by FIlmInk Staff
After receiving more than 24,900 votes, Sydney Film Festival today announced the winners of the 2026 GIO Audience Awards. The annual awards recognise the audience’s favourite films across four categories: Best Australian Narrative Feature, Best Australian Documentary, Best International Narrative Feature and Best International Documentary.
Taking home the award for Best Australian Feature was The Fox, directed by Dario Russo, the absurdist, comic Australian folktale starring Jai Courtney and Emily Browning alongside Olivia Colman as a talking fox and Sam Neill as a magpie. The award for Best Australian Documentary went to Rhian Skirving and William A. Bleakley’s Rodeo Dreams, following four young Australian bull riders as they chase their dreams to win the prestigious Mount Isa Rodeo.
International winners included the Cannes-hit La Bola Negra, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s stirring, decades-spanning exploration of queer desire in Spain, which received Best International Feature, and Poh Si Teng’s American Doctor, which tracks three American doctors travelling to Gaza to save lives – in turn exposing the reality of the war and the endurance of human compassion, which was named Best International Documentary.
Runners-up included First Light (Best Australian Feature), The Piano Tuner (Best Australian Documentary), All of a Sudden (Best International Feature), and The Cycle of Love (Best International Documentary).
Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley said, “In a year of record attendance, the audience award feels all the more meaningful. 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 bull-riding 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 pain-staking 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.” said Moodley.
THE GIO AUDIENCE AWARDS
Australian Feature
Winner: The Fox directed by Dario Russo
Runner Up: First Light directed by James J. Robinson
Australian Documentary
Winner: Rodeo Dreams directed by Rhian Skirving and W.A.M. Bleakley
Runner Up: The Piano Tuner directed by Natalia Laska
International Feature
Winner: La Bola Negra directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi
Runner Up: All of a Sudden directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
International Documentary
Winner: American Doctor directed by Poh Si Teng
Runner Up: Cycle of Love directed by Orlando von Einsiedel
The full Sydney Film Festival 2026 program can be found online at sff.org.au.
