Sundance Film Festival 2026 Winner List: Full Awards And Films That Defined The Year

Leading the conversation is Josephine, which emerged as the festival’s most celebrated title, while documentaries and international features pushed boundaries in form and subject. As Sundance prepares for its future beyond Utah, this edition feels both reflective and forward-looking.

This year’s awards spotlight films that are intimate, politically alert and deeply human, with stories that sit quietly at first and then stay with you. From U.S. indies to urgent world cinema, Sundance 2026 rewards risk, restraint and emotional honesty.

Josephine Dominates Sundance 2026 Awards

Beth de Araújo’s Josephine claimed both the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and the Audience Award, marking it as the rare film that resonated equally with jurors and viewers. The film follows a young girl grappling with the aftermath of witnessing sexual violence, told with restraint rather than spectacle.

What sets Josephine apart is its refusal to overexplain trauma. Instead, it trusts silences, gestures and perspective. The jury cited its emotional intelligence and empathy, while audiences connected with its quiet but persistent impact. It easily stands out as one of the best films at Sundance 2026.

Documentaries That Confront Power and Displacement

The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary went to Nuisance Bear, a film that examines climate change through the uneasy coexistence of humans and wildlife. By focusing on a polar bear labelled a threat, the documentary asks who truly disrupts whose habitat.

In world cinema, To Hold A Mountain won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize, following a shepherd family fighting to protect ancestral land from militarisation. Both films reflect Sundance’s continued commitment to documentaries that connect the personal with the political.

World Cinema and NEXT Section Standouts

The World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Shame And Money, a stark portrait of a family navigating survival in a hyper-capitalist urban landscape. Its storytelling is grounded, unsentimental and quietly devastating.

Meanwhile, The Incomer received the NEXT Innovator Award, standing out for its playful blending of folklore, animation and social satire. Sundance 2026’s NEXT category once again proved to be a space where formal experimentation thrives.

Audience Favourites and Special Jury Recognition

Beyond Josephine, audience awards went to films that balanced accessibility with depth, including American Pachuco: The Legend Of Luis Valdez and Hold Onto Me. These selections highlight how Sundance audiences continue to champion stories rooted in identity, memory and cultural resistance.

Special Jury Awards recognised films such as Lady for its ensemble performances and Filipiñana for creative vision, reinforcing the festival’s focus on craft as much as content.

As the Sundance Film Festival prepares to move cities in the coming years, the 2026 winners feel like a statement of intent. These are films that resist easy answers, trust their viewers and insist on emotional truth.

2026 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners (By Category)

Grand Jury Prizes

• U.S. Dramatic: Josephine

• U.S. Documentary: Nuisance Bear

• World Cinema Dramatic: Shame And Money

• World Cinema Documentary: To Hold A Mountain

NEXT Innovator Award

• The Incomer

Audience Awards

• U.S. Dramatic: Josephine

• U.S. Documentary: American Pachuco: The Legend Of Luis Valdez

• World Cinema Dramatic: Hold Onto Me

• World Cinema Documentary: One In A Million

• NEXT: Aanikoobijigan