Benh Zeitlin’s fantasy drama Beasts Of The Southern Wild won the grand jury prize in the US dramatic competition while Charles Ferguson’s war on drugs film The House I Live in took corresponding documentary honours at the Sundance 2012 awards ceremony on Saturday night (28).

The world cinema dramatic and documentary prizes went to Andrés Wood’s Violeta Went To Heaven and Ra’anan Alexandrowicz’s The Law In These Parts.

The audience dramatic award was presented to Ben Lewin’s crowd-pleaser The Surrogate while the best documentary went to Kirby Dick’s The Invisible War. In the corresponding world cinema categories the awards went to Musa Syeed’s Valley Of Saints and Malik Bendjelloul’s Searching For Sugar Man.

The Best Of NEXT <=> Audience Award went to Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me while the US directing awards for dramatic entry and documentary were presented to Ava DuVernay’s Middle Of Nowhere and Lauren Greenfield’s The Queen Of Versailles.

In the world cinema categories, audiences selected drama Mads Matthiesen as best director in the dramatic section for Teddy Bear and Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi for the documentary award for 5 Broken Cameras.

The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award was presented in the US section to Derek Connolly for Safety Not Guaranteed and in the world cinema category to Marialy Rivas, Camila Gutiérrez, Pedro Peirano and Sebastián Sepúlveda for Young & Wild.

“Every year the Sundance Film Festival brings to light exciting new directions and fresh voices in independent film, and this year is no different,” Sundance Film Festival director John Cooper said. “While these awards further distinguish those that have had the most impact on audiences and our jury, the level of talent showcased across the board at the festival was really impressive, and all are to be congratulated and thanked for sharing their work with us.”

For the full list of winners visit the official website.