The Sundance Film Festival has announced its 2015 winners and "Me & Earl & the Dying Girl" has won the Grand Prize and the Audience Award.

For the third time in a row, the Sundance winner took home both the Audience and the Grand Prize award. The film follows winners "Whiplash" and "Fruitvale Station." "Me & Earl & the Dying Girl" was already a film most audiences and pundits were talking about especially after Fox Searchlight acquired it for a Sundance record of $12 million.

The film was directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, who is best known for his work on "American Horror Story" and "The Carrie Diaries."

The movie was part of the Black List and the screenplay was written by Jesse Andrews, who also wrote the novel the film is based on.

With a win at Sundance, most pundits will be expecting Fox Searchlight to release the film in the summer or in the fall for awards season. A Sundance win does not necessarily mean Oscar nominations but it elevates the film's status and many of the films do end up in a number of top 10 lists and getting awards nominations.

This past year, "Whiplash" scored five nominations at the Academy Awards, including a Best Picture, and is likely to win the Best Supporting Actor award. In 2012 "Beasts of the Southern Wild" scored four Oscar nominations including a Best Picture and a surprising Best Director nomination.

Other Grand Jury prize winners that went on to score Oscar nominations include "Winter's Bone," "Frozen River" and "Precious."

However, it is important to note that not every single winner goes on to get Oscar nominations. As a matter of fact, 2013's "Fruitvale Station" was snubbed. The film had all the makings of an Oscar film, especially since it was backed by the Weinstein Company, but the feature did not make the cut.

The 2011 drama "Like Crazy" equally failed to capture the Oscars. The film scored mixed reviews and barely got a good theatrical run. Still, it raised Drake Doremus' status as a director and allowed him to make his follow up feature.

"Me & Earl & the Dying Girl" is being backed by Fox Searchlight, which currently has two Best Picture nominations and led "Beasts of the Southern Wild" to the Best Picture nomination. The company also won the Best Picture category last year with "12 Years a Slave" and in 2008 with "Slumdog Millionaire."

"Me & Earl & the Dying Girl" seems like a good fit for the Academy since it deals with a girl dying of cancer. The Academy is known for nominating roles with illness. This year, for example, the two front-runners for Best Actor and Best Actress are playing sick characters. Julianne Moore plays a woman with Alzheimer's while Eddie Redmayne plays a character with ALS.

If the film becomes a hit with critics and is able to score a great box office, expect awards organizations to get behind the film.

"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" tells the story of a teenage filmmaker who befriends a classmate with cancer. The film premiered in the Dramatic competition.

Other Sundance winners included "The Witch," which won Best Directing, while "Slow West" starring Michael Fassbender won the World Dramatic Competition. Borderline productions' film "James White" won the Next Audience Award while "The Wolfpack" won the Grand Jury Prize in the Documentary competition.

Other films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and had Oscar buzz included "Brooklyn," starring Saoirse Ronan; "Grandma," starring Lily Tomlin; and James Ponsoldt's "The End of the Tour," starring Jesse Eisenberg.

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