Winners of this year’s Sundance Film Festival were announced last week, marking the conclusion of a landmark edition and celebrating a wide range of independent films recognized for their storytelling, craft, and impact.

Company 3 supported three award-winning projects at Sundance 2026, contributing color services across documentary, narrative, and NEXT sections of the festival.

Among this year’s winners is Nuisance Bear, which received top honors in the U.S. Documentary Competition. Directed by Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman, and graded by Senior Colorist Joseph Bicknell, the documentary follows a polar bear navigating the town of Churchill, Manitoba, often called the Polar Bear Capital of the World, as ancient migration routes collide with modern systems designed to manage its existence. Expanded from the filmmakers’ Oscar-shortlisted short of the same name, the film offers a striking meditation on coexistence, observation, and control, blending urgency, empathy, and cinematic precision.

The Audience Award for NEXT went to Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild], a powerful documentary by brothers Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil that follows Native American repatriation specialists as they work to return the looted remains of Indigenous Ancestors from museums, universities, and archives to their tribal communities. Rooted in a nonlinear understanding of time shared by many Native communities, the film explores how past, present, and future generations remain bound by responsibility and reciprocity. Through interviews, animation, and an immersive sonic and visual language, the documentary, colored by Colorist Dustin Wadsworth, offers a formally inventive meditation on sovereignty, human rights, and the urgency of bringing Ancestors home.

Crisis Actor, directed by Lily Platt and graded by Senior Colorist Kath Raisch, received the Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction. The short follows an impulsive actress who, after being fired from her day job, crashes a support group and spirals into a chaotic night that forces her to confront her addiction to drama. Blending sharp character work with confident pacing, the film delivers a darkly funny and emotionally incisive portrait of self-sabotage and vulnerability.

Congratulations to our clients, collaborators, and creative partners on these well-deserved recognitions, whose work continues to shape bold, independent storytelling.

Explore all the Sundance Film Festival winners here.
 

Nuisance Bear

U.S. Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize

Photo by Gabriela Osio Vanden.

• Color | Joseph Bicknell
• Finishing Editor | Mizuho Nakai
• Color Producer | Amanda Champion
• Directors | Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman
• DPs | Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman, Michael Code, Sam Holling, Ian Kerr CSC, Jack Gawthrop
• Editor | Andres Landau

Aanikoobijigan

NEXT Audience Award

Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

• Color | Dustin Wadsworth
• Color Producer | Kate Albers
• Directors, DP and Editors | Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil

Crisis Actor

Short Film Jury Award | U.S. Fiction

Photo by Leo Zhang. 

• Color | Kath Raisch
• Color Producer | Jake Rioux
• Director | Lily Platt
• DP | Leo Zhang
• Editor | Rosanne Wilke
• Production Design | Charlotte Abbott