Top L-R: The Liars, Jazz Infernal, Living with a Visionary
Second Row L-R: Paper Trail, The Baddest Speechwriter of All, Crisis Actor
Third Row: The Boys and the Bees
The Baddest Speechwriter of All Awarded Short Film Grand Jury Prize
Short Film Awards & Party Presented by Ketel One Vodka Honors 54 Short Films in This Year's Lineup
PARK CITY, UTAH, JANUARY 27, 2026 - This evening the nonprofit Sundance Institute announced the short film winners for the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at the Short Film Awards Ceremony & Party Presented by Ketel One Vodka. Filmmakers representing the 54 shorts selected for the 2026 Festival gathered at The Park in Park City, Utah, for an event celebrating short-form storytelling. The majority of the award-winning shorts can be viewed online nationwide January 29 to February 1 for audiences to experience from home. Visit festival.sundance.org for all details. The 2026 Festival kicked off on January 22 and continues until February 1, inviting audiences to enjoy world premieres, screenings, talks, events, and more in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Grand Jury Prize was awarded to The Baddest Speechwriter of All (Nonfiction). Short Film Jury Awards went to Crisis Actor (U.S. Fiction), Jazz Infernal (International Fiction), The Boys and the Bees (Nonfiction), and Living with a Visionary (Animation).
Two Special Jury Awards were also presented: Short Film Special Jury Award for Creative Vision to Don Hertzfeldt for Paper Trail (Animation) and Short Film Special Jury Award for Acting to Noah Roja and Filippo Carrozza for The Liars (Argentina).
This year the Festival short film jury members were: A.V. Rockwell, Liv Constable-Maxwell, and Martin Starr.
We are proud to celebrate the art of short filmmaking, our award winners, and every team that shared their work with us in the Short Film Program this Festival, said Heidi Zwicker, Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer, Feature Films and Short Films. We are continually inspired by the incredible range of storytelling and style we encounter in the shorts that form our lineup every year - we congratulate these artists and thank them for sharing their distinct visions with us and with our audiences.
The Short Film Program awards announced the winning projects at the midpoint of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where 97 feature-length and episodic works and 54 short films - curated from 11,480 short film submissions - have screened to audiences in Park City, Salt Lake City, and online.
Short film award winners in previous years include The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing by Theo Panagopoulos, The Masterpiece by Alex Lora Cercos, When You Left Me On That Boulevard by Kayla Abuda Galang, The Headhunter's Daughter by Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, Lizard by Akinola Davies Jr., So What If the Goats Die by Sofia Alaoui, Aziza by Soudade Kaadan, Matria by lvaro Gago, And so we put goldfish in the pool. by Makoto Nagahisa, Lucia, Before and After by Anu Valia, Gregory Go Boom by Janicza Bravo, Thunder Road by Jim Cummings, and World of Tomorrow by Don Hertzfeldt.
The 2026 Sundance Film Festival Short Film awards are:
The Short Film Grand Jury Prize was awarded to: Ben Proudfoot and Stephen Curry for The Baddest Speechwriter of All / U.S.A. (Directors and Producers: Ben Proudfoot, Stephen Curry, Producer: Erick Peyton) - Now 93, Martin Luther King Jr.'s lawyer and speechwriter reflects on the personal cost and surprising truths of making history, offering an intimate insider's view of the Civil Rights Movement. World Premiere. Available online for public.
Jury citation: This film implores us to take action with a message that is timeless and timely. Through the eyes of its subject, we find one of the most important moments in modern history has a new perspective. For its portrait of a strong willed, hilarious, compassionate man, and the instrumental role he played in kicking ass, nonviolently, against division and hate, the Short Film Grand Jury Prize goes to The Baddest Speechwriter of All.
The Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction was awarded to: Lily Platt for Crisis Actor / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Lily Platt, Producers: Sophie Seyd, Alex Bendo, Lexi Preiser) - Fired from her day job, an impulsive actress crashes a support group and spirals into a chaotic night that forces her to face her addiction to drama. Cast: Sarah Steele, Philip Ettinger. World Premiere. Available online for public.
Jury citation: This short is uniquely brilliant in its ability to balance laugh-out-loud levity with the emotional pain of honest self-reflection. This film is a succinct display of craft in writing, directing, acting, and a deeply insightful depiction of the distorted state of American values today. The Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction goes to Crisis Actor.
The Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction was awarded to: Will Niava for Jazz Infernal / Canada (Director and Screenwriter: Will Niava, Screenwriter: Kristelle Laroche, Producers: Zion Lipstein-Saffer, Samuel Caron) - Koffi, a young Ivorian trumpeter, arrives in Montr al with nothing but the legacy of his father to guide him. Lost between the city's noise and the silence of his past, he must confront his roots to finally find his voice. Cast: Ange-Eric N'guessan, Alexis Belhumeur, Kalombo Kasongo. U.S. Premiere. Available online for public.
Jury citation: This film deeply resonates in a way that lingers long after viewing, powerfully blending evocative atmosphere, gorgeous cinematography, music, and global storytelling influences into a profoundly singular vision. The Short Film Jury Award for International Fiction goes to Jazz Infernal.
The Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction was awarded to: Arielle C. Knight for The Boys and the Bees / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Arielle C. Knight, Producer: Sean
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm
Restar Corporation
Tokyo
Register here
John Daro is the ...
12/06/2026
Meet The Grumpy Onion Ireland's newest online sensation, all he wants is to ...
12/06/2026
RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast
Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...
Top L-R: The Liars, Jazz Infernal, Living with a Visionary
