"Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire" was the star of the ceremony as it won three important prizes on Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival. It became this year’s must-see independent film by wining the grand jury prize and the audience award as well as best acting prize for Mo'Nique.

The drama about an overweight teenage Harlem girl who has a hard time growing up among her parents who abuse her, was directed by Lee Daniels ("Monster's Ball") and adapted by Damien Pearl from the 1997 novel, "Push." The 16-old-girl tries to escape from her mother (played by Mo'Nique) who frightens her.

The movie has it all and this remark came from writer/director Mike White, who was on the five-member jury that picked the movie.

"This movie made us laugh, made us cry and basically blew our minds," he told the audience at the ceremony and the film’s director, Lee Daniels, couldn’t be happier. He noted that he was very satisfied because the jury at Sundance "tapped into the truth” of what he was trying to get at.

Lee said the movie’s importance lays in the fact that it refers to every minority in the U.S. “that can't read, that's obese and we turn our back on."

The U.S. documentary grand jury prize went to Ondi Timoner's "We Live in Public," a film about a renegade artist, while the world documentary prize went to Kim Longinotto's "Rough Aunties," a movie which focuses on a South African organization that works with sexually abused children.

Here’s a look at the films awarded at the Sundance Film Festival:
2009 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary: We Live in Public
Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Dramatic Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire
World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary Rough Aunties
World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic The Maid (La Nana)
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary The Cove
Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic Push
World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary Afghan Star
World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic An Education
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary El General, director Natalia Almada
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic Sin Nombre, written and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga
World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary Afghan Star, directed by Havana Marking
World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic Five Minutes of Heaven, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award Nicholas Jasenovec and Charlyne Yi, Paper Heart
World Cinema Screenwriting Award Guy Hibbert, Five Minutes of Heaven
U.S. Documentary Editing Award: Sergio
World Cinema Documentary Editing Award: Burma VJ
Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary The September Issue, cinematographer Bob Richman
Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic Sin Nombre, cinematographer Adriano Goldman
World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary Big River Man, director/cinematographer John Maringouin
World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic An Education, cinematographer John De Borman
World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Originality: Louise-Michel
World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Documentary: Tibet in Song
World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Acting: Catalina Saavedra, The Maid (La Nana)
Special Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary: Good Hair
Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Independence: Humpday
Special Jury Prize for Acting: Mo'Nique, Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire.