ROSS BROTHERS TO RECEIVE “FILM IN ACTION AWARD” AT OIFF 2026
The Ouray International Film Festival is proud to announce Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross, collectively known as the Ross Brothers, as the recipients of the 2026 Film in Action Award.
The American filmmaking duo will appear in person at OIFF to receive the award in recognition of their inspiring body of work with a retrospective screening of their acclaimed documentary 45365. Described by the late Roger Ebert as an “achingly beautiful film,” 45365 documents the lives of residents in the film’s titular zip code, located in a small town in Ohio. The movie offers a richly empathic view of rural life, capturing the mundane beauty of a small town and deeply humanizing the film’s subjects.
“As a festival rooted in a remote corner of the Rockies, the film speaks to our own identity outside a major urban center,” says festival co-director Jake Abell, who grew up in Ouray. “We’ve given this award to filmmakers who elevated stories of sacrifice in war zones, celebrated life-changing music, and explored intergenerational trauma and healing. This year, we’re excited to honor the Ross Brothers for the ways in which they have helped to uplift rural communities and their experiences through cinema.”
In addition to 45365, the duo is known for the feature films, Tchoupitoulas, Western, Contemporary Color and Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets. They are the recipients of numerous grants and awards. In 2023, their body of work was celebrated with a retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Their latest film, Gasoline Rainbow, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2023.
“We’ve loved the Ross Brothers’ work for years,” adds Jared LaCroix, festival co-director. “Their films feel both deeply human and rooted in place. In a digital age when so much of life can feel flattened and interchangeable, they preserve the distinct character of people and places, and the relationship between the two.”
Given every year since the festival’s founding, the Film in Action Award honors filmmakers whose work promotes the cultivation of justice and compassion through film. Past recipients include Alexandria Bombach (Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All, Sundance/Netflix) and Tiffany Hsiung (The Apology, Peabody Award).
Program details will be released in May. Passes for OIFF 2026 are available for purchase here.