The juries of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival will be announcing this year’s award winners Friday morning in Park City, Utah.
Filmmakers Janicza Bravo, Nisha Ganatra and Azazel Jacobs are the jury for the U.S. Dramatic Competition, where titles include Beth De Araújo’s “Josephine,” starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan, the Rachel Lambert’s romantic drama “Carousel,” with Chris Pine and Jenny Slate, “Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty!” and “The Musical.”
Documentaries up for awards in the world and U.S. competitions include “Closure,” “The Lake,” “Seized” and “Who Killed Alex Odeh?” Jurors include film critic Justin Chang and filmmaker A.V. Rockwell.
“This year’s jury represents a rare depth of creative conviction and exceptional range, made up of artists and thinkers who know what it means to take risks,” said festival director Eugene Hernandez in a statement. “They bring curiosity, rigor, and a deep respect for bold storytelling, qualities that are essential to discovering the films that will define the future of independent cinema.”
The festival previously awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, which celebrates outstanding films representing science or technology, to Andrew Stanton’s “In the Blink of an Eye.”
Sundance prizes can sometimes be the first stop for eventual Oscar nominees and winners, which notably happened with “CODA” and “Summer of Soul.” Documentaries more so than narrative films have a better track record of making it to the Oscars stage. Three of last year’s special prize winners are nominated for best documentary this year, “The Perfect Neighbor,” “Cutting Through Rocks” and “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” and the two others were among the festival favorites, “Come See Me in the Good Light” and “The Alabama Solution.”
Last year’s U.S. Dramatic grand jury prize went to the war satire “Atropia,” while the audience award was given to the dark comedy “Twinless,” with Dylan O’Brien.
The Sundance Film Festival runs through Sunday.
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