The Sundance Institute has announced the recipients of its 2026 Trailblazer and Vanguard Awards, honoring filmmakers whose work continues to shape independent cinema. Academy Award–winning director Chloé Zhao will receive the Trailblazer Award, while Nia DaCosta and Geeta Gandbhir will be honored with Vanguard Awards for fiction and nonfiction, respectively.

The awards will be presented at Celebrating Sundance Institute: A Tribute to Founder Robert Redford on January 23, 2026, at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Utah. The 2026 Sundance Film Festival runs January 22 through February 1, with an online program available January 29–February 1.

Zhao is being recognized for films including Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider, and Nomadland, which won three Academy Awards. Her latest feature, Hamnet (2025), has earned multiple audience awards and major awards-season nominations.

The Vanguard Award for Fiction will go to DaCosta, whose recent work includes Hedda (2025), Candyman, and The Marvels. Her next film, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, arrives in theaters in January 2026.

Gandbhir will receive the Vanguard Award for Nonfiction following the success of The Perfect Neighbor, which premiered at Sundance 2025 and won the U.S. Documentary Directing Award.

The event will also honor Sundance founder Robert Redford, with the inaugural Robert Redford Luminary Award presented to Gyula Gazdag and Ed Harris. Proceeds support Sundance Institute’s year-round artist development programs.