Sundance awards: bacon short sizzles

Sol Friedman tells Nonfictionfilm.com winning jury prize is 'surreal'

A still image from "Bacon & God's Wrath" directed by Sol Friedman. Photo courtesy Artiest Productions Inc./Sundance Institute

Sundance has announced the first of what will be a batch of awards honoring films in this year's festival.

The Short Film Jury Award: Non-fiction went to Canadian director Sol Friedman for his nine-minute-long documentary Bacon & God's Wrath. The festival website describes it as the story of "A 90-year-old Jewish woman [who] reflects on her life experiences as she prepares to try bacon for the first time."
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I’m just really happy that people seem to be really connecting with the film and with [its] message - that it’s never too late to give up on your faith.

  --Director Sol Friedman to Nonfictionfilm.com

The short, which is partially animated, played at the Toronto International Film Festival last September. TIFF programmers described the film this way: 

"In this endearing and playful mixed-media docu-collage, 90-year-old Razie's discovery of 'the Google' leads her to a reckoning with her lifelong Jewish faith."

A still image from Sol Friedman's short documentary "Bacon & God's Wrath." Photo courtesy Sundance Institute

"Having the film selected to screen at Sundance was itself a huge surprise and honour, so winning the award was pretty surreal," Friedman told Nonfictionfilm.com. "It’s definitely going to take some time to sink in, but in the meantime I’m just really happy that people seem to be really connecting with the film and with it's [sic] message - that it’s never too late to give up on your faith."