The GlobeDocs Film Festival, Boston's all-documentary festival, has announced the winners of its 2026 Audience Awards, with stories about female pioneers taking both top honors.
GIVE ME THE BALL!, directed by two-time Academy Award nominee Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff, won Best Documentary Feature, along with a $1,000 cash prize. The film tells the story of tennis icon Billie Jean King, whose impact on equality reaches far beyond the tennis court. Moving past the historic 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" match, the documentary follows King's fight to professionalize her sport and secure equal treatment for women, drawing on rare archival footage and interviews to show the personal cost behind that fight, from an unhappy marriage and keeping her sexual orientation hidden to eating disorders and relentless misogyny.
Best Documentary Short Film went to SONIA, directed by Sarah Colt and Emily Schuman, along with a $500 cash prize. The film follows feminist activist Sonia Pressman Fuentes, who fled Nazi persecution, in a portrait the festival describes as equal parts heart-rending and bitingly funny, tracing a life shaped by resilience, chance, and the impact one person can have in advancing equality.
Festival audiences voted for the winners among 5 short films and 11 feature-length titles shown at in-person screenings.
"We're inspired that the GlobeDocs audience was drawn to these films about notable women who made a tangible difference in the fight for equality," said Lisa Viola, Director of Programming for GlobeDocs. "Both of these stories will spark lasting conversation and leave a powerful, enduring mark on everyone who sees them."
The festival continues online through Sunday, November 1, with virtual screenings of four feature-length films, two shorts programs, and recorded filmmaker Q&As. Tickets and passes are available on the GlobeDocs Festival official site, and the films can be streamed from anywhere in the U.S.
In-person screenings took place October 21 through October 25 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, and Alamo Drafthouse Boston Seaport. The presenting sponsor of GlobeDocs 2026 is Cross Insurance.
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