2026 Slamdance closing ceremony in Los Angeles

Source: Slamdance Film Festival

2026 Slamdance closing ceremony in Los Angeles

The 32nd Slamdance Film Festival wrapped in Los Angeles on Wednesday night (February 25) with the unveiling by a city official of a new initiative to help low impact and independent productions in the area.

Steve Kang, president of the board of public works and chief film liaison for the City of Los Angeles, told the festival audience at Egyptian Theatre that the city will “significantly reduce” permit fees for productions applying through FilmLA.

The city will also expand access to iconic locations and starting in March will reopen the Los Angeles Central Library to productions of all sizes for the first time in a decade, and reduce filming fees at the Griffith Observatory.

Key Slamdance awards went to Yuqing Lai’s Whisperings Of The Moon for the 2026 Slamdance Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize, and Natalia Koniarz’s Silver for the Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize.

J.Snow’s You Look Fine earned the Unstoppable Feature Grand Jury Prize and the audience award. The audience award for best narrative feature went to Three Colors: Pan-African co-directed by Elijah Davis, Allison A. Waite, and Tyler Ocasio Holmes, while the documentary award was presented to Kings Of Venice by Sveinn Ingimundarson and S.D. Saltarelli. Jiin Oh took the AGBO Fellowship presented by Joe and Anthony Russo for SPEEDY!

Slamdance organisers reported a 10% attendance rise over 2025 for the second edition in Los Angeles. The festival progmrammed 141 films of which 50 were world premieres, selected from 10,000 submissions, 28% of which were submitted by LA area filmmakers.

Half of the submissions hailed from female, trans, and non-binary directors and 41.4% of this year’s films were from BIPOC creators. Events included Market Monday, Writers Day, and the Unstoppable panels.

Slamdance president and co-founder Peter Baxter said, “As the entertainment industry continues to face massive disruption, Slamdance in Los Angeles is proof that through event experiences you can still grow cinema and fill every seat in the house. Some might think celebrity culture remains the only way to do this but Slamdance has known for a long time that when it comes to recognising talent, launching careers and attracting an audience a grassroots community can really do it themselves.”

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