Push was one of the biggest crowd pleasers this year at Sundance, the film earned several wonderful reviews and even picked up some awards at the closing festival! This is fantastic news! There is even heavy acclaim for Mo’Nique (Oscar rumors!), Gabourey Sidibe, Mariah Carrey and Paula.

This from EW:

The early buzz seemed almost absurd — Mo’Nique, what are you wearing to the Oscars? — but after all was said and done, director Lee Daniels and the cast of Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire emerged from the 2009 Sundance Film Festival victorious. The harrowing film won both the Audience and Grand Jury awards in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, as well as a Special Jury Prize for Mo’Nique’s performance as the unbearably cruel mother to Precious Jones, an obese, illiterate girl struggling to survive growing up in Harlem. “Insanely awesome” is how first-time actress Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) described the culmination to her whirlwind of a festival. “I feel like I live in a bubble. Like this isn’t real. Like this is the land of Oz or something.”

“Push works on so many different levels,” said Sundance director Geoffrey Gilmore after the ceremony, held at Park City’s Racquet Club Saturday night. “It has such an emotional power to it, but it’s not just some kind of sentimental bath. You don’t understand that film until you watch the whole thing. You can’t say we’ve seen this before. You haven’t seen this before.”