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'Beasts,' 'The House I Live In' win top awards at Sundance

By Christine Kearney PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) - 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' and 'The House I Live in' won the top awards at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, making them likely favorites for independent movie audiences in 2012. Directed by Benh Zeitlin and set in impoverished Louisiana, 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' picked up the jury prize for best drama with its tale of the bond between a father and a daughter. The documentary winner, 'The House I Live In,' was one of many documentaries that looked at a struggling America at Sundance 2012, with its examination of Americas long failed war on drugs and critiques of U.S. drug policies, its court system, prisons and their impact on minorities. 'The war on drugs is a terrible scar on America,' said director Eugene Jarecki. Special juries of industry professionals vote on winners, and those are considered the top prizes, but audiences also vote for their favorites. 'The Surrogate,' which stars Helen Hunt and John Hawkes and is about a mans quest to lose his virginity while mostly confined to an iron lung, won the Audience Award for best drama. The film, based on the real life poet and journalist Mark OBrien, fetched one of the highest selling prices at the festival - a reported $6 million. 'Love is a journey, thats it,' said director Ben Lewin when accepting his trophy, quoting a line from the film. The Audience Award for documentary was given to 'The Invisible War,' about an epidemic of sexual assault in the U.S. military. Other documentary special jury prizes went to 'Love Free or Die,' about the Episcopal Churchs first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson; and 'Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,' about the Chinese artist and activist who was detained for 81 days last year. Sundance, which is backed by Robert Redfords Sundance Institute for filmmaking, is the largest U.S. gathering for independent movies. Festival winners go on to become some of the most talked about films in art houses. In addition to prizes for U.S. films, Sundance also gives awards in world cinema. Chiles 'Violeta Went To Heaven,' based on the life of Chilean folk singer Violeta Parras journey from a poor upbringing to national hero, won the jury prize for best drama, and 'The Law In These Parts' was the jurys pick for best documentary. 'Searching for Sugar Man,' about the search for an obscure 1970s Detroit folk singer known as Rodriguez, won the audience award for best world documentary as well as a special jury prize. (Reporting By Christine Kearney; editing by Mohammad Zargham)