2026 Tribeca Festival Awards: 'Cotton Fever,' 'Labrador – Autopsy of Silence,' and 'Jail Time Records' Take Top Prizes
The 25th Tribeca Festival revealed its competition winners, with 'Cotton Fever' winning Best U.S. Narrative Feature, 'Labrador – Autopsy of Silence' taking Best International Narrative Feature, and 'Jail Time Records' claiming Best Documentary Feature. 'Summer of Three' earned multiple awards including Best Performance and Best Screenplay in the U.S. narrative competition, while 'Jail Time Records' also swept the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director and Best Cinematography in the documentary category. The festival, which runs through June 14 in New York, also named A$AP Rocky as Director of the Year, with the Audience Award still to be announced.
The 2026 Tribeca Festival, marking its 25th anniversary, announced competition winners across narrative, documentary, shorts, games, and podcast categories. In the U.S. narrative competition, Daniel Blake Schwartz's 'Cotton Fever' won the Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature and Best Cinematography, while 'Summer of Three' claimed both Best Performance and Best Screenplay. Canadian film 'Labrador – Autopsy of Silence' dominated the international narrative section, winning Best Film, Best Performance for Christopher Angatookalook, and Best Cinematography. The documentary 'Jail Time Records,' about a music recording studio inside a Cameroonian prison, won Best Documentary Feature, Best Cinematography, and the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director. Other notable winners included Miiku Sakanishi for Best New Narrative Director for 'Memorizu,' Dina Duma receiving the Nora Ephron Award for 'Skateboarding Is Not for Girls,' and A$AP Rocky named Director of the Year. Festival director Cara Cusumano described the winners as embodying 'fearless work that crosses borders, expands the form, and reveals the power of storytelling to uncover humanity in unexpected places.'
What's missing
The Audience Award winners, determined by public vote throughout the festival, had not yet been announced at the time of reporting.
What different sources said
- DeadlineCenter
Tribeca Festival 2026 Winners: ‘Cotton Fever’, ‘Labrador – Autopsy Of Silence’, ‘Jail Time Records’ Take Top Awards
- The Hollywood ReporterCenter
2026 Tribeca Festival Awards: ‘Labrador – Autopsy of Silence,’ ‘Jail Time Records,’ ‘Cotton Fever’ Lead Winners
- VarietyCenter
‘Cotton Fever,’ ‘Here I’m Alive’ and ‘Summer of Three’ Among 2026 Tribeca Festival Winners
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