1st Place
Kagome
Sasha Fevralskaya
Festivals · Competition · Brand or platform
Curious Refuge AI Horror Film Competition
An annual three-minute AI horror short competition run by the Curious Refuge filmmaking school, with a named jury and an audience award.
- Organiser
- Curious Refuge
- With
- Epidemic Sound
- Held
- Annual
2026
ResultsOnline · Results published 29 Oct 2026
Winners
2nd Place
Nix
Christian Thornell
3rd Place
Trick or Trend
Nikita Guk
Audience Favorite
John-O'-Lantern
Artem Krykun
Key dates
About this edition
- Brief
- Original horror shorts, up to three minutes.
- Eligibility
- AI must be used in every shot (subject replacement allowed); Epidemic Sound music and effects required; original IP only.
- Prizes
- $12,000 in cash: $7,000 first, $3,000 second and $2,000 third, each with a course enrolment. The Audience Favorite receives a course enrolment.
- Jury
- Shelby Ward, Verena Puhm, Spooky Dan, Chris White and Dave Clark.
Why it matters
Now in its fourth year, this is one of the longest-running genre contests for short AI films. Its rules make it a tight test of short-form craft: three minutes at most, AI in every shot and original stories only. A five-person jury chooses the top three; the audience vote decides only the Audience Favorite. Catalogue artists Verena Puhm and Dave Clark sat on the 2026 jury.
The 2026 edition
Kagome by Sasha Fevralskaya won first place, followed by Nix and Trick or Trend; John-O’-Lantern took the Audience Favorite. The organiser does not state when entries opened or how many films were entered. Epidemic Sound’s music requirement is a contest rule, not a disclosure about any particular film. The page also lists the 2025 winners, led by Sam Lavy’s The Missing Segment.