Tribeca Festival 2026 Winners: ‘Cotton Fever’, ‘Labrador – Autopsy Of Silence’, ‘Jail Time Records’ Take Top Awards

Cotton Fever by Daniel Blake Schwartz, Labrador – Autopsy of Silence by Rodrigue Jean, and Dione Roach and Steve Happi’s Jail Time Records won the top prizes for U.S. Narrative Feature, International Narrative feature, and documentary, respectively, at Tribeca Festival.

Cotton Fever also took Best Cinematography in a U.S. Narrative Feature at the festival, which revealed winners of its 25th edition Thursday. Labrador won Best Performance in an International Narrative Feature for Christopher Angatookalook as well as Best Cinematography in the category. Jail Time Records was awarded the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director.

Summer of Three from Carlitos Ruíz-Ruíz was another multi award-winner, with Best Screenplay and Best Performance in a U.S. Narrative Feature for Marcel Ruiz, Paolo Schoene and Kiki Montilla.

Insufficient Fare took the inaugural Best New York Short honor.

The winning films, representing countries across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East, reflected the global scope of the festival, which also recognized achievement in its Viewpoints, Nora Ephron, Short Film, Best New Directors, Podcasts, Games, AT&T Untold Stories and Tribeca X strands.

See the full list of 2026 winners below.

“This year’s award winners embody the spirit of Tribeca: fearless work that crosses borders, expands the form, and reveals the power of storytelling to uncover humanity in unexpected places,” said Festival Director and SVP of Programming Cara Cusumano. “As we celebrate our 25th year, these artists remind us that powerful stories do more than entertain, they deepen our empathy, broaden our perspective, and bring us closer together.”

Winners of the Audience Award will be announced at a later date.

Tribeca’s closing-night film, the world premiere of documentary Alicia Keys: Girl From Hell’s Kitchen, screens Saturday. The fest formally wraps Sunday.

Below is the winners list:

U.S. NARRATIVE COMPETITION

Best U.S. Narrative Feature: Cotton Fever, Director Daniel Blake Schwartz (United States) – World Premiere

Special Jury Mention for Best U.S. Narrative Feature: Here I’m Alive, Director Joshua Z Weinstein (United States) – World Premiere

Best Performance in a U.S. Narrative Feature: Marcel Ruiz, Paolo Schoene, and Kiki Montilla for Summer of Three (Puerto Rico) – World Premiere

Best Screenplay in a U.S. Narrative Feature: Carlitos Ruiz-Ruiz, Marcel Ruiz, and Mariana S. Belaval for Summer of Three (Puerto Rico) – World Premiere

Best Cinematography in a U.S. Narrative Feature:Tom Acton Fitzgerald for Cotton Fever (United States) – World Premiere

INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE COMPETITION

Best International Narrative Feature: Labrador – Autopsy of Silence, Director Rodrigue Jean (Canada) – World Premiere. Jury Statement: “An intriguing film that unanimously rose to the top. It is confidently crafted, spiritually mindful, and touched us deeply while immersing us in its haunting story and unique world.”

Best Performance in an International Narrative Feature: Christopher Angatookalookfor Labrador – Autopsy of Silence (Canada) – World Premiere. Jury Statement: “His soulful portrayal of emotional solitude blew us away and we imagine this award is just one of many to come.”

Special Jury Mention for Best Performance in an International Feature: Duda Santos & Mc Nem for Funk (Brazil) – World Premiere. Jury Statement: “Two actresses who impressed us with their incredible energy and dynamism in a film that shows a fresh side of favelas on screen, by way of music and dance. And a special shout out to their costumes, too!”

Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Feature: Alex Camilleri for Zejtune (Malta, Germany, Qatar) – North American Premiere

Best Cinematography in an International Narrative Feature: Mathieu Laverdière for Labrador – Autopsy of Silence (Canada) – World Premiere

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Best Documentary Feature: Jail Time Records, Directors Dione Roach and Steve Happi (Cameroon, United States) – World Premiere

Special Jury Mention for Best Documentary Feature: Time Warp, Director Allison Berg (United States) – World Premiere

Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature: Dione Roach, Urberto Rapisardi, and Steve Happi for Jail Time Records (Cameroon, United States) – World Premiere

Special Jury Mention for Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature: Lukas Gut for Siege of Paradise (Ireland, Switzerland) – World Premiere

Best Editing in a Documentary Feature: Rebecca Adorno and Viridiana Lieberman for Jean-Michel (United States) – World Premiere

Special Jury Mention for Best Editing in a Documentary Feature: Christopher A. Peterson and Peter Norrey for American Zoo (United Kingdom) – World Premiere

VIEWPOINTS AWARD

Crocodile, Director The Critics and Pietra Brettkelly (Nigeria, New Zealand) – North American Premiere.

Special Jury Mention for Viewpoints Award: Sarah Karei for One Woman One Bra (Kenya, Nigeria) – North American Premiere.

BEST NEW NARRATIVE DIRECTOR AWARD

Miiku Sakanishi for Memorizu (Japan) – World Premiere

Special Jury Mention, Best New Narrative Director: Elisee Junior St. Preux for The Tropic Sun and His Eyes (Haiti) – World Premiere

ALBERT MAYSLES AWARD FOR BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR

Dione Roach and Steve Happi for Jail Time Records (Cameroon, United States) – World Premiere

Special Jury Mention, Albert Maysles Award: Natalie Baszile and Hyacinth Parker for Harvest (United States) – World Premiere

NORA EPHRON AWARD

Dina Duma for Skateboarding Is Not for Girls (North Macedonia, Belgium, Slovenia, Croatia) – World Premiere

SHORTS COMPETITION

Best Narrative Short: 32B, Director Mohamed Taher (Egypt) – World Premiere

Special Jury Mention, Narrative Short: So, Boom, Director Abby Pierce (United States) – New York Premiere

Best Documentary Short: Listen, Director Taliesin Black Brown (United States) – World Premiere

Special Jury Mention, Documentary Short: The Baddest Speechwriter of All, Directors Ben Proudfoot and Stephen Curry (United States) – New York Premiere

Best Animated Short: Violet and Marlowe Rob a Bank, Director Wesley Wang (United States) – World Premiere

Special Jury Mention, Animated Short: Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe, Director Andrea Szelesová (Czech Republic, Slovakia) – North American Premiere

Best New York Short: Insufficient Fare, Directors Michael Gugger and Varvara Kanellakopoulou (United States) – World Premiere

Best Music Video: Fingers Crossed – The Moth & The Flame, Director Rebecca Thomas (United States) – World Premiere

Student Visionary Award: Found&Lost, Director Reza Rasouli (Austria) – New York Premiere

TRIBECA GAMES AWARD

There are No Ghosts at the Grand, Directors Anil Glendinning and Rachel Glendinning (United Kingdom) – World Premiere

TRIBECA PODCASTS COMPETITION

Audio Nonfiction Reporting Award: The Fastest Girl in Somalia, Director Teresa Krug (United States) – World Premiere

Audio Fiction Award: THE DOUBLE[S], Directors Winnie Kemp and Alexander Kemp (United States) – World Premiere

Audio Investigative Nonfiction Award: The Most Wanted Olympian, Director Michelle Shephard (Canada) – World Premiere

Audio Memoir Award: Reaching Out, Director Sayre Quevedo (United States) – World Premiere

AT&T PRESENTS UNTOLD STORIES

Sid Gopinath, Aditya Joshi and Alifya Ali for Minnesota Goodbye

TRIBECA X AWARD COMPETITION

Best Feature: Meal Ticket from McDonald’s

Best Short: The Book of George from Stio

Best Commercial: Last Coke in the Desert from Coca-Cola

Best Episodic: Built to Move from Autodesk

Best Episodic Honorable Mention: Partners from Carvana

Best Content Creator/Influencer: The Master of Speed & Stability from Beats

Best Audio/Podcast: To Catch a Thief: China’s Rise to Cyber Supremacy from Rubrik

Social Impact Award: The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix from Accenture / Philipstown WireCar Co.

Environmental Impact Award: The Theory of Spice from Yogi Tea

Director of the Year: A$AP Rocky

View this article at Deadline.