Stephen Curry will have a new trophy to put with his basketball accolades: A movie he co-directed won the top prize for short films at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
Curry and co-director Ben Proudfoot were named winners of Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize for short films for their documentary “The Baddest Speechwriter of All,” in a ceremony Tuesday night in Park City.
Curry was expected to be in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night, when his Golden State Warriors play the Utah Jazz in the Delta Center.
The short documentary spotlights Clarence B. Jones, speechwriter for the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. In the film, Jones, now 93, reflects on his time working with King.
(Brandon Somerhalder | Sundance Institute) Dr. Clarence B. Jones, who wrote speeches for Martin Luther King Jr., is the subject of the short documentary "The Baddest Speechwriter of All," directed by Ben Proudfoot and Stephen Curry. The film won the Grand Jury Prize for short films at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
A three-person jury — director A.V. Rockwell (“A Thousand and One”); Liv Constable-Maxwell, publishing director of the publisher Mack; and actor Martin Starr (“Silicon Valley,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming”) — chose the award winners among 54 titles. Most of those films can be viewed on the festival’s online portal, Thursday through Sunday.
In a statement, the jury said the film “implores us to take action with a message that is timeless and timely. Through the eyes of its subject, we find one of the most important moments in modern history has a new perspective.”
The jury also called the film a “portrait of a strong willed, hilarious, compassionate man, and the instrumental role he played in kicking ass, nonviolently, against division and hate.”
Curry’s co-director, Proudfoot, has won two Academy Awards for his short documentaries, “The Queen of Basketball” in 2022 and “The Last Repair Shop” in 2024.
Here are the other award winners among Sundance’s short films:
Jury Award: U.S. Fiction • “Crisis Actor,” directed by Lily Platt.
Jury Award: International Fiction • “Jazz Infernal” (Canada), directed by Will Niava.
Jury Award: Nonfiction • “The Boys and the Bees,” directed by Arielle C. Knight.
Jury Award: Animation • “Living With a Visionary,” directed by Stephen P. Neary.
Special Jury Award for Creative Vision • “Paper Trail,” directed by Don Hertzfeldt.
Special Jury Award for Acting • Noah Roja and Filippo Carrozza, for “The Liars” (Argentina), directed by Eduardo Braun Costa.