole industry was about to change if ever these people got the chance to get their vision out. And boy was I right,\u201d Coogler said. \u201cWhenever these filmmakers win, I feel like I win. It\u2019s an incredible gift to an ex-football player who was trying to find his way in this medium. To have a team around me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell first introduced himself not as Questlove, as he said one white attendee confused him for, but as a \u201cweirdo.\u201d Not one of those \u201ccool Donald Glover\u201d type weirdos but the type of guy who \u201cis like bringing sushi to the barbecue.\u201d It\u2019s good, but you don\u2019t want to eat it with ribs. His debut documentary film from last year \u201cWe Need to Talk About Cosby\u201d was a constant reminder that this film was his own idea, and if things went wrong, \u201cI could only blame myself.\u201d But Sundance gave him the confidence to realize that he was not just a niche comedian but a \u201cFilmmaker\/Niche Comedian,\u201d and that if he could do it, so could others.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur weirdness is our superpower,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n
View this article at IndieWire<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nikyatu Jusu, Ryan Coogler Share Sundance Memories: \u2018It\u2019s the Reason the Industry Could No Longer Ignore Me\u2019: \u201cI got so many no\u2019s for so long, I thought no was my middle name,\u201d Nikyatu Jusu, the director of last year\u2019s U.S. Dramatic Jury Prize winner \u201cNanny\u201d told a crowd while accepting an honorary Vanguard Award from
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