“Josephine,” a family drama that earned raves for the performances of Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan and newcomer Mason Reeves when it premiered at Sundance, won the festival’s grand jury prize for U.S. dramatic competition, as well as the audience award for U.S. narrative.
“Josephine” director Beth de Araújo, who drew on her personal history to tell the story of a young girl who witnesses a crime, fought back tears while accepting the audience prize at Sundance’s awards ceremony in Park City, Utah on Friday. “Thank you to the audience for keeping me employed,” de Araújo said. “Cinema is my church, and it feels so good to come and get this from you.”
“Nuisance Bear,” a look at the impact that tourism and other man-made activities are having on the polar bears that live in Churchill, Manitoba, captured the prize for U.S. documentary competition, while “To Hold a Mountain,” the story of mother and daughter working to prevent their ancestral mountain from becoming a NATO military training ground, took the award for world cinema documentary. “Shame and Money,” a drama about a couple in rural Kosovo who lose their livelihoods, won the grand jury prize for world cinema. The ceremony was politically charged, as many films in the awards selection tell of immigrants and activists.
“As this government is attacking notions of diversity, I want this film to showcase that diversity isn’t a dirty word and will never be a dirty word,” said David Alvarado, director of the audience award winner for U.S. Documentary, “American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez.”
Many of the award-winning films, such as “Nuisance Bear” and “Josephine,” have been drawing interest from distributors. Their victories could heat up the bidding by studios and streamers.
The NEXT Innovator Award was given to “The Incomer,” and the NEXT Special Jury Award presented was given to “TheyDream.” “The Incomer” is the story of siblings (Gayle Rankin and Grant O’Rourke) living on a remote Scottish isle whose world is upended by the arrival of an outsider (Domhnall Gleeson). “TheyDream” uses miniatures and motion capture technology to tell the story of 20 years in the life of a Puerto Rican family.
“One in a Million” picked up the audience award for world cinema documentary, while “Hold Onto Me” won the audience prize for world cinema dramatic. The audience award in the NEXT competition went to “Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild],” which looks at tribal repatriation specialists working to return and rebury Indigenous human remains.
Josef Kubota Wladyka won the directing award for U.S. dramatic for “Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty!” while J.M. Harper won the directing prize for U.S. documentary for “Soul Patrol.” “Ha-chan,” a crowd-pleasing drama about a grief-stricken woman whose love of ballroom dancing helps her heal, was purchased by Sony Pictures Classics.
The directing award for world cinema dramatic was presented to Andrius Blaževičius for “How to Divorce During the War,” while Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes won the world cinema documentary directing prize for “One In A Million.”
Liz Sargent (“Take Me Home”) won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for U.S. dramatic, while the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award for U.S. documentary was presented to Matt Hixon for “Barbara Forever.” “Bedford Park,” a drama about a woman who forges a connection to the man responsible for her mother’s car accident, won a special jury award for debut feature.
Recent films that have won top prizes at Sundance include “Sorry, Baby,” “Twinless,” “The Perfect Neighbor,” “A Real Pain,” “Dìdi (弟弟),” “CODA” and “Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised).” Some of those films, such as “CODA,” “A Real Pain” and “Summer of Soul,” won Oscars. Others, such as “Twinless” and “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” failed to connect with audiences when they opened in theaters despite scoring honors at Sundance.
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.