Irish short receives honourable mention at Sundance

A poignant Irish short documentary film in which a filmmaker explores his mother's unique take on her overweight and aging body has received an honourable mention at the Sundance Film Festival.

Directed by Ken Wardrop, the film has already picked up a host of awards including Best Short Film at the Irish Film & Television Awards 2004, Best Documentary at the Tempere Film Festival 2005 and the Jameson Best Irish film award at the Cork Film Festival.

Ken Wardrop has recently completed his studies at the National Film School, IADT-DL, specialising in directing documentary film. He also scooped the O2 Student Film of the Year Prize for the last two consecutive years. His films include the award winning shorts Dampened Spirits, Love is Like a Butterfly and Useless Dog.

Meanwhile, Quinceanera and God Grew Tired Of Us, two movies about immigration, made history at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday night by winning both their respective top jury and audience awards.

Los Angeles race movie Quinceanera, directed by Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer, won the festival's Jury Prize and the Audience Award for best US dramatic film.

Similarly, director Christopher Quinn's God Grew Tired Of Us, about three Sudanese boys settling in America, picked up the Jury Prize and Audience Award for best US documentary.

Elsewhere, Iraq In Fragments won three documentary awards.

The full list of winners at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival in Utah is:

Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic - Quinceanera

Grand Jury Prize, Documentary - God Grew Tired Of Us

Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema - 13 Tzameti (France/Georgia)

Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema Documentary - In the Pit (Mexico)

Audience Award, Dramatic - Quinceanera

Audience Award, Documentary - God Grew Tired Of Us

Audience Award, World Cinema - No 2 (New Zealand)

Audience Award, World Cinema Documentary - DeNadie (Mexico)

Best Dramatic Director : Dito Montiel for A Guide to Recognising Your Saints

Best Documentary Director - James Longley for Iraq In Fragments

Best Dramatic Cinematography- Tom Richmond for Right At Your Door

Best Documentary Cinematography- James Longley for Iraq In Fragments

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award - Hilary Brougher for Stephanie Daley

Best Documentary Film Editing - James Longley, Billy McMillin, Fiona Otway for Iraq In Fragments

Special Jury Prize, Documentary - American Blackout and TV Junkie

Special Jury Prize, Dramatic Ensemble Performance - A Guide to Recognising Your Saints

Special Jury Prize, Independent Vision - In Between Days

Special Jury Prize, World Cinema - Eve & the Fire Horse (Canada)

Special Jury Prize, World Cinema Documentary - Into Great Silence (Germany/Switzerland) and Dear Pyongyang (Japan/Korea)

Jury Prize In Short Film-making - Bugcrush and The Wrath Of Cobble Hill

Jury Prize in International Short Filmmaking - The Natural Route (Spain)

Honorable Mentions In Short Filmmaking - Before Dawn (Hungary); Preacher With an Unknown God (US); Undressing My Mother (Ireland).