The Sydney Film Festival 2026 GIO Audience Awards have been announced, with an array of film and documentary favourites recognised across multiple categories.
Each year, SFF hosts its own prestigious prizes alongside these audience-voted awards. This year’s audience awards received 24,900 votes in total, with strong participation across the board.
Sydney Film Festival Audience Awards – quick links
The winners of the Sydney Film Festival 2026 Audience Awards
The award for the Best Australian Feature, as voted by the SFF audience, was The Fox directed by Dario Russo and starring Jai Courtney, Emily Browning, Miranda Otto, Olivia Colman and Sam Neill.
This film is most notable for its off-kilter premise: it’s about a trickster fox who convinces an unwitting ‘average good bloke’ that it can fix his relationship troubles.
The award for Best Australian Documentary went to Rodeo Dreams from Rhian Skirving and William A Bleakley. It follows four young bull riders as they chase their dreams to win the Mount Isa Rodeo in Queensland.
The Best International Feature award went to La Bola Negra, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s exploration of queer desire and romance in Spain. This film also won Calvo and Ambrossi the Best Director prize at the annual Cannes Film Festival.
The Best International Documentary award went to America Doctor by Poh Si Teng, which is a hard-hitting look at three American doctors who travel to Gaza to save lives during the ongoing global conflict.
Runners-up for each category include:
- Australian Feature – First Light directed by James J Robinson
- Australian Documentary – The Piano Tuner directed by Natalia Laska
- International Feature – All of a Sudden directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
- International Documentary – Cycle of Love directed by Orlando von Einsiedel
Sydney Film Festival 2026 director on the prize winners
As shared by SFF Director Nashen Moodley, it was a record year for the festival, with audience participation and film reception stronger than ever.
‘In a year of record attendance, the audience award feels all the more meaningful,’ Moodley said. ‘All four wonderful films are distinct from each other and highlight the breadth of strong stories that resonate with audiences at the cinema.’
‘Dario Russo’s The Fox is equally funny as it is stirring, with a cast of charismatic characters that are a delight to watch on-screen. Rodeo Dreams depicts bullriding beautifully, not only in a visual sense, but granting the audience with an understanding of the determination and passion that guides those that partake in such a painstaking sport.’
‘Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s La Bola Negra created a huge buzz at Cannes, and the adoration for the film has spread across seas to Sydney. This decades-spanning odyssey envelopes viewers in its emotion and tender character exploration, and I’m sure this is one of many awards it will collect this year.’
‘And sometimes cinema is meant to confront us, like American Doctor, that places us inside Gaza as three health professionals work their hardest to aide those harmed by the conflict.’
