The verdict on the hottest new indie movies is in by way of the Sundance Film Festival Awards 2013 and some of this year’s biggest award winners are African-American films.

Fruitvale, which stars Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer, picked up both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the U.S. dramatic competitions. The drama tells the true-life fatal shooting story of 22-year-old Bay Area resident Oscar Grant, who was killed in San Francisco’s BART by security guards.

American Promise earned the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking. This intimate film chronicles the 12-year friendship between two African-American boys and their families as they seek to better their lives through education. The movie examines the boys' and their families' intertwined lives from kindergarten through high school.
The film Ain’t Them Bodies Saints was awarded the Cinematography Award in the U.S. dramatic competition. The drama is the story of a young outlaw couple and their transformed lives after one takes the fall for the other’s crimes. The movie stars Nate Parker and Rooney Mara.

On the technical side, the documentary Gideon’s Army, which documents the committed and often thankless work of public defenders, picked up the U.S. Documentary Editing Award.

For a full list of Sundance Film Festival Award 2013 winners click here.
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 (Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)