AFF 2026 Audience Award Winners Announced
Adelaide, you've had your say, and the results are in. Adelaide Film Festival has announced the three Audience Award winners for 2026, as voted by the audiences who joined us at the cinema throughout this year's Festival.
It's a particularly wonderful result for South Australian filmmaking, with two of the three Audience Awards going to local films, including an AFF Investment Fund-supported World Premiere and a short documentary from our Made in SA programme.
Audience Choice Feature Fiction: Wild Horse Nine
It feels fitting that the film that started AFF 2026 is also one of the films audiences have chosen to celebrate.
Wild Horse Nine, from Academy Award-winning writer-director Martin McDonagh, opened this year's Festival with its Australian Premiere at the Capri Theatre on Wednesday 14 October.
Starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, alongside Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey and Tom Waits, the darkly funny and unpredictable film follows two CIA operatives on Easter Island in the lead-up to Chile's 1973 military coup. Combining McDonagh's trademark humour with political intrigue and moral complexity, the film brought audiences together for AFF's Opening Night Gala before returning to the big screen for Encore Screenings.
Now, Wild Horse Nine closes out AFF 2026 as the winner of the Audience Choice Feature Fiction Award.
Audience Choice Feature Documentary: KUMARANGK: Sacred Women's Business
What a result for South Australian filmmaking.
The Audience Choice Feature Documentary Award goes to KUMARANGK: Sacred Women's Business, from Ngarrindjeri/Wotjobaluk writer-director Tracey Rigney.
Supported by the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund (AFFIF), the documentary had its World Premiere at AFF 2026 and received an extraordinary response from Adelaide audiences, with five sold-out screenings, the most of any single film at this year's Festival.
Through powerful interviews and archival footage, KUMARANGK: Sacred Women's Business revisits the Hindmarsh Island bridge affair, returning this defining chapter of South Australian history to the Ngarrindjeri women who lived it. Moving beyond the political headlines and public controversy, the film places the women's voices, sacred knowledge and connection to Country at the centre of the story.
Directed by Rigney and produced by Joshua Trevorrow and Carolyn Johnson, the documentary is an important example of the South Australian stories and First Nations filmmakers supported through AFFIF.
From its World Premiere to five sold-out screenings and now an Audience Award, KUMARANGK: Sacred Women's Business has had a remarkable journey at AFF 2026.
Audience Choice Short Film: Wet Feathers
South Australian filmmaking has also been recognised in the short film category, with Bryce Kraehenbuehl's Wet Feathers taking home the Audience Choice Short Film Award.
Screening as part of AFF 2026's Made in SA shorts programme, the nine-minute documentary follows the eccentric Brett Trueman, whose fear of pigeons leads him to the underground town of Coober Pedy, where he reflects on experiences from his life.
Written, directed and edited by Kraehenbuehl, Wet Feathers brings an unusual and distinctly South Australian story to the screen.
Both screenings of the Made in SA shorts programme sold out at AFF 2026, with audiences turning out to see the work of South Australian filmmakers on the big screen. It's a wonderful reminder of why this programme is such an important part of AFF: giving local filmmakers the opportunity to share their work and audiences the chance to discover stories and creative voices from their own backyard.
It's a wonderful result for Kraehenbuehl and the Wet Feathers filmmaking team, and another reason to celebrate the local talent featured throughout AFF 2026.
The AFF Audience Awards are decided by the people who come along to experience the films, and we'd like to thank everyone who took the time to vote throughout the Festival.
Congratulations to Martin McDonagh and the Wild Horse Nine team, Tracey Rigney and the KUMARANGK: Sacred Women's Business team, and Bryce Kraehenbuehl and the Wet Feathers team.
The Audience Awards round out a record year for AFF, with more tickets issued than ever before. Thank you, Adelaide, for showing up, supporting these films and being part of AFF 2026.
You can also meet the winners of the AFF 2026 Feature Fiction, Feature Documentary, Shorts and Change Awards.