‘Josephine’ and ‘Nuisance Bear’ win top prizes at Sundance
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The 2026 Sundance Film Festival announced its awards winners Friday, with Beth de Araújo’s searing drama “Josephine” and Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman’s environmental-themed documentary “Nuisance Bear” taking the top jury prizes.
The audience awards went to “Josephine” for the U.S. dramatic competition and David Alvarado’s “American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez” for U.S. documentary.
This year’s Sundance was marked by strong emotions around the festival’s last edition in Park City, Utah, before moving to Boulder, Colo., beginning with next year’s fest. The ongoing violence in Minneapolis hung heavy over the festival, with many speaking out against ICE and its actions.
Everything we saw and captured at the final Sundance Film Festival in Park City.
In “Josephine,” a young girl, played by Mason Reeves, witnesses a sexual attack in the park and struggles to process what she has seen as her parents (Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum) try to help her through. Times critic Amy Nicholson called De Araújo’s direction “perceptive and steely.”
“Rape culture is deeply woven into the fabric of this society,” said De Araújo while accepting the top prize, making an association between the subject of her film and “the highest ranks of this current administration.”
Holding back tears, the director said, “When we tolerate rapists, look where it gets us. When these men go unchecked, their conviction in the belief they can do anything they want without consequence runs rampant. I know you are scared. I’m scared too. But now is our time to find courage by linking arms, holding your neighbors and loved ones tight because we are stronger together. There are millions of us. It is their time to be scared now.”
The jury for the U.S. dramatic competition was made up of filmmakers Janicza Bravo, Nisha Ganatra and Azazel Jacobs. In recognizing “Josephine,” certainly among the most talked-about films at the festival, the jury celebrated, in its words, “an empathetic view into the many different ways we as humans cope and try to set the wrongs right.”
A mood of existential uncertainly settled over a week of world premieres and panels, but the festival went on, celebrating in Park City for the last time.
Other awards for the U.S. dramatic competition went to Josef Kubota Wladyka for directing the dance dramedy “Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty!” and Liz Sargent for screenwriting for the family drama “Take Me Home.” A special jury award for debut feature was won by Stephanie Ahn for the Korean American tale “Bedford Park,” while Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam Ataei’s “The Friend’s House Is Here,” shot in Tehran, won a special jury award for ensemble cast.
The directing prize for U.S. documentary went to J.M. Harper for “Soul Patrol,” about Black soldiers serving during the war in Vietnam, while the documentary editing award went to Matt Hixon for his work on Brydie O’Connor’s “Barbara Forever,” a portrait of artist Barbara Hammer.
On the world cinema side, the dramatic grand jury prize went to Visar Morina’s “Shame and Money” while Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić’s “To Hold a Mountain” won the documentary grand jury prize.
In accepting the jury prize for the Next section for “The Incomer,” Scottish filmmaker Louis Paxton summed up the feelings of many at this year’s festival, proclaiming, “Long live cinema, independent cinema and long live Sundance!”
