Here are the Winners of the SXSW 2026 Film & TV Festival Jury and Special Awards

Another SXSW has come and gone, and those who made the trek to Austin, Texas, are likely all quite hungover and ready from gorging on brisket and tacos for a solid week. This year’s SXSW conference was quite unique in several ways, though. It was shorter and more compartmentalized.

Yet for those of us who were there to cover the Film & TV Festival section, it was a very nice return to form for the festival and conference, which had its challenges ahead after losing a couple of years to Covid shutdowns a few years ago.

This year’s Film & TV Festival was a hit, though, and saw some great film premieres, panels, and parties, which we were excited to be able to cover for y’all. If you’ve missed any interviews or panel write-ups, you can check them out here.

However, if you’re curious to know which films and shows took home the big awards from this year’s Film & TV Festival, we have the full list of winners for you to browse below.

2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival Jury and Special Award Winners

Featuring an array of films and projects across its different narrative, documentary, shorts, independent TV pilots, music videos, and several other categories, the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival gave us a lot of great films and content to watch this year.

"This week reminded me, once again, why we do this. The world has felt heavy. But inside our theaters, something extraordinary happened. Strangers became collaborators, audiences showed up with their whole hearts, and filmmaker after filmmaker reminded us exactly why we gather. We are so proud to celebrate this year's jury and special award winners. Trust us, you're going to be hearing a lot more from them." — Claudette Godfrey, VP, Film & TV.

Here are all of the SXSW Film & TV Festival Jury and Special Award winners:

'Wishful Thinking' Courtesy of SXSW

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION presented by Kickstarter

Winner:Wishful Thinking directed by Graham Parkes

Special Jury Award for Performance: Susan Kent, The Snake

Special Jury Award for Screenwriting: Robb Boardman, Cory Loykasek, Donny Divianian and Frankie Quinones, Plantman & Blondie: A Dress Up Gang Film

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

Winner:Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story directed by Ayden Mayeri

Special Jury Award: The Last Critic directed by Matty Wishnow

Special Jury Award: Stormbound directed by Miko Lim

SHORT FILM COMPETITION Presented by Vimeo

Narrative Short Competition

Winner : Souvenir directed by Renée Marie Petropoulos

Special Jury Award: Supper directed by Savannah Braswell

Documentary Short Competition

Winner : In The Morning Sun directed by Serville Poblete

Special Jury Award: Eructation directed by Victoria Trow

Animated Short Competition

Winner : Paper Trail directed by Don Hertzfeldt

Special Jury Award: Hag directed by Anna Ginsburg

Midnight Short Competition

Winner:Tongue directed by Lim Da seul

Special Jury Award:Man Eating Pussy directed by Emily Lawson

Texas Short Competition

Winner:Forcefield of Love directed by Liz Moskowitz and Riley Engemoen

Special Jury Award for Standout Ensemble:Stalin Boys directed by Ora DeKornfeld and Bianca Giaever

'Fogata’

MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION

Winner: Rawayana and Bomba Estereo - ‘Fogata’ directed by Paola Ossa

Special Jury Award: Doechii - 'Anxiety' directed by James Mackel

INDEPENDENT TV PILOT COMPETITION

Winner: In My Blood from Showrunner and Director Alex Bendo

Special Jury Award:Son of a Bikram from Showrunners and Screenwriters Ash T and Johnny Rey Diaz and Director Johnny Rey Diaz

XR EXPERIENCE COMPETITION

Winner:Body Proxy by Danny Cannizzaro and Samantha Gorman

Special Jury Award: The Forgotten War by Hayoun Kwon

SPECIAL AWARDS

Agog Immersive Impact Award

Winner: A Long Goodbye directed by Kate Voet and Victor Maes

Green Lens Award

Winner:Plantman & Blondie: A Dress Up Gang Film directed by Robb Boardman

Janet Pierson Champion Award

Winner: Benjamin Wiessner

NEON Auteur Award

Winner:The Peril at Pincer Poin t directed by Jake Kuhn and Noah Stratton-Twine

Redbreast Unhidden Award

Winner: We Were Here directed by Pranav Bhasin

SXSW Best of Texas Award

Winner:Stages directed by Ryan Booth

Vimeo Staff Pick

Winner:Mantis Stream! Like & Subscribe directed by Lincoln Robisch and Sarah Maerten (CLUSTERFUCK!)

Be sure to check out the rest of our SXSW 2026 coverage!