A Fox Under a Pink Moon by Mehrdad Oskouei and Soraya Akhlaghi has won the Grand Jury Award at the 28th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival , which closed on Sunday, April 19.
Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies (CDS), of which Full Frame is a program, also awarded its 2026 Filmmaker Award prize to A Fox Under a Pink Moon.
A Fox Under a Pink Moon follows 16-year-old Akhlaghi, an Afghan woman living in Iran, and her repeated attempts to escape the country. Isabel Castro, David Osit, and Brittany Shyne participated on the jury for the Full Frame Grand Jury Award.
In total, ten awards totaling $50,000 in cash prizes were honored by the festival, a qualifying event for nominations for the Academy Award Documentary Short Film category and the Producers Guild of America Awards.
“We are proud to celebrate the 2026 award-winning films,” said Sadie Tillery, Full Frame Festival Co-Director and Artistic Director. “We are grateful to the award presenters for their support and especially wish to thank the jurors who joined us in reviewing the films this year.”
The Full Frame Grand Jury recognized Militantropos, directed by Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, and Simon Mozgovyi, with a Special Jury Award, and the Jury Award for Best Short went to Still Standing, directed by Victor Tadashi Suárez and Livia Albeck-Ripka.
The inaugural Nancy Buirski Award, given to a feature film that gives new meaning and life to the archive using footage from films or home movies, still images, audio recordings, or ephemera, went to Brydie O’Connor for Barbara Forever.
The 2026 Tom Rankin Audience Award was presented to American Doctor, directed by Poh Si Teng, in the Feature category, and The Grandfather Puzzle, directed by Ora DeKornfeld, in the Short category.
The Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award, honoring a first-time documentary feature director, was presented to Hemen Khaledi for Singing Wings.
The John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Award, given to a short film that highlights documentary as a formally inventive artistic medium, was presented to Prin Rodriguez for Food for Everyone: Deities, Nature and Humans.
The President’s Office of Duke University juried the prize for the Full Frame President’s Award, given to the best student film, which went to Failure Is a River of Mine, directed by Julia Mendoza Friedman.
The Lake, directed by Abby Ellis, received the Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights. Presented by the Julian Price Family Foundation in memory of Melanie Taylor, the award is given to a film that addresses a significant human rights issue in the United States. American Doctor, directed by Poh Si Teng, received an Honorable Mention.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.