Dozens of new independent movies premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival over the past several days, and now it's time to take a look at the ones that truly left a mark. With the Academy Awards only weeks away (watch them live February 22), we thought it'd be fun to highlight our favorites by giving them some special awards. So what movies should you be putting on your radar? Check out our recommendations below. 

Best Movie About Two Dudes and a Dying Girl

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

This quirky tearjerker about a high school senior whose mother forces him to befriend a classmate with leukemia stole the hearts of everyone who watched it. The film, starring Thomas Mann, Olivia Cooke and newcomer RJ Cyler, is sweet and nerdy -- like a Wes Anderson-directed Fault in Our Stars -- and what we admire most is how it ends up being this love letter to the power of movies. The way they heal us, inspire us, define us, transform us and ultimately bring us closer together. 

Release info: Fox Searchlight has picked up the distribution rights for the film and will release it in theaters later this year.

The Dopest Director

Rick Famuyiwa, Dope

With its addictive and frenetic hip-hop soundtrack, Famuyiwa's Dope -- about three "nerds" fighting to succeed in a neighborhood littered with lawbreakers and troublemakers --  is both entertaining and thought provoking. Especially impressive is Famuyiwa's direction, as he expertly weaves a contemporary tale that feels like it belongs in the 1990s. The film opens with Naughty by Nature's "Hip Hop Hooray" and that's exactly what we felt like chanting once the credits began to roll.

Release info: Open Road has picked up the distribution rights for the film and will release it in theaters later this year.

Most Surprising Dramatic Performance by an Actor Who Usually Makes Us Laugh

Jason Segel, The End of the Tour

As author David Foster Wallace, Jason Segel delivers a career-defining performance in The End of the Tour, about a five-day interview journalist David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) conducted with Wallace as he was nearing the end of his Infinite Jest book tour. It's definitely not showy or over the top; instead Segel just sort of melts into the mind of a man who struggled with loneliness and addiction, forever questioning the definition of success, before eventually committing suicide in 2008.

Release info: A24 has picked up the distribution rights for the film and will release it in theaters later this year.

Most Surprising Dramatic Performance by an Actress Who Usually Makes Us Laugh

Sarah Silverman, I Smile Back

You are not prepared to witness the dark, seedy places Sarah Silverman goes for the gut-wrenching drama I Smile Back. Based on the best-selling book by Amy Koppelman, Silverman plays a suburban housewife and mother of two whose mental illness -- coupled with an addiction to sex, drugs and alcohol -- slowly causes her entire life to spin wildly out of control. Silverman bares all for this one (both literally and figuratively), replacing her usual comedic shtick with the crushing portrayal of a woman teetering on the edge of utter destruction. 

Release info: As of this writing, I Smile Back is still awaiting a distribution deal.

The Craziest Documentary You Have to See to Believe

Finders Keepers

Sometimes the truth is definitely stranger than fiction, and that's certainly the case with this documentary about two men fighting over a severed leg. When John Wood lost his leg in an airplane crash back in 2004, he asked doctors if he could bring the severed leg home with the intention of using it to create a memorial to honor his father, who died in the accident. However, when Wood fails to keep up the rent on a storage locker housing the leg, it winds up in the hands of local entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, whose thirst for fame and fortune leads him to use Wood's severed leg to create a media empire... or so he hopes. What follows is this hilariously touching story about love, loss, addiction and forgiveness, as two men with different motives continually try to get a leg up (pun intended) on one another. This is one of those stories you really need to see to believe.

Release info: As of this writing, Finders Keepers is still awaiting a distribution deal.

The Funniest Comedy About Sex and Marriage

The Overnight

Adam Scott and Taylor Schilling star as a sweet married couple with a young child who just moved to Los Angeles and are in need of some new friends. Enter Jason Schwartzman and Judith Godrèche, a fun, free-spirited couple who invite Scott and Schilling to their house for a playdate after the two couples meet at a kids birthday party. What begins as an innocent dinner with friends quickly devolves into an all-nighter full of booze, drugs, skinny dipping and... well, we're not going to tell you everything. The Overnight is funny and relatable for anyone in a relationship, and it features one of the most memorable full-frontal male nude scenes in years. Oh yes, they go there.

Release info: The Orchard picked up the distribution rights for The Overnight and will release the film later this year.

The Most Unique (and Scariest) Horror Movie

The Witch

Picture an original Grimm fairy tale (we're talking the freaky stuff, not the more family-friendly adaptations) come to life, and that's kind of what it feels like to watch The Witch. Set in New England circa 1630, the film -- which remains faithful to the period, including the dialogue -- follows a family who's banished from their colony and attempts to start a new home on the edge of the woods. Soon after they arrive, though, their infant baby is stolen by a wicked-looking woman and thus begins a freakishly bizarre tale that pits witchcraft against the familial bond. Trust us, this ain't no Wicked Witch of the West. This is the real deal... and boy is it scary.

Release info: A24 picked up the distribution rights for The Witch and will release it in theaters later this year.