"Padre Nuestro," "Manda Bala" top Sundance awards

PARK CITY, Utah, Jan 28 (Reuters) Sundance Film Festival juries gave top prizes to two films, ''Padre Nuestro'' and ''Manda Bala,'' that were among a range of winners highlighting a world view adopted by many movie makers at the event.

''Padre Nuestro,'' which tells of an illegal immigrant from Mexico whose identity is stolen, won the Grand Jury Prize for best drama made by a US filmmaker, while ''Manda Bala,'' a look at crime and corruption in Brazil, earned the jury honor for top US documentary.

Sundance juries also hand out honors for international movies, and the World Cinema drama prize went to Israeli movie ''Sweet Mud,'' about a boy dealing with his mentally ill mother on a kibbutz in the 1970s. Denmark's ''Enemies of Happiness,'' which details the life of an Afghani woman politician, earned the World Cinema jury prize for best documentary.

The movies ''exemplify the artistic power of film to illuminate and explore issues that are prevalent in our global society,'' festival director Geoffrey Gilmore said in a statement.

The juries at Sundance, which is backed by actor Robert Redford's Sundance Institute for filmmaking, are composed of five filmmakers and industry professionals for the US-made movies, and three jury members for the World Cinema awards.

While the jury prizes are the top awards, audience members also vote for their favorites throughout the 10-day event held each January in this mountain town east of Salt Lake City.

The Audience Award for best film drama went to ''Grace is Gone,'' starring John Cusack as a father of two dealing with the death of his wife in the Iraq war. That film also earned the screenwriting award for James Strouse.

''Hear and Now,'' director Irene Taylor Brodsky's personal story about her deaf parents' undergoing surgery to regain their hearing, won the audience trophy for best documentary.

In the World Cinema arena, ''In the Shadow of the Moon,'' an emotional tale of the Apollo astronauts from Britain's David Sington, was the audience documentary winner, while Irish musical ''Once'' earned the audience trophy for best drama.

Directing awards went to Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine for their documentary ''War/Dance'' about child soldiers in Uganda, and to Jeffrey Blitz for his drama ''Rocket Science,'' about a high school stutterer who learns lessons of life and love while on the debate team.

REUTERS MQA HS0931