FilmQuest 2026 Awards Winners Announced! GAUA Takes Best Feature Film and AZUL Wins Grand Prize Best Short
The 2026 FilmQuest Film Festival officially wrapped up last week, and the full list of award winners has been announced! I attended FilmQuest again this year, had an awesome time, and watched a ton of great movies. I managed to catch most of the feature films, and I’m still working my way through posting all the reviews I’ve written.
I’ve been attending FilmQuest since the festival first launched, and it continues to be one of my favorite events of the year. If you love horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and genre filmmaking in general, this is easily one of the best film festivals to experience.
Every year brings a new collection of wild, creative, and entertaining films, along with the chance to meet some incredibly talented filmmakers.
This year's festival brought in a record-breaking 2,944 submissions, making the competition especially tough. The winners were revealed during the closing night awards ceremony on October 31, 2026, in Provo, Utah, where filmmakers took home the festival's coveted Cthulhu trophies.
Among the biggest winners, Gaua claimed Best Feature Film and picked up several additional awards for its production design, costumes, and makeup. Azul had an impressive showing in the short film categories, taking home the Grand Prize for Best Short Film, Best Sci-Fi Short, and Best Editing.
Other notable winners included Rubberhead: The Life and Monsters of Steve Johnson for Best Documentary Feature, Casey Walker for Best Feature Director for Ithaqua, Britt Lower for Best Actress for Sender, and Lou Taylor Pucci for Best Actor for The Avalanche.
One of the fun things about FilmQuest's awards is its secret nominee tradition. Certain short film categories include an additional nominee who isn't revealed until the ceremony itself, and these surprise contenders sometimes end up winning. This year, two secret nominees walked away with awards.
There were plenty of deserving films competing this year, and it's always exciting to see which projects come out on top. With so much talent involved, these awards are a great way to discover some genre movies worth adding to your watchlist.
FilmQuest has now released its official awards announcement, including the winners across feature films, shorts, performances, technical achievements, and screenplay competitions.
Here's the official announcement and the full list of 2026 FilmQuest Award winners:
2026 FILMQUEST AWARDS WINNERS
The following winners were selected from a record 2,944 submissions to the 2026 festival. Feature film categories featured up to eight nominees, while short film and other categories included up to ten nominees, unless otherwise specified. All feature films were eligible for Best Feature Film.
BEST FEATURE FILM: Gaua
GRAND PRIZE BEST SHORT FILM: Azul
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM: Rubberhead: The Life and Monsters of Steve Johnson
BEST COMEDY SHORT: Callback
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Remembrance of Night Whispers
BEST FANTASTIC & BEYOND SHORT: Love in All the Wrong Places
BEST FANTASY SHORT: The Great Fish of the Lake
BEST FOREIGN SHORT: The Veil
BEST HORROR SHORT: 99 GHosts
BEST MICRO SHORT: Family Dinner
BEST MINI SHORT: Tranquil
BEST MIDNIGHT SHORT: Man Eating Pussy
BEST SCI-FI SHORT: Azul
BEST STUDENT SHORT: Newcomer (Secret Nominee)
BEST UTAH SHORT: Relict
BEST ANIMATED SHORT: Grylu Sker
BEST MUSIC VIDEO: Anthrax’s The Edge of Perfection
THE MINERVA AWARD: Lee Lawson for Man Eating Pussy
BEST DIRECTOR, FEATURE: Casey Walker, Ithaqua
BEST SCREENPLAY, FEATURE: Alex Hanno and Luca Malacrino, Bravado
BEST ACTOR, FEATURE (TIE): Lou Taylor Pucci, The Avalanche
BEST ACTRESS, FEATURE: Britt Lower, Sender
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, FEATURE: Teuku Rifnu Wikana, Bandi
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, FEATURE: Emily Tennant, Influencers
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST, FEATURE: Sender
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, FEATURE: Rain Catcher
BEST EDITING, FEATURE: Sender
BEST SOUND, FEATURE: The Peril at Pincer Point
BEST SCORE, FEATURE: Rain Catcher
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN/ART DIRECTION, FEATURE: Gaua
BEST COSTUMES, FEATURE: Gaua
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS, FEATURE: THE RELIC | DRAGON
BEST MAKEUP, FEATURE: Gaua
BEST DIRECTOR, SHORT: Collin Black, Hell House
BEST SCREENPLAY, SHORT: Collin Black and Erin Belcher, Hell House
BEST ACTOR, SHORT (TIE): Justin H. Min, Callback
BEST ACTRESS, SHORT: Louisa Connolly-Burnham, The Intimacy Coordinator
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, SHORT: Maddox Blackwell, Milo
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, SHORT (TIE): Ashley BeLoat, Venus in Furs, and Kelly Tappan, Revolver
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST, SHORT: Matches
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, SHORT: Artichoke
BEST EDITING, SHORT: Azul
BEST SOUND, SHORT: Four Itchy Boys (Secret Nominee)
BEST SCORE, SHORT: Filther
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN/ART DIRECTION, SHORT: Grylu Sker
BEST COSTUMES, SHORT: Winds Howling
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS, SHORT: The Bones Exist
BEST MAKEUP, SHORT: Anthrax’s The Edge of Perfection
BEST UN-PRODUCED SCREENPLAY, FEATURE:
1st Place: Goldy by Gregory Funaro
2nd Place: Bloody Marys by Zack Ogle
3rd Place: I Got You by Peter Ricq
BEST UN-PRODUCED SCREENPLAY, SHORT:
1st Place: Until God Listens by Paul Frank
2nd Place: Burning by Gerard Howard and Kay Qiao
3rd Place: The Surface Calls by Matthew Kravchuk
BEST UN-PRODUCED SCREENPLAY, LONG PILOT:
1st Place: Medusa by Nathan Shapiro
2nd Place: Precursor by Steve Brown
3rd Place: Stranded by Amy Kay DuBoff
BEST UN-PRODUCED SCREENPLAY, SHORT PILOT:
1st Place: Nina by Heather McDonald and Ryan Jafri
2nd Place: Meat Cute by Kate Bridal
3rd Place: Razor: The Rock and Roll Werewolf by John Connor Cook
BEST UN-PRODUCED SCREENPLAY, FEATURE, TOP 20:
A Savage Landscape by Guy Pooles
All Nazis Die by Nathan Shapiro
Alma’s Will by Kelly Karam and Jeffrey Howe
Bloody Marys by Zack Ogle
Goldy by Gregory Funaro
Heather Would Never by Emelie Claxton
I Got You by Peter Ricq
Nightbreak Canyon by Jennifer Trudrung
Oracle by Alec Gibbons
Road Kill by Ashley Wilson and Rebecca Wilson
The Boy Who Found Infinity by Richard Fenwick
The Executioner’s Wife by Gary Reimer
The Hallows by Layne Marie Williams
The Lambing by Jillian Corsie
The Last Call by Henry Winnik
The Storm in her by Erin Copen Howard
They All Died Happy by W. Alex Reeves
Universe 25 by Kelly Tappan and David Tappan
Unstrung by Jerold Wallace
Yanrface by Kirene Bolsen-Long and Elizabeth Long
BEST UN-PRODUCED SCREENPLAY, SHORT, TOP 15:
Burning by Kay Qiao and Gerard Howard
Dead Water by Kevin Machate
EVAluation by Marian Siwiak and Marlena Siwiak
Moribund by KC Mussman
Nothing Changes by Tyler Beveridge
Ravenous by Jake Allgeier
Retrograde by Michael H. Moore
Sam/Sam by Troy DeWinne and David Bornstein
Still Loading by Emily Faris
Surprise! by Jack Warner
Synnoia by J. H. Allely
The Elevator Pitch: Or How I Got Stuck in an Elevator with the Incomparable Doug Jones by Kieran Shea
The Surface Calls by Matthew Kravchuk
Until God Listens by Paul Frank
Where They Wait by Walter Mirkss and Shane Nolan
All un-produced screenplay competition judging was conducted by a group of independent third-party professional judges.
Congratulations to all the filmmakers, cast members, writers, and creative teams recognized at FilmQuest 2026! I'm already looking forward to seeing what the festival has in store next year.