The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival wrapped banner 35th Anniversary edition with filmmaker awards
The 2026 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Presented by Oaklawn announced the award-winning films and filmmakers at the conclusion of this year’s 35th Anniversary edition of the festival. Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s Naza won the HSDFF Critics Prize. William Greaves and David Greaves’ Once Upon a Time in Harlem was named Best Documentary Feature. Judd Ehrlich’s Jane Elliot Against the World won the Hot Springs Matt DeCample Audience Choice Award for Best Feature, with Emily Harrold’s Tampons & Taxes: Or How to Play the Ole Boys’ Club and Win won the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film.
Jayme Kaye Gershen’s The Floor Remembers receivedthe Reel South Award, which honors outstanding short-form documentaries and independent films exploring the American South
The 35th Anniversary edition of HSDFF was highlighted by the hallmarks of the critically acclaimed and revered film festival, including HSDFF’s Filmmaker Retreat and Summit, Filmmaker Forum, the Emerging Filmmakers Program, as well as added special highlights including the film festival’s first official foray into the discussion of Oscar consideration with the inaugural Deadline/HSDFF Documentary Roundtable. Moderated by Deadline’s Documentary Editor Matt Carey, the Roundtable conversation brought together an internationally diverse group of directors and producers representing top contenders for this year’s Documentary Feature Oscar. Included were: Liani Greaves (producer, Once Upon a Time in Harlem), Michał Marczak (director, Closure), Poh Si Teng (director, American Doctor), and Biljana Tutorov (director, To Hold a Mountain).
The always well-attended Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival saw sold out or near sold out screenings for the world premiere of Nick Capezzera’s The Other Side of Memory, Evan Mascagni and Drew Morris’s Cornbread Mafia, Allison Berg’s Time Warp, Quinn Whitney Wilson and Viridiana Lieberman’s Jean-Michel Basquiat, and multiple short film presentations. In partnership with the Birding Festival of the South, audiences were also rewarded with the appearance of a live owl and bald eagle from the Little Rock Zoo and a work-in-progress presentation of director Ashley York’s new documentary Jackie & Shadow: A Love Storyabout the famous bald eagle pair of Big Bear Valley. Headlining the programming on opening weekend was a live performance of songs from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch from Kenny Starling, one of the principal participants in Berg’s Time Warp following the film’s screening.
Academy Award-nominated and multiple Emmy-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, the Paradise Lost Trilogy, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, and Crude.) was honored with the HSDFF Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award. Yoruba Richen (Free Joan Little), the founder of Promised Land Film was the Impact Award honoree.
Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute Executive Director Ken Jacobson said, “This year’s festival, once again presented by Oaklawn, marked our 35th edition — and what a breakout year it was! From the debut of the Deadline/HSDFF Documentary Roundtable, which put the festival — and four exceptional films — front-and-center during this early peak in the Awards season — to our new Filmmaker Retreat, supporting six Mid-Southern/Southern filmmakers, HSDFF has continued to evolve in new and exciting ways. Through the outstanding collective efforts of our programming team, staff, volunteers, and Board, we have laid claim to being the region’s premiere showcase of documentary films and filmmaker-focused programs. The overwhelmingly positive response by our audiences speaks volumes about how vibrant, compelling, and essential to the fabric of our democracy the art of documentary continues to be. The story of documentary lives on!”
The Critics Jury Prize went to Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s Naza for “using skillful and subtle editing to detail the story of the ongoing genocide in Gaza as told by the soldiers tasked with carrying it out.”
A special mention was awarded to Maiken Baird’s Edward Said: Between Worlds. The jury recognized the film, “for its expert use of archival footage and interviews to illuminate a subject who did so much to tell the story of Palestinian people.”
Regarding the selection of William Greaves and David Greaves’ Once Upon a Time in Harlem for the Best Documentary Feature, the jury said the film “is a remarkable cinematic time capsule that preserves the voices, brilliance, and cultural legacy of the Harlem Renaissance through the people who lived it. Its extraordinary archival footage and intimate storytelling make it more than a documentary.”
The Jury also presented a special mention to Poh Si Teng’s American Doctor. The jury said, “From the outset this film raises questions of ethics, political bureaucracy, and the absurdity of war. The filmmakers demonstrate their tremendous access and construction of story to create a poignant and important documentary that leaves audiences activated to push for change.”
Best Short Documentary Film went to Yoruba Richen’s Free Joan Little. The jury stated that Richen’s film “weaves rich archival material and evocative voiceover into a deeply immersive film that returns us to a landmark 1975 case, in which a young Black woman stood trial for defending herself against sexual assault by her jailer. Both gripping and historically vital, the film struck us with how urgently its questions about justice, race, and bodily autonomy still resonate today. It is a work that will spark much-needed conversation for years to come.”
A special jury mention went to Caitlin Ochs and Nicholas Weissman’s Black Soil. In its statement, the jury noted that the film ”deserves a Special Mention as we were moved by the majestic cinematography and intimate diaristic storytelling. In a world of fast paced editing, Black Soil encourages the viewer to be patient yet is engaging from beginning to end.”
For more information on the Hot Springs Documentary Film festival, please visit: hsdfi.org.
The 2026 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Award Winners:
FEATURE FILMS
HSDFF Critics Prize
NAZA
Directors: Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Special Mention
EDWARD SAID: BETWEEN WORLDS
Director: Maiken Baird
Best Documentary Feature Film
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HARLEM
Director: David Greaves
Special Mention
AMERICAN DOCTOR
Director: Poh Si Teng
SHORT FILMS
Best Short Documentary Film
FREE JOAN LITTLE
Director: Yoruba Richen
Special Jury Mention
BLACK SOIL
Directors: Caitlin Ochs, Nicholas Weissman
REEL SOUTH AWARD
THE FLOOR REMEMBERS
Director: Jayme Kaye Gershen
MATT DECAMPLE AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS
Audience Choice Award for Best Feature
JANE ELLIOT AGAINST THE WORLD
Director: Judd Ehrlich
Runner Up
DARLENE LOVE: I KNOW WHERE I’VE BEEN
Director: Barry Avrich
Audience Choice Award for Best Short
TAMPONS & TAXES: OR HOW TO PLAY THE OLE BOYS’ CLUB AND WIN
Director: Emily Harrold
Runner Up
THE BADDEST SPEECHWRITER OF ALL
Director: Ben Proudfoot
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2026 Jury Members
CRITICS
Omaya Jones, President and Co-Programmer of Cinema I/O
Alissa Simon, Chief Programmer, Palm Springs International Film Festival; Freelancer, Variety
Al Topich, Columnist, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
FEATURES
Amanda Arya, Development Strategist, Catapult Film Fund
André Robert Lee, Director/Producer
John Rash, Filmmaker; Assistant Professor of Film Production and Southern Studies, The University of Mississippi
SHORTS
Christopher Everett, Artistic Director, Southern Documentary Fund
Susan Margolin, Producer/Executive Producer, St. Mark’s Productions
Christine O’Malley, Producer, O’Malley Creadon Productions