2026 Sundance Film Festival Reveals Short Film Program Award Winners

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

LINK:	https://www.sundance.org/blogs/2026-sundance-film-festival-reveals-sho...
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