The Sundance Film Festival awarded Quinceañera both its 2006 Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the dramatic competition.
Quinceañera is an independent drama directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. Its story follows Magdalena, a pregnant teenager whose family cancels her planned celebration and rejects her. She finds support with her cousin Carlos and great-uncle Tomas in Echo Park, Los Angeles.
At Sundance, the film achieved the unusual distinction of winning both the jury-selected dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the audience-selected dramatic Audience Award. The two honors recognize different kinds of approval: one comes from festival judges, while the other reflects audience voting.
Sundance is held in Utah and is one of the best-known festivals for independent cinema in the United States. The film’s awards helped establish Quinceañera as a prominent example of an independent movie using a Latino cultural tradition as its central setting.