Sundance Salutes 'The Believer' and 'Hedwig'

Jan. 28 -- Jurors at this year's Sundance Film Festival were under strict orders not to deliver a tie for best film — as they did last year — and complied by awarding the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize to the provocative drama The Believer.

The film, written and directed by Henry Bean, stars Ryan Gosling in a breakout performance as a Jewish youth who denies his heritage and embraces fascism.

Bean appeared amazed at the honor, saying that he never even expected the film to make it into the festival.

The outrageous transsexual musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch — already the talk of the festival — picked up two awards: the Audience Award and the Directing Award to director and star John Cameron Mitchell.

The rollicking adaptation of the Off-Broadway rock musical in which Mitchell stars as as Hedwig, an East German immigrant who bears the stub of a botchedsex change.

A T-shirt-clad Mitchell took the awards stage with his crew, who were all bearing Hedwig's lip-stick-smeared likeness safety-pinned to their shirts. He thanked departed New Line exec Michael de Luca, who co-executive-produced the film, and his crew for helping him direct "since I had a wig on for about a year."

The Hedwig fashion statement aside, emcee Donal Logue couldn't resist a quip about the group's casual attire. "It's not the Oscars. No one's asking who designed your gown — or your fleece."

Logue just happened to be the recipient of a rare special jury prize for acting last year.

Skating Documentary Takes Top Awards

Multiple awards also went to the skating documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, which picked up the Audience Award and the Directing Award in the documentary categories. Director Stacy Peralta thanked his sponsor, shoemaker Van's.

"They didn't give us enough money, but they did outfit us with [plenty of] shoes," he told the crowd.

A special jury prize went to actors Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson for their performances as a bickering couple in In the Bedroom. Todd Field, the Eyes Wide Shut actor who made his directorial debut with the film, accepted the awards on Spacek and Wilkinson's behalf. Miramax has picked up the film for distribution.