Thanks to the Internet, nowadays a simple search for “best movies to see now” can bombard you with a wide variety of mainstream movie results. But what if you wanted to see something beyond how many punches Jason Statham and The Rock received in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Although the film industry has recently become a money-making machine, there are a couple of places in the world where you can discover unknown independent movies worth watching and which you would never be able to find at your local movie theatre.

One such place is film festivals like Sundance. Hot spots for talented filmmakers, screenwriters, and scriptwriters, film festivals have become an art medium and a tool for presenting a world which is far more real than what the daily news presented. Film festivals can also allow talented artists an opportunity to shine, no matter if they have been acting in a long or a short movie.

Below are listed 3 movie actors who won an award at a prestige film festival.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

He may be one of the most brilliant and multi-skilled actors we will ever see. He was well-known for his usually eccentric and always compelling supporting roles, expertly disguising himself with various looks and accents. One of Hoffman’s breakout movies was Boogie Nights (1997), which was acclaimed as both critical and financial success. In the following years, he continued adding a plethora of notable performances to his impressive resume. One of his small-scale movie roles worth mentioning is his portrayal of a bank employee in the casino-themed Owning Mahowny (2002), for which he won an award at the Durban International Film Festival for Best Actor. Although it was set in popular places such as Vegas and New Jersey, the movie avoids any amateurish representations of the Hollywood casino-culture. Back then, land-based casinos were very popular really, both in Vegas and NJ, but nowadays playing online in NJ is a common thing. Among all of the other online sites, people who want to play from the comfort of their home are choosing gaming sites such as Betfair for example. Betfair NJ is legal, licensed and regulated for online players in NJ.

In 2005, Hoffman made the role of a lifetime when he appeared in the title role in Capote. His representation of the complex and peculiar real-life author Truman Capote was the stuff that marked him as a Hollywood legend and brought him an Oscar.

Rami Malek

Credits Daniel Benavides from Austin, TX [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

We all know him as Elliot Alderson from the US TV Drama Mr. Robot, where he starred as a cybersecurity engineer by day and vigilante hacker by night. The Egyptian-American actor kicked off his acting career in 2004 when he first appeared in the TV series Gilmore Girls. In the years to follow he appeared in a lot of tv shows and movies which secured him supporting roles in a series of major films like Larry Crowne, Breaking Dawn, and Battleship. In 2018 he danced and sang his way into the spotlight with this breakthrough performance in Bohemian Rhapsody playing Freddie Mercury, for which he has won an Oscar and multiple awards on prominent film festivals to the likes of Santa Barbara International Film Festival and Palm Springs International Film Festival. Malek dives deep into each character he plays, catching the looks, soul, and swagger while showing beyond-great dedication and expressiveness.

Meryl Streep

She is one of the greatest actresses and most nominated performer of all times, known for her subtly expressive face and being a master of accents. She began acting professionally making her Broadway debut in 1975. Followed by earning widespread recognition, and eventually winning Oscars for Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie's Choice and The Iron Lady. She won the Cannes Film Festival for her moving performance in A Cry in the Dark (1988) and the Berlin International Film Festival for best actress in The Hours (2002), where she starred as Virginia Woolf’s most famous character Clarissa Vaughn. With this performance, Meryl has proven that any unsympathetic character can be likeable. She has perfected the ability to morph into any role possible which has earned her the trademark of a ‘chameleon’. More than fifty films behind her and still going strong, Streep has gathered both commercial and critical success throughout her career.