UKY Film Festival celebrates winners, student creativity
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 13, 2026) — Emerging student filmmakers took center stage at the 2026 UKY Student Film Festival — an annual showcase celebrating creativity, storytelling and cinematic achievement across disciplines.
Held April 30 at The Kentucky Theatre, the festival welcomed hundreds of guests to a “Blue Carpet” event featuring 17 student-produced films spanning narrative, documentary, experimental and animated genres.
“It’s a great time,” Benjamin Ingram, a participant, said. “We needed an event for student filmmakers to come to.”
The 2026 winners are as follows:
• Best Narrative Film, Audience Choice and Best Writing (“The Color of the Walls”): Sofia Ceccarello, media arts and studies
• Best Experimental Film and Best Sound Design (“Be.”): Noah Childress, digital media design
• Best Documentary (“Nothing Lasts But A Moment”): Cadence Gormley, integrated strategic communications
• Best Animation (“bitemare”): Merritt Manire, Digital Media Design; arts administration; creative entrepreneurship – animation
• Best Cinematography (“See You Space Cowboy”): Autrey Brown, theatre
• Best Performance (“The Everett Commune”): featuring Lelia Branstetter, digital media and design
• Honorable Mention (“To Succumb”): Benjamin Ingram, digital media design and theatre
“This story is deeply personal to me,” said Ceccarello, who also won Best Narrative Film at the 2025 festival for “Her Last Song.” “My grandma had Alzheimer’s, and I’d wanted to write about her for a long time. This year, I finally had the chance through a school project, and the timing felt perfect. Being here and holding this trophy is incredible, but honestly, just having the opportunity to share my story with an audience on the big screen already felt like a huge accomplishment.”
All submitted films were reviewed by a selection committee. Selected entries advanced to a final round judged by a panel of award-winning filmmakers and industry professionals.
This year’s panel included:
• Alexie Basil, screenwriter and CEO of Young Screenwriters, whose work has earned a Shorty Award and Webby recognition
• Mike Benton, Emmy Award-winning director and owner of Courage Media
• Lisa Brin, head of FilmLEX and former marketing executive for The Walt Disney Company, Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation
• Corinne Boyer, writer, actor and award-winning journalist featured on NPR and in The New York Times
• Taylor Coriell, Black List-recommended writer/director recognized by the Sundance New Voices Lab and Nicholl Fellowship
• Isaac Harrison, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and senior producer at RedTag
• Tim Obeck, Los Angeles-based cinematographer and member of IATSE Local 600
• Justin Skeens, six-time Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and co-founder of In Cahoots Films
• Robert Tipton, president of Media Collaboratory and award-winning producer
Films were evaluated using a 10-point scoring system based on overall quality, story and theme, visual and audio elements, and character development and performance.
For more information about the festival and future submissions, visit www.ukyflimfestival.org.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and healthcare. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $1.02 billion research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.