'Fruitvale' wins big at Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival has come to an end, and Fruitvale has walked away with both U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic.

Fruitvale, the directorial debut by Ryan Coogler, follows the last day of 22-year-old Oscar Grant before he was shot and killed by Oakland police on New Year’s Day in 2009. The film features Michael B. Jordan as Grant and Oscar winner Octavia Spencer.

“At the end of the day, when I first made this project, it was about humanity, and how we treat the people we love most and the people we don’t know,” said Coogler as he accepted the award, according to the Sundance Film Festival website. “To get this means that this film made a powerful impact.”

“This award goes out to my home in the Bay Area where Oscar Grant breathed, slept, loved, had fun and survived for 22 years," Coogler further stated, according to Reuters.

The New York Times reports that Fruitvale has already been picked up for distribution by Harvey Weinstein.