2026 Sundance Film Festival Announces Award Winners

Top L-R: The Friend's House is Here, Josephine, The Lake, Bedford Park, Who Killed Alex Odeh?

Second Row L-R: Take Me Home, American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez, Birds of War, Soul Patrol, One In A Million

Third Row L-R: Nuisance Bear, Everybody To Kenmure Street, LADY, How to Divorce During the War, How to Divorce During the War, To Hold a Mountain

Fourth Row L-R: TheyDream, Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty!, Shame and Money, Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild], The Incomer

Bottom L-R: Barbara Forever, HOLD ONTO ME ( ), Filipi ana

Josephine (U.S. Dramatic Competition), Nuisance Bear (U.S. Documentary Competition), Shame and Money (World Cinema Dramatic Competition), and To Hold a Mountain (World Cinema Documentary Competition) Receive Grand Jury Prizes; NEXT Innovator Award Presented by Adobe Goes to The Incomer, NEXT Special Jury Award Presented by Adobe Goes to TheyDream

Josephine (U.S. Dramatic Competition) and American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez (U.S. Documentary Competition) Granted Audience Awards Presented by Acura

HOLD ONTO ME ( ) (World Cinema Dramatic Competition) and One In A Million (World Cinema Documentary Competition) Win Audience Awards Presented by United Airlines

PARK CITY, UTAH, January 30, 2026 - Today the 2026 Sundance Film Festival announced the award-winning films, presented at a ceremony at The Ray Theatre in Park City, Utah. The ceremony was attended by the jury and artists receiving honors, in advance of the final day of the Festival on February 1. The 2026 Festival has featured premieres, screenings, talks, events, and more in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, including programming that honored Robert Redford and his vision that has inspired generations of artists and redefined cinema around the world. All feature award-winning films are available online nationwide now through February 1. Select award-winning films will screen in person for ticketholders and passholders. Tickets can be purchased at festival.sundance.org/tickets.

Grand Jury Prizes went to Josephine (U.S. Dramatic Competition), Nuisance Bear (U.S. Documentary Competition), Shame and Money (World Cinema Dramatic Competition), and To Hold a Mountain (World Cinema Documentary Competition). The NEXT Innovator Award presented by Adobe was given to The Incomer, and the NEXT Special Jury Award presented by Adobe was given to TheyDream.

Films in competition eligible for audience awards were presented by Acura to Josephine (U.S. Dramatic Competition) and American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez (U.S. Documentary Competition) and presented by United Airlines to HOLD ONTO ME ( ) (World Cinema Dramatic Competition) and One In A Million (World Cinema Documentary Competition). Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] won the audience award for NEXT presented by Adobe. The Festival Favorite Award-winning film will be announced on the Sundance Film Festival official social accounts on Saturday, January 31 in the afternoon. Awards for the Short Film Program Presented by Ketel One Vodka were announced at a ceremony on January 27 at The Park in Park City, Utah.

The 2026 Sundance Film Festival jury includes: Janicza Bravo, Nisha Ganatra, and Azazel Jacobs for the U.S. Dramatic Competition; Natalia Almada, Justin Chang, and Jennie Livingston for the U.S. Documentary Competition; Ana Katz, So Yong Kim, and Tatiana Maslany for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition; Toni Kamau, Bao Nguyen, and Kirsten Schaffer for the World Cinema Documentary Competition; A.V. Rockwell, Liv Constable-Maxwell, and Martin Starr for the Short Film Program Competition; and John Cooper and Trevor Groth for the NEXT section.

As we conclude this memorable edition of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, we're thrilled to celebrate our award-winning films and all the artists who participated in this year's wonderful Festival, said Eugene Hernandez, Director, Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming. Thank you to all of the artists and audiences who made this Festival one we'll remember for a long time, and we're deeply grateful to our friends and partners in Park City, Salt Lake City, and all across Utah, home to so many cherished Festivals. We salute and thank Utah's moviegoers who have embraced this Festival and our founder Robert Redford's vision. As this 2026 edition draws to a close, we're remembering all of these times spent together.

Our Awards ceremony is a perfect moment to consider the journeys each artist team took while creating these stories they've so generously shared with us during the Festival, said Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. As a programming team we are thankful for being part of the journey for so many talented filmmakers this and every year. Championing work that is distinctive, timely, and impactful is our priority, and this event is a celebration of what these storytellers have achieved.

This year's Sundance Film Festival has introduced audiences to 97 feature-length and episodic works and 54 short films - curated from a total 16,201 submissions - screening to audiences in Park City, Salt Lake City, and online nationwide.

The 2026 Sundance Film Festival will be the culmination of the yearly gathering in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. Starting in 2027, the Sundance Film Festival will move to Boulder, Colorado, continuing to celebrate independent storytelling and fresh voices for global audiences to discover. The Festival deeply values the long-standing legacy in Utah and the local community who laid the foundation.

Feature film award winners in previous years include: Sorry, Baby, Come See Me in the Good Light, Twinless, The Perfect Neighbor, A Real Pain, D di ( ), Porcelain War, Sujo, Daughters, A Thousand and One, 20 Days in Mariupol, Nanny,

LINK:	https://www.sundance.org/blogs/2026-sundance-film-festival-announces-a...
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