Oh Lucy! Image from Sundance

This year, a record-breaking 17 films from
Asian or Asian American filmmakers screened at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
Out of those 17, five films have received awards, which is no doubt an
impressive amount. The specific award, along with more information about the
particular filmmaker, will be featured below for each of the five films.

For the full list, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of our
overview. 

Oh Lucy!

Director: Atsuko
Hirayanagi

Short Film Jury Award:
International Fiction

Directed and writen by
Atsuko Hirayanagi, Oh Lucy! is set in modern-day Tokyo and revolves around
Setsuko, a 55-year old single office worker. When Setsuko is given a blonde wig
and a new identity, Lucy, by a young English teacher, she discovers emotions
and awakens desires that she never knew existed. Atsuko Hirayanagi’s
award-winning short was also an Official Selection of both the Melbourne
International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, as
well as a Second Prize winner for Best Short Film at the Cinefondation
Selection at Cannes. The film also won 1st Prize (the Wasserman Award) at the
First Run Film Festival at NYU Tisch Asia, the NYU Tisch Asia Post-Production
Award, 1st Prize in the NYU Fusion Film Festival -- Graduate Short Screenplay
category and 1st Prize in the NYU Tisch Asia Thesis Script Competition.

Meru 

Directors: Jimmy
Chin & E. Chai Vasarhelyi

Audience Award, U.S.
Documentary 

MERU Official Trailer from Jimmy Chin on Vimeo.

Meru is a breathtaking
documentary about the magnificent Shark’s Fin of Mount Meru, a 21,000-foot peak
rising above the headwaters of the Ganges River in Northern India and a
monumental challenge for the world’s finest mountain climbers, many who have
failed to summit its peaks. The documentary focuses on three elite American
climbers -- Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin (co-director) and Renan Ozturke as they
brave sub-zero temperatures and 19 days of violent storms. Featuring incredible
footage shot in death-defying conditions, Meru is the ultimate mountain
climbing documentary. 

Umrika

Director: Prashant
Nair

Audience Award: World
Cinema Dramatic 

Director Prashant
Nair’s second feature (and Bollywood debut as a Hindi language movie) is a
1980s-set film anchored by the performance of Life of Pi star Surraj Sharma. We
follow Sharma as the protagonist Ramakant, who journeys out for Bombay while
tracing the path of his brother, Udai, who writes inspiring letters of
questionable authenticity describing his adventures in America, or
“Umrika.” 

Advantageous

Director: Jennifer Phang

U.S. Dramatic Special
Jury Award for Collaborative Vision

San Francisco-based
filmmaker Jennifer Phang has turned her award winning and critically acclaimed
short film, also named Advantageous (initially made for Futurestates.tv and
PBS.org), into her third feature film, a story that reflects on a futuristic
society where education becomes unaffordable and where humanity has gained the
ability to transfer their minds and memories into younger, more durable bodies.
How these developments strain the relationship of a mother and daughter are
examined through the course of the film, which stars Jacqueline Kim (also the
other co-writer with Phang and one of the producers), James Urbaniak, Ken
Jeong, Freya Adams, Rex Lee and others. 

The Chinese Mayor

Director: Hao Zhou

World Cinema
Documenary Special Jury Award for Unparalleled Access

This documentary by
Hao Zhou focuses on Mayor Geng Tanbo of the city of Datong, once an ancient
thriving capital but now the most polluted city in the country further crippled
by debt, corruption and an unstable economic future. The documentary captures
Mayor Tenbo’s attempts to return Datong to its former glory by bulldozing old
properties and relocating a half-million of its residents.