From Sports Dramas to AI: South Korea’s SBS Sweeps Global Film Awards

Daniel Kim 2026.05.23 Views

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[Sports Today reporter Kim Tae-hyung] SBS demonstrated its global competitiveness by taking home major awards at prestigious international festivals, underscoring the network’s strength across genres. Its dramas, documentaries and variety programs collected top honors—from the Grand Remi to multiple Gold Remi prizes.

At the 59th Houston International Film Festival, the sports drama Try: We Become a Miracle attracted the most attention. It won the festival’s highest television prize, the GRAND REMI, in the Best Television Production category. The series follows a rugby player ruined by a doping scandal who returns as the coach of a high school team facing disbandment and leads them on a championship bid. Praised for both its craftsmanship and broad appeal, it topped the field among TV entries.

SBS also scored in the documentary categories. The 80th-anniversary film Recovered Light: Heroes Who Could Not Return — Descendants of Independence Activists, the Koryo-saram won the GOLD REMI in Historical Programming. The documentary examines the forced relocations of Koryo-saram who never returned home after liberation and illuminates the contemporary struggles of independence activists’ descendants, delivering a resonant account.

The two-part documentary New Oldboy: Park Chan-wook, which surveys director Park Chan-wook’s 33-year career and creative world, won the GOLD REMI in Features Documentary. It went on to claim the Bronze Tower in the Documentary/Biography/Profiles category at the New York Festivals, marking consecutive international recognition. Notably, the entry was submitted as a combined feature-length edition rather than as a broadcast documentary, highlighting its competitiveness on the festival circuit.

The SDF special documentary Next Sam Altman also won the GOLD REMI in the TV Special Dramatic category. The program featured Korea’s first solo interview with Sam Altman and conducted in-depth reporting with global AI experts and investors, offering a forward-looking assessment of the coming AI era and showcasing SBS’s editorial ambition.

New media and variety fare stood out as well. The investigative web series VideoMug Coverage / Deepback received the SPECIAL JURY award in the New Media Video Podcast category. Judges commended its in-depth analysis of democratic backsliding across four Asian contexts, including Hong Kong and Myanmar.

The variety program Same Bed, Different Dreams 2 – You Are My Destiny earned a SPECIAL JURY award in the TV Series Documentary category. The show warmly and candidly portrays the married life of a writer with Down syndrome and her husband with developmental disabilities, capturing a sustaining love while addressing real-world challenges and underscoring variety programming’s social value.

SBS also made gains in drama. At the New York Festivals in the Entertainment Program/Drama category, both My Perfect Secretary and Try: We Become a Miracle were named Finalist Diploma recipients.

These accolades confirm SBS’s ability to compete across genres on the global stage. The network says it will continue to produce well-made content that balances artistic merit with popular appeal as it steps up its push into the international media market.