Shenny De Los Angeles & Maria Marrone’s “The Ritual to Beauty” Among Slamdance Film Festival Award Winners

Shenny De Los Angeles is celebrating a Slam(dance)ing moment…

The 28th Slamdance Film Festival organizers have announced its winners, with the Dominican-American interdisciplinary performance artist/filmmaker taking home an award.

The Ritual to Beauty

De Los Angeles and Maria Marrone won the Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize for their film The Ritual to Beauty.

The film honors De Los Angeles and Marrone’s mothers, in an effort to share the legacy of Dominican women.

All winners were announced during the virtual awards ceremony on February 4 and will continue to play on the Slamdance Channel until midnight on February 6, 2022.

“We congratulate the winners of Slamdance 2022 and everyone of our filmmakers who together created a showcase that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in storytelling,” said President and Co-founder Peter Baxter, noting their “unique voices who defy simple classification and transcend analytics.”

Here’s the full list of winners:

GRAND JURY AWARDS

Narrative Feature
Hannah Ha Ha (Dir: Jordan Tetewsky and Joshua Pikovsky)
Honorable Mention: Ultrainocencia (Dir: Manuel Arija)

Documentary Feature
Forget Me Not (Dir: Olivier Bernier)
Honorable Mention: Fury (Dir: Krzysztof Kasior)

Breakouts Feature
Killing the Eunuch KHAN (Dir: Abed Abest)
Honorable Mention: Retrograde (Dir: Adrian Murray)

Unstoppable Feature
Straighten Up And Fly Right (Dir: Kristen Abate and Steven Tanenbaum)
Honorable Mention: Selahy (My Weapon) (Dir: Alaa Zabara)

SHORTS

Narrative Shorts Grand Jury Prize
Ratking (Dir: Eric Colonna)
Honorable Mention: See You, Garbage! (Dir: Romain Dumont)

Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize
The Ritual to Beauty (Dir: Shenny de Los Angeles and Maria Marrone)
Honorable Mention: Walls Cannot Keep Us From Flying (Dir: Jonathan Haff Mehring)

Experimental Shorts Grand Jury Prize
Chameleon (Dir: Ima Iduozee and Jaamil Olawale Kosoko)
Honorable Mention: Compositions for Understanding Relationships (Dir: David De La Fuente)

Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize
I’m Here (Dir: Julia Orlik)
Honorable Mention: Oldboy’s Apples (Dir: Brad Hock)

FESTIVAL AWARDS

The AGBO Fellowship (presented by Joe and Anthony Russo)
Ethan Eng, director of Therapy Dogs

Slamdance Acting Award
Hannah Lee Thompson, Hannah Ha Ha
Honorable Mention: Batel Moseri, Bracha

George Starks Spirit of Slamdance Award
Sasha Levinson, director of Sylvie of the Sunshine State

CreativeFuture Innovation Award
My Parent, Neal (Dir: Hannah Saidiner)

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Narrative Feature
The Civil Dead (Dir. Clay Tatum)

Documentary Feature
Iron Family (Dir. Patrick Longstreth)

Episodes
The Ember Knight Show: “Getting Mad” (Dir. Bobby McCoy)