2026 Sundance Film Festival Honors New Voices in Final Utah Edition
by Kathia Woods
The last Sundance Film Festival took place on January 30, 2026, in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. It gave out awards that honored bold storytelling and up-and-coming talent. The festival was historic this year because it was the first without founder Robert Redford, who died in 2025, and the last in Utah before it moved to Boulder, Colorado, in 2027.
Beth de Araújo's "Josephine" claimed both the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, Presented by Acura, making it the standout winner of the festival. Mason Reeves, a newcomer, plays 8-year-old Josephine in the movie. She sees a sexual assault in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and has a hard time feeling safe again. Jurors praised how well and with compassion the movie dealt with difficult topics.
In the documentary category, "Nuisance Bear" by Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman won the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize.
The movie is set in Churchill, Manitoba, which is known as the "Polar Bear Capital of the World." The story follows a polar bear as it tries to deal with people moving into its territory while its ancient migration meets modern life. Jurors said the movie was brave for showing the harsh truths about climate change and the complicated relationship between people and nature.
International competition brought the best winners to the top. "Shame And Money" won the World Cinema Dramatic Competition prize. It tells the story of a Kosovar family that had to move to the capital to survive in a hypercapitalist society. The World Cinema Documentary Competition award went to "To Hold a Mountain," which tells the story of a mother and daughter who fight to keep their ancestral mountain in Montenegro from becoming a NATO military training ground.
Director recognition showcased diverse storytelling approaches. Josef Kubota Wladyka won the Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic for "Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty!," a film about Tokyo's ballroom dance scene starring Rinko Kikuchi. J.M. Harper received the Directing Award: U.S. Documentary for "Soul Patrol," uncovering the hidden history of the Vietnam War's first Black special operations team.
International directing honors went to Andrius Blaževičius for "How to Divorce During the War," a darkly comedic Lithuanian film set during Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and to Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes for "One In A Million," which followed a Syrian girl's decade-long journey from Syria to Germany and back.
Liz Sargent earned the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for "Take Me Home," a film about a Korean adoptee with a cognitive disability caring for her aging parents. Jurors praised Sargent for modeling a different way to tell stories, capturing truth in the moment while trusting her vision.
The NEXT competition highlighted experimental work, with Louis Paxton's UK drama "The Incomer" taking the NEXT Innovator Award. The film, starring Domhnall Gleeson and Gayle Rankin, follows siblings on a remote Scottish isle resisting relocation. Jurors called it a boldly original comic fable blending folklore with formal playfulness.
Short film honors, announced earlier on January 27, saw Ben Proudfoot and Stephen Curry's "The Baddest Speechwriter of All" win the Short Film Grand Jury Prize. The documentary features Martin Luther King Jr.'s 93-year-old lawyer and speechwriter reflecting on his role in the Civil Rights Movement.
Special jury awards recognized excellence across categories. "Bedford Park" received a U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Debut Feature, while "The Friend's House is Here" earned recognition for Ensemble Cast. "Who Killed Alex Odeh?" won for Journalistic Excellence, investigating the unsolved assassination of a Palestinian American activist. "The Lake" received the Impact for Change award for its examination of an environmental nuclear threat in Utah.
The audience award for U.S. Documentary went to "American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez," chronicling how the filmmaker pushed Chicano storytelling from the fields to film with works like "Zoot Suit" and "La Bamba." "HOLD ONTO ME" in the dramatic category and "One In A Million" in the documentary category received World Cinema audience honors.
The festival screened 97 feature-length and episodic works plus 54 short films, selected from 16,201 total submissions. Eugene Hernandez, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, expressed gratitude to Utah's community for embracing Robert Redford's vision over more than four decades, while Kim Yutani, Director of Programming, emphasized the festival's commitment to championing distinctive, timely, and impactful work.
As Sundance gets ready to move to Boulder in 2027, the 2026 edition was both a celebration of Utah's legacy and a tribute to how independent films can challenge, inspire, and change people all over the world.