Best Movies of Sundance 2026: IndieWire Critics Survey

Some years, the results of our Sundance Critics Survey are incredibly close and divisive, as critics from around the world advocate for a wide array of favorites. In other years, a clear favorite emerges immediately.

Count 2026 among the latter category, as participants in IndieWire’s annual poll overwhelmingly supported “Josephine.” Beth de Araújo’s sophomore hit, which won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the festival, remarkably came in first place in every single category it was eligible for, including Best Feature Film, Best Directing, Best Screenwriting, and Best Performance (where stars Mason Reeves and Channing Tatum took first and second place, respectively).

William Greaves’ posthumous final documentary “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” (co-directed with his son David, who assembled the footage of Harlem Renaissance luminaries reconnecting at a 1974 cocktail party organized by Greaves) was also a favorite of critics, being selected as Best Documentary Feature and coming in third place in the overall Best Feature category.

The survey included critics from multiple continents and dozens of different outlets who covered Sundance in person or via the festival’s virtual platform. Keep reading for the full results of IndieWire’s 2026 Sundance Critics Survey.

Best Feature Film

1. “Josephine”
2. “The Weight”
3. “Once Upon a Time in Harlem”
4. “The Invite”
5. “If I Go Will They Miss Me”
6. “The Friend’s House Is Here”
7. “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass”
8. “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!”
9. “Leviticus”
10. “Nuisance Bear”

Best Performance

1. Mason Reeves, “Josephine”
2. Channing Tatum, “Josephine”
3. Ethan Hawke, “The Weight”
4. Will Poulter, “Union Country”
5. Son Sukku, “Bedford Park”
6. Chris Pine, “Carousel”
7. Astrit Kabashi, “Shame and Money”
8. Rinko Kinkuchi, “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty”
9. Olivia Wilde, “I Want Your Sex”
10. Maria Petrova, “Hold Onto Me”

Best Documentary

1. “Once Upon a Time in Harlem”
2. “Give Me the Ball”
3. “Nuisance Bear”
4. “Closure”
5. “The History of Concrete”
6. “When a Witness Recants”
7. “Public Access”
8. “Everybody to Kenmore Street”
9. “Joybubbles”
10. “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist”

Best Directing

1. Beth de Araújo, “Josephine”
2. William and David Greaves, “Once Upon a Time in Harlem”
3. Padraic McKinley, “The Weight”
4. Olivia Wilde, “The Invite”
5. Makoto Nagahisa, “Burn”
6. Louis Paxton, “The Incomer”
7. Walter Thompson-Hernández, “If I Go Will They Miss Me”
8. Josef Kubota Wladyka, “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!”
9. Kogonada, “Zi”
10. Adam Meeks, “Union County”

Best Screenwriting

1. Beth de Araújo, “Josephine”
2. Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, “The Invite”
3. Padraic McKinley, “The Weight”
4. Louis Paxton, “The Incomer”
5. Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam Ataei, “The Friend’s House Is Here”
6. Josef Kubota Wladyka, “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty”
7. Stephanie Ahn, “Bedford Park”
8. Rachel Lambert, “Carousel”
9. Gregg Araki, “I Want Your Sex”
10. Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, “Wicker”

Best International Feature

1. “Leviticus”
2. “The Incomer”
3. “How to Divorce During the War”
4. “Burn”
5. “Shame and Money”

Best International Documentary

1. “Closure”
2. “Everybody to Kenmure Street”
3. “To Hold a Mountain”
4. “Birds of War”
5. “Jaripeo”

Best First Feature

1. “The Weight”
2. “The History of Concrete”
3. “Night Nurse”
4. “The Incomer”
5. “Nuisance Bear”