On Saturday Jan. 26 "Fruitvale" won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury award. The film also won the Best Audience Award in the dramatic competition.
"Fruitvale" was directed by Ryan Coogler and tells the true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.
The film was picked up for distribution by the Oscar mogul Harvey Weinstein and will be released it in the fall. As a result it may seem that the first awards candidate has arrived.
Weinstein has a history of winning many Academy Awards including "The Artist" and "The King's Speech." Additionally, this year he led the nominations with 17 for his films "Silver Linings Playbook," "The Master," "Django Unchained" and "Kon-Tiki." With "Fruitvale" coming out in the fall, the film is sure to be part of Weinstein's campaign and most likely to get awards attention.
Additionally, several Grand Jury winners at Sundance have went on to get nominated for Oscars. In 2012, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" won the award and later received four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. Others include "Precious," "Winter's Bone" and "Frozen River"; "River" did not receive a Best Picture nomination but received two nods for screenplay and Best Actress.
"Fruitvale" also received incredible reviews with the Hollywood Reporter stating the film has "a shrewd script and career-launching performances that drive a tragic modern story that carries heavy social weight."
Shockya.com stated that the film "is an extraordinary dramatization of the final twenty-four hours in Oscar's life, presenting a comprehensive study of Oscar as a person and memorializing his unfortunate passing."
The film was produced by two Oscar winners, Forest Whitaker and Octavia Spencer, and stars Chad Michael Murray, Academy Award Winner Ocatvia Spencer, Kevin Durrand, Michael B. Jordan and Ahna O'Reilly.
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