"[6] Linsanity, a documentary about the rise of Asian American basketball player Jeremy Lin, premiered to a sold-out screening on January 20.

[7][8] The Los Angeles Times wrote that it received a "rousing response, easily making it one of the most crowd-pleasing documentaries to play the festival this year.

"[8] The awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2013, a few miles north of Park City, Utah at Kimball Junction at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse,[1] and was hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

[13] The 5 members of the Alfred P. Sloan Jury, which would also take part in the Science in Film Forum Panel, were announced on January 17, 2013.

Others who presented awards included Barbara Kopple, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Mariel Hemingway.

He wrote, "we're living in a post-Beasts world where a Sundance unknown can end a year-long journey at the Best Directors table."

"[17] Robert Redford said Beasts of the Southern Wild "is probably one of the great examples that we have of why Sundance is here and what my intention was to begin with."

He wrote "it almost feels as if programmers are filling specific, pre-ordained slots", and mentioned there are always too many teenage coming-of-age films.

He said the festival is "inevitably a mixed bag, where excitement combines with frustration..." Turan wrote that "Sundance remains the nonpareil launching pad for tiny films that would never reach maximum altitude otherwise", saying that "without the heat generated by this festival", there is no way Beasts of the Southern Wild would have gotten four Oscar nominations.