The Sedona Intl. Film Festival 2026 has announced the complete list of winners across its competition categories.
Jeremy Xido’s “Sons of Detroit” garnered the top documentary prize, Marc Evan’s “Mr Burton won the award for Best U.S. narrative feature, and Emmanuel Courcol’s “The March Band” took home the best international narrative feature award.
Xido wrote, directed, and starred in “Sons of Detroit,” which explores his complicated upbringing in 1970s Detroit. The film debuted at DOC NYC in 2025.
Xido said the SIFF programming team reached out to him during the film’s run at DOC NYC and requested a screener.
“Less than 24 hours later, we received the most remarkable, perceptive, and incisive email back from them about “Sons of Detroit,” Xido told Variety. “They clearly liked the film but also felt very strongly that the audiences in Sedona would respond to it. We were all bedazzled by the enthusiasm. Sedona wasn’t on our radar at the time, but their unwavering certainty moved us. SIFF is a beloved festival. We have spoken with friends and colleagues about SIFF, and across the board, they say it’s one of their favorite festivals in the country. So here we are. And we could not be happier.”
“Sons of Detroit” was one of 36 feature docs that screened at SIFF, which began on Feb. 21.
The 2025 Tribeca Festival best documentary feature winner, “Natchez,” won SIFF’s best non-fiction storytelling prize. Directed by Suzannah Herbert’s “Natchez,” the film captures an unsettling clash between history and memory in a small Mississippi town. Last summer, Oscilloscope Laboratories acquired U.S. distribution rights to “Natchez,” which will be broadcast on Independent Lens this spring.
Another doc that debuted at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, Alexander Hammer’s “Room to Move” won SIFF’s Non-Fiction New Visions Award. Hammer’s intimate doc follows acclaimed NYC choreographer and dancer Jenn Freeman as she navigates receiving an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis at age 33.
Kahane Corn Cooperman’s “CREEDE U.S.A.” garnered the prize for Best Indie-Spirit Documentary. About a remote Colorado mountain mining town that becomes an unexpected model for public discourse, the film debuted at the South by Southwest Film Festival last year.
“This year, we had over 1700 film submissions and nearly 500 screenplay competition entries,” said SIFF executive director Patrick Schweiss, “From the first, two-day Sedona International Film Festival over thirty years ago, that kind of growth makes us all so proud, and it’s all thanks to the filmmakers and the stories they tell. We’ve always put filmmakers first, and the results, year over year, make SIFF a really special event for everyone involved.”
Jan Krawitz first attended SIFF in 2005 with her feature documentary, “Big Enough.” This year she returned with her 17-minute short doc “Nice Girls Don’t Ask,” a film that uses “social guidance” films of the 1950s as a cautionary tale for the present.
“I was aware of (SIFF’s) dedication to humanistic documentary and fiction films that offer captivating narratives,” Krawitz said. “Nice Girls Don’t Ask” is created exclusively from “social guidance” films of the 1950s, so it appeals to the type of cinephiles who enthusiastically patronize this festival.”
Director Mat Hames was at SIFF with his doc “A Life Outside: American Mountain Guides.” The film follows modern mountain guides in the Tetons who risk their lives to bring clients home safely.
“Sedona is full of avid hikers, so SIFF felt like a natural home (for the film),” Hames said. “We hope SIFF helps our film start a conversation about the physical and mental health benefits of getting into wild places, and that enthusiasm helps it with our PBS premiere later this year.”
SIFF, which ran from Feb. 21 through March 1. In addition to screening 36 feature docs, the lineup included 32 doc shorts, 36 feature-length narrative films and 42 animated and narrative shorts.
SIFF 2026 Winners:
DOCUMENTARY WINNERS:
Best Documentary Feature: Sons of Detroit
Non-Fiction New Visions Award: Room to Move
Best Indie-Spirit Documentary: Creede U.S.A.
Best Non-Fiction Storytelling: Natchez
Most Inspirational Documentary: Dream Touch Believe
Best Documentary Short: A Sacred Pause
Best Indie-Spirit Documentary Short: Exodus
Best Humanitarian Documentary Short: Rovina’s Choice
Best Short Non-Fiction Storytelling: On Healing Lands, Birds Perch
NARRATIVE FILM WINNERS:
Best Feature – Drama: Mr. Burton
Best Feature – Comedy: Ethan Bloom
Best International Feature: The Marching Band
Best Humanitarian Feature: Muganga
Best Indie-Spirit Feature: The Fallow Few
Most Impactful Film: Shambhala Story
Most Inspirational Film: Mistake
Best Family Film: The Secret Floor
SHORT WINNERS:
Best Short – Comedy: Daniel Van den Berg is Dead
Best Short – Drama: The Art of Inflation
Best International Short: The Reach
Best Humanitarian Short: Fundbox – A Love Story
Best Student Short: The Demon Core
Best Animated Short: WildKind
Best Indie-Spirit Short: Two People Exchanging Saliva
Programmer’s Choice Best Short: Emergency
SCREENPLAY WINNERS:
Feature Scripts: “Burgirlry” by Evan Laughlin
Short Scripts: “Burning Hammer” by Dylan Wilson
TV Pilots: “Sally White” by Katrina Jaxson