The New York Times-20080128-Sundance Honors Immigration Drama- -Brief-

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Sundance Honors Immigration Drama; [Brief]

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Frozen River, a first feature about a struggling single mother in upstate New York who joins a Mohawk widow in smuggling Chinese migrants from Canada into the United States, won the grand jury prize for best American drama on Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, The Associated Press reported. Quentin Tarantino, one of the jurors, described the film, starring Melissa Leo, above right, and Misty Upham, above left, as a wonderful depiction of poverty in America. Trade papers reported that Sony Pictures Classics had bought the film, adapted by Courtney Hunt from her 2004 short of the same title, for under $1 million. Trouble in the Water, a film by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal about a New Orleans couple's survival through Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, won the grand jury award in the American documentary category. The audience award for favorite American drama was won by The Wackness, starring Ben Kingsley as a psychiatrist who trades therapy for marijuana.

[Illustration]PHOTO (PHOTOGRAPH BY ASSOCIATED PRESS/SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL)