Here are the winning movies at the 2026 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

The 23rd annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival winners are in.

The celebration of nonfiction moviemaking held its awards ceremony on Thursday night, giving out awards in four categories. The festival continues through Sunday, with bonus screenings of award-winning movies. The virtual festival goes later, through Feb. 26, although not all selections are available.

The awards jury includes independent filmmakers, including alums of the festival, retrospective artist Sky Hopinka, and representatives from ESPN Films, DC/DOX, the New School and the Documentary Film Council.

Here are the winners with comment from the jury, according to a festival news release.

Mini-Doc Competition

Films 15 minutes and under

Winner: “I Think About Birds”

Director: Johanna Gustin

Producer: Johanna Gustin, Jonathan Gustin

2026, U.S., 13 min., world premiere

Gustin’s film is described as “a journey down the algorithmic rabbit hole of online dating coaches takes a personal turn as the filmmaker ponders her own marriage amidst digital appeals to nature.”

The jury said the film explores the boundaries of the medium in style and perspective and “manages to touch on some of the most pointed political issues of our day without ever becoming ‘overtly political.’ ”

Short Competition

Films between 15 and 40 minutes

Winner: “A Derailment”

Director: Nathan Truesdell

Producer: Kat Nguyen

2025, U.S., 25 min., world premiere

This short film about a 2023 railroad accident that resulted in a toxic spill "captures a capsule in time of a heartbreaking and infuriating story of corruption and concealment” the jury wrote, calling it “a tour de force cinematic achievement.”

Short Competition, Best Artistic Vision

Winner: “The Butterfly Lab”

Director: Sean Grasso

Producer: Sean Grasso

2026, U.S., 18 min., world premiere

Juries have an option of giving an additional award for artistic achievement. The short competition judges selected this film, about women in an Oregon prison who raise an endangered butterfly, calling it “a beautiful story of finding humanity in the darkest and most unlikely places. The film captures true moments of the desire for a connection to nature, to have a second chance, and to find humanity in each person without judgment.”

Big Sky Award

For a film that “artistically honors the character, history, tradition and imagination of the American West.”

Winner: “Yiyíistsʼą́ą́ʼ (LISTEN)”

Director: Malakye Tsosie

Producer: Kaitlyn Sanchez

2025, U.S., 16 min., world premiere

A portrait of efforts to preserve the Díne Bizaad, or Navajo, language by a local station on the Navajo Nation.

“Tsosie’s community-centered story demonstrates a trusting and graceful intimacy with his protagonists that is often missing from stories about Native people that are told by outsiders,” the jury wrote. “This kind of relational work in documentary is not only admirable, but should be the standard protocol in the field and Tsosie’s work here can serve as a model for this type of approach.”

Big Sky Artistic Vision Award

“The Bend in the River”

Director: Rob Moss

Producers: Lisa Remington, Kristin Feeley

2025, U.S., 83 min, Montana premiere

The artistic vision award goes to this movie that documents a group of friends over the course of time on three Grand Canyon rafting trips spaced out over decades.

“Through patient, intimate presence, his work confronts us with our own mortality — not as something to fear, but as something that connects us to one another, to the next generation, and to the earth — rendering power, achievement and ambition insignificant by comparison,” the jury wrote.

Feature competition (films over 40 minutes)

Best Feature Artistic Vision Award

Winner: “Letters from Wolf Street”

Director: Arjun Talwar

Producers: Karolina Śmigiel, Friedemann Hottenbacher, Jarosław Wszędybył, Gregor Streiber

This portrait of immigrants who live on a street in Warsaw makes use of “its self-imposed boundaries to reveal the boundless nature of human experience” the jury wrote.

“In its attentive, human-centered vision, it reminds us that the most local spaces can hold expansive truths.”

Feature Competition

Winner: “Wood Street”

Director: Caron Creighton

Producer: Estevan Padilla

2026, U.S., 100 min., world premiere

This film, about two unhoused residents of Oakland who turn to activism, “captures the raw humanity of people willing to stand up in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. Powerfully demonstrating documentary's capacity to create compelling stories that are able to shift perspectives and act as a catalyst for change,” the jury wrote.