Beth de Araújo’s Josephine — a drama that centers on an 8-year-old girl who witnesses a rape in Golden Gate Park and the fallout that comes as her parents, played by Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan, struggle to find a path forward — won two awards during the Sundance Film Festival’s closing ceremony.
The film, which is among the hot acquisition titles at the festival, picked up a grand jury prize and an audience award, both in dramatic categories. Mason Reeves stars alongside Tatum, Chan, Philip Ettinger, Syra McCarthy and Eleanore Pienta. De Araújo directed from her own script. The film was produced by David Kaplan, Josh Peters, Marina Stabile, Mark H. Rapaport and Crystine Zhang.
The awards ceremony, attended by filmmakers, jury members and other festival insiders, came ahead of the final Saturday at Sundance, which will finish out its run in Park City, Utah, before moving to a new home in Boulder, Colorado for 2027 and beyond. All feature award-winning films are now online nationwide through Feb. 1. It proved to be a politically-charged event with a handful of winners speaking out about the fractured U.S. landscape and calling out the U.S. government’s deployment of ICE officers across the country.
Others paid tribute to Sundance’s crucial role in supporting independent film and bidding adieu to Park City. Said Eugene Hernandez, director of the Sundance Film Festival and public programming: “Thank you to all of the artists and audiences who made this Festival one we’ll remember for a long time, and we’re deeply grateful to our friends and partners in Park City, Salt Lake City, and all across Utah, home to so many cherished festivals. We salute and thank Utah’s moviegoers who have embraced this festival and our founder Robert Redford’s vision.”
This year’s jury: Janicza Bravo, Nisha Ganatra and Azazel Jacobs for the U.S. Dramatic; Natalia Almada, Justin Chang and Jennie Livingston for the U.S. Documentary; Ana Katz, So Yong Kim and Tatiana Maslany for the World Cinema Dramatic; Toni Kamau, Bao Nguyen and Kirsten Schaffer for World Cinema Documentary; A.V. Rockwell, Liv Constable-Maxwell and Martin Starr for the Short Film Program; and John Cooper and Trevor Groth for Next section.
The list of award winners is below. Previously announced short film award winners can be found here.
Grand Jury Prizes
Dramatic — Josephine (Director, screenwriter and producer Beth de Araújo, producers David Kaplan, Josh Peters, Marina Stabile, Mark H. Rapaport and Crystine Zhang) Jury citation: “For the depth and nuance of storytelling. For the delicate and elegant execution of a challenging subject matter. The skilled direction of performance from the cast. The humanistic view of the filmmaker and how they withheld judgment of those dealing with the impact of victimization. This filmmaker offered an empathetic view into the many different ways we as humans cope and try to set the wrongs right.”
Documentary — Nuisance Bear (Directors Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman; producers Michael Code, Will N. Miller and Teddy Leifer) Jury citation: “This film tells an enormous story with great drama, beauty and verve, and powerfully confronts the realities of climate change, the tensions between Indigenous tradition and Western capitalist encroachment, and the complexities of humanity’s relationship with the natural world. It also features a standout sequence that is, like the film itself, humorous, terrifying, and unforgettable. Of all the documentaries we saw, this one was the least … polarizing.”
World Cinema: Dramatic — Shame and Money (Director, screenwriter and producer Visar Morina; screenwriter Doruntina Basha; producers Fabian Altenried, Sophie Ahrens, Kristof Gerega and Pia Hellenthal) Jury citation: “For his powerful and unique portrayal of human dignity in contemporary Kosovo that universally resonates. A sensitive filmmaker who masterfully draws the audience into the daily struggles of a family [and who has] deep empathy for his characters in a crucial moment in which they are beginning again.”
World Cinema: Documentary — To Hold a Mountain (Directors, screenwriters and producers Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić; producers Quentin Laurent and Rok Biček) Jury citation: “This visually and emotionally stunning film transported us to a remote mountain top and into the most intimate moments of a family fighting to protect not only their land, but their way of life. The truest example of the power of cinema to make the personal political.”
Next Innovator Award Presented by Adobe
The Incomer (Director and screenwriter Louis Paxton; producers Shirley O’Connor and Emily Gotto) Jury citation: “This award goes to a boldly original comic fable that blends folklore with formal playfulness. Deadpan humor, animation, and myth collide — proof that fearless invention can be both uproarious and deeply humane.”
Audience Awards
U.S. Dramatic presented by Acura — Josephine
U.S. Documentary presented by Acura — American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez (Director, screenwriter and producer David Alvarado; producers Lauren DeFilippo, Everett Katigbak and Amanda Pollak) Against political resistance and industry skepticism, Luis Valdez pushes Chicano storytelling from the fields to the film screen with Zoot Suit and La Bamba, crafting iconic works that challenge, celebrate, and expand America’s story.
World Cinema Dramatic presented by United Airlines — Hold Onto Me (Director, screenwriter and producer Myrsini Aristidou; producer Monica Nicolaidou) — 11-year-old Iris learns her estranged father, Aris, is back in town for his own father’s funeral. Determined to know him, Iris tracks him down to a dilapidated shipyard, where he’s been keeping to himself. What begins as a stubborn attempt to reconnect slowly unfolds into a fragile bond. Cast: Christos Passalis, Maria Petrova. World Premiere. Available online for public.
World Cinema Documentary presented by United Airlines — One In A Million (Directors Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes; producers Raney Aronson-Rath, Will Anderson, James Bluemel and Andrew Palmer) Filmed over 10 years, one girl’s epic journey from Syria to Germany and back again. She and her family navigate war, exile, and heartbreak in a foreign land, illuminating the complexities of the refugee experience.
Next presented by Adobe — Aanikoobijigan (Directors and producers Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil; producers Steve Holmgren, Grace Remington, Jacque Clark and Franny Alfano) — Trapped in museum archives, ancestors bend time and space to find their way home. History, spirituality, and the law collide as tribal repatriation specialists fight to return and rebury Indigenous human remains, offering a revealing look at the still-pervasive worldviews that justified collecting them in the first place.
Jury Awards for Directing, Screenwriting and Editing
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic — Josef Kubota Wladyka for Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty!
Jury citation: “For bringing us into a creative world that allowed us to explore love, loss, and grief through dance with deep emotion and surprising joy and laughter. We will carry Rinko Kikuchi’s performance in our hearts, and thank this film for reminding us that when magical realism works it is truly a feat to behold.”
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary — J.M. Harper for Soul Patrol
Jury citation: “With remarkable intelligence and resourcefulness, and an elegant attention to cultural context, this filmmaker achieves a skillful balance of archival footage, vivid re-enactments and troubling hallucinations. In doing so, he makes palpable the trauma of Black Americans who have never gotten due recognition for their sacrifices in war.”
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic — Andrius Blaževičius for How to Divorce During the War
Jury citation: “For his immense talent and steady hand in a darkly comedic film about life in times of war, this director’s subtle observation holds a mirror to our contradictions without neglecting the humanity of his characters.”
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary — Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes for One In A Million
Jury citation: “Elegantly exploring the ideas of freedom and the importance of home in the aftermath of war, this film impressed us with its sense of scale and decade-long directorial commitment to its subjects. It is a beautiful synthesis of one family’s migration across multiple countries as they seek refuge from societal upheaval.”
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic — Liz Sargent for Take Me Home
Jury citation: “For modeling a different way to tell a story. This is a movie that embraced the truth of the moment on set, necessitating the filmmaker be fully present to shift, reflect, and trust her vision, in order to capture the miracle that she did.”
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: U.S. Documentary — Matt Hixon for Barbara Forever
Jury citation: “Drawing on an artist’s deep archive of original work and forming exquisite connections between history and biography, art and life, this intimate and expansive portrait gives a pioneering figure in queer experimental filmmaking her rightful due.”
Special Jury Awards
Debut Feature — Bedford Park (Director and screenwriter Stephanie Ahn; producers Gary Foster, Chris S. Lee, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Theresa Kang, Son Sukku)
Jury citation: “For inviting us into a world we’ve never seen depicted on film, and daring to share the very personal, the filmmaker upended all of our assumptions of a story told with depth and skill.”
Ensemble Cast — The Friend’s House is Here (Directors, screenwriters and producers Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam Ataei)
Jury citation: “For delivering performances that each of us could find ourselves in, revealing a story that is frighteningly universal. The ensemble injects the world with gravity, love, and humor, and shows us the way community and connection are often our key to survival.”
Journalistic Excellence — Who Killed Alex Odeh? (Directors Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans; producer Dawne Langford, William Lafi Youmans, Jason Osder and Daniel J. Chalfen)
Jury citation: “This engrossing and surprising true-crime saga begins as an investigation into an unsolved murder and, with great procedural rigor, excavates a nefarious history about America’s role in suppressing justice for a Palestinian American family.”
Impact for Change — The Lake (Director and producer Abby Ellis; producer Fletcher Keyes)
Jury citation: “This environmental-crisis story is a probing and provocative look at the interdependency of science and faith, and the power of individuals and communities to avert disaster by working together. We were moved and encouraged by its vision of people working across political divides.”
Creative Vision — Filipiñana (Director and screenwriter Rafael Manuel; producers Jeremy Chua, Alex Polunin, Bianca Balbuena, Bradley Liew, Nadia Turincev and Omar El Kadi)
Jury citation: “With stunning visual command and sensitivity to the setting, the filmmaker thoughtfully evokes a world where characters languish. Through its static form, the filmmaker highlights insidious tension between luxury and labor.”
Acting Ensemble — Lady (Director and screenwriter Olive Nwosu; producer Alex Polunin)
Jury citation: “For a film full of depth and texture and with a rhythm all its own, with an electric ensemble cast that brings life and humor and insight to a story about day-to-day challenges and finding safety in unexpected friendships.”
Journalistic Impact — Birds of War (Directors, screenwriters and producers Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak; producer Sonja Henrici)
Jury citation: “By turning the camera on themselves, the co-directors follow the arc of their own love story as the vehicle for a deeply moving narrative about the complexity of revolution and war. This film showcases the power of journalism through emotion and vulnerability; enduring, bearing witness and telling one’s own story oftentimes has the most impact.”
Civil Resistance — Everybody To Kenmure Street (Director and producer Felipe Bustos Sierra; producer Ciara Barry)
Jury citation: “Not your typical social issue film, this documentary utilizes a touch of humor and a wide diversity of perspectives to call upon people to stand up for their neighbors. In a time when xenophobia and authoritarianism are on the rise, the power of collective action here is a global rallying cry.”
Next Special Jury Award for Creative Expression — TheyDream / U.S.A. (Director, screenwriter and producer William David Caballero; screenwriters and producers Erin Ploss-Campoamor and Elaine del Valle; producer Brad Jones)
Jury citation: “For fully exploring multiple filmmaking techniques blending craft and emotion to tell a personal story of those often overlooked…more importantly with loving humor and brutal honesty.”
