THE APEX TIMES
Tribeca Festival Names 2026 Winners Including ‘Cotton Fever,’ ‘Labrador - Autopsy Of Silence’ and ‘Jail Time Records’
The 25th edition of the Tribeca Festival announced its top prizes for U.S. and international narrative features and documentary, alongside additional craft recognition.
The Tribeca Festival, in announcing winners for its 25th edition on June 11, named Daniel Blake Schwartz’s Cotton Fever as the top prize winner for U.S. Narrative Feature. The festival also recognized Rodrigue Jean’s Labrador - Autopsy Of Silence as the International Narrative Feature winner, and Dione Roach and Steve Happi’s Jail Time Records as the Documentary winner, completing the top tier of the program’s leading awards.
The festival’s winners announcement placed the three productions at the center of Tribeca’s competitive slate for feature-length storytelling, spanning domestic narrative work, international narrative work, and nonfiction. The results were unveiled as part of the festival’s 25-year run, with Tribeca crediting the films as the year’s chief finishers in each of the main feature categories.
In addition to taking the U.S. Narrative Feature prize, Cotton Fever also won Best Cinematography, according to the festival’s winners list as reported by Deadline. The multiple honors for a single film highlighted both overall selection as a top narrative contender and recognition for visual craft at the festival.
Labrador - Autopsy Of Silence was named the International Narrative Feature winner, giving Tribeca’s leading narrative prize to Rodrigue Jean. The award placed Jean’s film among the year’s most prominent international narrative entries in the festival’s competitive category structure.
Jail Time Records, credited to directors Dione Roach and Steve Happi, won the festival’s Documentary top award. The win marked the year’s top recognition in Tribeca’s documentary category and centered the co-directing duo for the year’s top nonfiction selection.
Deadline’s report positioned the awards as part of Tribeca’s annual cycle of winner announcements, with the festival listing its competitive film winners for the 25th edition. Details about additional award categories beyond the major feature prizes and Best Cinematography were not included in the available report, and further information would be expected from Tribeca’s full awards list and related festival materials.
For filmmakers and producers, the Tribeca winners announcement serves as a public milestone in the release and distribution timeline, often influencing downstream attention from buyers, exhibitors, and media outlets. For festival audiences, the selection also provides a set of featured titles aligned to the festival’s program goals, with the top prizes spotlighting the films that Tribeca’s judges or selection process credited in each category.
Why It Matters
- The awards consolidate three separate Tribeca top categories into a single set of headline winners, shaping which films may draw the most attention from industry and audiences during the festival cycle.
- With Cotton Fever taking both a top narrative prize and Best Cinematography, the film receives additional visibility for both overall selection and a specific craft category.
- The International Narrative Feature and Documentary wins broaden the festival’s featured spotlight beyond U.S.-only entries, reflecting Tribeca’s international programming scope.
- As a major film festival milestone, the announced winners can affect subsequent programming discussions, media coverage, and potential acquisition interest as the films move toward wider release windows.
- Because the available report focuses on the major prize winners and one craft award, additional category details would require reference to Tribeca’s full official awards list for complete confirmation.
Key Facts
- Tribeca Festival announced its 2026 winners for its 25th edition on June 11, 2026.
- Cotton Fever by Daniel Blake Schwartz won the U.S. Narrative Feature top prize at Tribeca.
- Labrador - Autopsy Of Silence by Rodrigue Jean won the International Narrative Feature top prize at Tribeca.
- Jail Time Records by Dione Roach and Steve Happi won the documentary top prize at Tribeca.
- Cotton Fever also received the festival’s Best Cinematography award, according to the winners report.
- The winners were presented as part of Tribeca’s competitive feature awards structure for narrative and documentary categories.