A new documentary about former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern has won a top award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Prime Minister took the Audience Award for World Cinema Documentary at the festival, the largest independent film festival in the US and a frequent launching pad for films that go on to do well in the year ahead.
The Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary presented by United Airlines (@united) goes to “Prime Minister.” pic.twitter.com/lNU0WtLqkZ
— Sundance Film Festival (@sundancefest) January 31, 2025
Prime Minister, co-directed by Lindsay Utz and Michelle Walshe, premiered at Sundance Film Festival last week.
It covers Dame Jacinda's tenure as leader for five years and features home videos shot by husband Clarke Gayford and unheard audio clips recorded by the Alexander Turnbull Library's Political Diaries project.
Jacinda Ardern (C) and Shoshannah Stern (R) attend HBO Documentary Films' Sundance party at Ruth's Chris Steak House on 26 January 26 in Park City, Utah. Photo: DAVID BECKER / AFP / GETTY
Los Angeles Times entertainment and arts deputy editor Matt Brennan called the 102-minute film "an uncommonly revealing portrait of leadership in action", while Variety's Siddhant Adlakha described it as an "intimate but simplistic documentary".
The film festival runs in Utah from 23 January until 2 February.
A New Zealand release date has not yet been announced for the film.
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