Cynthia Erivo puts on tiara Olivia Colman left on stage to accept Sundance Visionary Award: 'It must be worn'

Queens recognize queens.

While Olivia Colman was presenting Cynthia Erivo with the 2025 Sundance Visionary Award at this weekend's Sundance Film Festival Gala, the Oscar winner also passed along a little gift to the Wicked star: a plastic tiara she wore on stage.

Colman took to the stage to introduce Erivo with glitter on her face and a small crown that appeared to feature Princess Tiana from Disney's The Princess and the Frog. Giving a winking nod to the sparkly headgear, she joked, "I also just love how casual this festival is."

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Then, after her glowing introduction, Colman left the tiara behind on the stage's podium, where it was promptly retrieved by Erivo when she came up to accept the honor.

"It must be worn," she said. "That's the point of it."

Erivo had a brief moment of doubt, worrying that the tiara might not stay in place on her shaved head, but she quickly straightened her crown and proceeded with her own speech.

"When I first heard that I was getting this award, I had to look up the word visionary," Erivo said. "And yes, I know what it means, but what does it mean? It's something to do with sight or seeing. It isn't the kind of seeing that we are privy to; it's not seeing with one's physical eyes. This is the kind of seeing that's done with the mind's eye. The description said, 'Especially of a person, thinking about or planning the future with imagination and wisdom.'  A visionary is someone who can see into the future, and I've never considered myself as such."

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"I put one foot next to the other, and I keep chipping away at the road until I can reach a destination and I'm lucky enough to be somewhere I want to be," Erivo continued. "I don't really think that makes me a visionary. I think it makes me determined. So where does the visionary fit? I think it comes in the form of belief. Belief that the most audacious feats of creativity in art are possible. Belief that maybe one day, one might get to play the role of a lifetime."

She concluded, "I am deeply honored and proud to accept this award. Not just for myself, but for the ambitious dreamers who see that something lies ahead of us, and though the road might be foggy, we will walk it anyway."

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The evening's festivities also included a tribute to Michelle Satter, the founder of the Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Lab of the Sundance Film Festival. Satter recently lost her home in the devastating Palisades wildfires, and she spoke to the evening's message of community and collaboration to carry on.

When A Complete Unknown director James Mangold was honored with the Trailblazer Award, he took to the stage to champion the importance of Sundance in his creative career, speaking to how he didn't necessarily feel like a trailblazer in the ways he has followed "great masters."

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He also passionately argued for films that wear their hearts on their sleeve. "Many of my peers are fascinated by irony," he said. "I looked for films where earnestness had not become 'uncool.'"

"I love it when movies mean it," he continued. "We do not make things to pass idle time. In this time of irony and snark, we need sincerity and earnestness more than ever. We shouldn't be embarrassed to feel and show it."

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The evening concluded with a musical performance by Sara Bareilles, who first unveiled a new song she wrote with Brandi Carlile and Andrea Gibson for the documentary Come See Me in the Good Light, which is premiering at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. She closed the night with a moving rendition of one of her own songs, "She Used to Be Mine," from the Broadway musical Waitress.

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