Beth de Araújo’s drama Josephine starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan, about an 8-year-old girl who accidentally witnesses a heinous crime in Golden Gate Park, took both the U.S. Dramatic Competition Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival Awards.
In a tearful acceptance speech during Friday’s ceremony, de Araújo said, “It’s very hard to talk about rape. Even just saying the word makes people uncomfortable. But because of this, there are only leaves more shame and silence for survivors to cope with the effects alone. In order to honor survivors, we must try to understand the people who rape in an attempt to remedy from happening again. We have the resources, we just don’t make it a priority. One in four women, one in six men. Rape culture is deeply woven into the fabric of this society. It is rooted in the idea that masculine, male, can dominate whatever they come across, because it’s inherently theirs through violence. That is the very core belief of chauvinistic groups that have found favor among the highest ranks of this current administration.
“It’s not a time to empathize or understand them, it’s a time to stop them. When we tolerate rapists, look where it gets us. When these men go unchecked, their conviction and belief that they can do anything they want without consequence, runs rampant. I know you are scared; I’m scared too. Now is the time to find courage by linking arms, holding your neighbors and loved ones tight; we are stronger together.”
The CAA and WME Independent co-repped feature stands at 97% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
RELATED: Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Winners Through The Years
Among other winners revealed today, Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman’s Nuisance Bear took home the U.S. Documentary Competition award. The pic follows a polar bear whose traditional migration path leads it into populated areas.
Other notable winners were Shame and Money (World Cinema Dramatic Competition) and To Hold a Mountain (World Cinema Documentary Competition).
This is the final Sundance in Park City, UT before moving to Boulder, CO. next year.
Below is the full list of winners.
U.S. Dramatic Competition
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
Josephine / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Beth de Araújo, Producers: David Kaplan, Josh Peters, Marina Stabile, Mark H. Rapaport, Crystine Zhang)
Directing Award
Josef Kubota Wladyka for Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty! / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Josef Kubota Wladyka, Screenwriter: Nicholas Huynh, Producers: Kimberly Parker Zox, Mao Nagakura). The movie recently sold to Sony Pictures Classics.
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast
The Friend’s House is Here / U.S.A., Iran (Directors, Screenwriters, and Producers: Hossein Keshavarz, Maryam Ataei)
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Debut Feature
Bedford Park / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Stephanie Ahn, Producers: Gary Foster, Chris S. Lee, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Theresa Kang, Son Sukku)
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic
Take Me Home / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Liz Sargent, Producers: Apoorva Guru Charan, Minos Papas)
U.S. Documentary Competition
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
Nuisance Bear / U.S.A., Canada (Directors: Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman, Producers: Michael Code, Will N. Miller, Teddy Leifer)
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Journalistic Excellence
Who Killed Alex Odeh? / U.S.A. (Directors: Jason Osder, William Lafi Youmans, Producer: Dawne Langford, William Lafi Youmans, Jason Osder, Daniel J. Chalfen)
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award:
Matt Hixon for Barbara Forever / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Brydie O’Connor, Producer: Elijah Stevens)
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary
J.M. Harper for Soul Patrol / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: J.M. Harper, Producers: Sam Bisbee, Danielle Massie, Nasir Jones, Peter Bittenbender)
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Impact for Change
The Lake / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Abby Ellis, Producer: Fletcher Keyes
(L-R) Gemma Chan, Mason Reeves and Channing Tatum in ‘Josephine’
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Greta Zozula
Audience Awards
Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic
Josephine / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Beth de Araújo, Producers: David Kaplan, Josh Peters, Marina Stabile, Mark H. Rapaport, Crystine Zhang)
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary
American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: David Alvarado, Producers: Lauren DeFilippo, Everett Katigbak, Amanda Pollak)
Audience Award: NEXT
Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] / U.S.A., Denmark (Directors and Producers: Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, Producers: Steve Holmgren, Grace Remington, Jacque Clark, Franny Alfano)
Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary
One In A Million / U.K. (Directors: Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes, Producers: Raney Aronson-Rath, Will Anderson, James Bluemel, Andrew Palmer)
Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic
HOLD ONTO ME (Κράτα Με) / Cyprus, Denmark, Greece (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Myrsini Aristidou, Producer: Monica Nicolaidou)
NEXT Awards
NEXT Special Jury Award for Creative Expression
TheyDream / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: William David Caballero, Screenwriters and Producers: Erin Ploss-Campoamor, Elaine del Valle, Producer: Brad Jones)
NEXT Innovator Award
The Incomer / U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Louis Paxton, Producers: Shirley O’Connor, Emily Gotto)
World Dramatic Competition Awards
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
Shame and Money / Germany, Kosovo, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, Belgium (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Visar Morina, Screenwriter: Doruntina Basha, Producers: Fabian Altenried, Sophie Ahrens, Kristof Gerega, Pia Hellenthal)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision
Filipiñana / Singapore, U.K., Philippines, France, Netherlands (Director and Screenwriter: Rafael Manuel, Producers: Jeremy Chua, Alex Polunin, Bianca Balbuena, Bradley Liew, Nadia Turincev, Omar El Kadi)
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble
LADY / U.K., Nigeria (Director and Screenwriter: Olive Nwosu, Producer: Alex Polunin)
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic
Andrius Blaževičius for How to Divorce During the War / Lithuania, Luxembourg, Ireland, Czech Republic (Director and Screenwriter: Andrius Blaževičius, Producer: Marija Razgutė)
World Documentary Competition Awards
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
To Hold a Mountain / Serbia, France, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia (Directors, Screenwriters, and Producers: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić, Producers: Quentin Laurent, Rok Biček)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Journalistic Impact
Birds of War / U.K., Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon (Directors, Screenwriters, and Producers: Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak, Producer: Sonja Henrici)
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Civil Resistance
Everybody To Kenmure Street / U.K. (Director and Producer: Felipe Bustos Sierra, Producer: Ciara Barry
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary
Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes for One In A Million / U.K. (Producers: Raney Aronson-Rath, Will Anderson, James Bluemel, Andrew Palmer)
Shorts Program Awards
Short Film Grand Jury Prize
The Baddest Speechwriter of All/ U.S.A. (Directors and Producers: Ben Proudfoot, Stephen Curry, Producer: Erick Peyton)
Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction
Crisis Actor / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Lily Platt, Producers: Sophie Seyd, Alex Bendo, Lexi Preiser)
Short Film Special Jury Award for Acting
Noah Roja and Filippo Carrozza for The Liars / Argentina (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Eduardo Braun Costa, Producers: Manuel Aguer, Natasha Gurfinkel)
Short Film Special Jury Award for Creative Vision
Paper Trail / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Don Hertzfeldt)
Short Film Jury Award: Animation
Living with a Visionary / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Stephen P. Neary, Producer: Mireia Vilanova)
Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction
The Boys and the Bees / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Arielle C. Knight, Producer: Sean Weiner)
Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction
Jazz Infernal / Canada (Director and Screenwriter: Will Niava, Screenwriter: Kristelle Laroche, Producers: Zion Lipstein-Saffer, Samuel Caron)
Other awards
Sundance Institute Producers Award for Nonfiction, presented by Amazon MGM Studios, went to Dawne Langford for Who Killed Alex Odeh? / U.S.A. (Directors: Jason Osder, William Lafi Youmans, Producers: Dawne Langford, William Lafi Youmans, Jason Osder, Daniel J. Chalfen)
The Sundance Institute | NHK Award went to Leo Aguirre for Verano (U.S.A.).
The 2026 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize for an outstanding feature film with science and technology themes or characters was awarded to In The Blink of An Eye directed by Andrew Stanton.