In a year with a hefty Canadian contingent, the Sundance festival gave out a pair of awards in the general direction of the north. The fest handed a special jury prize for acting to Toronto-based singer and actor Tamara Podemski for her ‘fully realized physical and emotional turn’ in the drama Four Sheets to the Wind, and another jury prize to the Israel/Canada copro Hot House.

Four Sheets, by U.S. director Sterlin Harjo, features Podemski as a native American woman who helps her brother discover life outside the reservation. Hot House is a doc about Israeli prison conditions.

Canada had eight features at Sundance this year – including Sarah Polley’s Away From Her and Andrew Currie’s Fido – though not all of them played in competition.