The winners of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival spoke about issues in the United States and across the world at the Jan. 30 ceremony in The Ray theater in Park City.
“Josephine,” starring Mason Reeves, Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan, won the top prize from Sundance jurors and attendees in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
It’s about a young girl who witnesses a sexual assault, and how she and the adults around her cope with her own trauma.
“One in four women, one in six men — rape culture is deeply woven into the fabric of this society,” director Beth de Araújo said, adding that just the word “rape” makes people uncomfortable, contributing to the silence about a serious and all-too-common crime.
She decried the “chauvinistic groups” which she said are embraced at the highest levels of American government. De Araújo was not the only awardee to criticize President Donald Trump’s administration.
“American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez,” cataloguing the title filmmaker’s life and activism, won the audience award in the U.S. Documentary Competition. Director David Alvarado referenced the rising tide of xenophobia in America and called the award and audience response “a statement.”
“Through Luis' story, his demand that actually the grand American experiment is one where — if you agree to the principles of the Constitution — you belong here too,” he said. “If anybody belongs in America, Chicanos belong here too.”
Sundance jurors chose “Nuisance Bear” for top honors in the U.S. Documentary Competition. It examines whether the polar bear “belongs” in a landscape of tourists, wildlife officers and hunters.
Before presenting the award, juror and director Jennie Livingston acknowledged how dissonant it is to celebrate film and witness the world’s strife.
“How to love the movies, when there is such trouble and danger afoot?” she asked. “But channeling Paul Simon: that's why God made the movies.”
U.S. Dramatic Competition
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic — "Josephine"
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic — Josef Kubota Wladyka for "Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty!"
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic — Liz Sargent for "Take Me Home"
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Debut Feature — Stephanie Ahn for "Bedford Park"
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast — "The Friend's House is Here"
U.S. Documentary Competition
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary — "Nuisance Bear"
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary — J.M. Harper for "Soul Patrol"
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary — Matt Hixon for "Barbara Forever"
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Impact for Change — "The Lake"
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Journalistic Excellence — "Who Killed Alex Odeh?"
Audience Awards
Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic — "Josephine"
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary — "American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez"
Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic — "HOLD ONTO ME (Κράτα Με)"
Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary — "One In A Milion"
Audience Award: NEXT — "Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]"
NEXT Awards
NEXT Innovator Award — "The Incomer"
NEXT Special Jury Award for Creative Expression — "TheyDream"
World Cinema Dramatic Competition
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic — "Shame and Money"
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic — "How to Divorce During the War"
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision — "Filipiñana"
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble — "LADY"
World Cinema Documentary Competition
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary — "To Hold a Mountain"
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary — "One In A Million"
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Civil Resistance — "Everybody To Kenmure Street"
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Journalistic Impact — "Birds of War"
Short Film Awards
Short Film Grand Jury Prize — Ben Proudfoot and Stephen Curry for "The Baddest Speechwriter of All"
Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction — Lily Platt for "Crisis Actor"
Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction — Will Niava for "Jazz Infernal"
Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction — Arielle C. Knight for "The Boys and the Bees"
Short Film Jury Award: Animation — Stephen P. Neary for "Living with a Visionary"
Short Film Special Jury Award: Creative Vision — Don Hertzfeldt for "Paper Trail"
Short Film Special Jury Award: Acting — Noah Roja and Filippo Carrozza for "The Liars"
Click here for a full list of festival awards. The 2026 Sundance Film Festival ends Feb. 1.
