2026 Award winners!

This year's film program showcased over 50 Short and Feature films from all over the world, and exemplified independent filmmaking in the Cosmic Horror, Lovecraftian, and Weird Tale genre. 

The winners are:

• Best Feature: Ithaqua, dir. by Casey Walker
• Best Short: "Favela Amarela" dir. by Nicolas Lobatu & Thiago Tuchu
• Best Adaptation: "The Damned Thing" dir. by Christopher Lewis
• Audience Choice: "H. P. Lovecraft's The Beast In the Cave" dir. by Thomas J. Yagodinski
• Best Screenplay: "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by Ryan Dooley
• Screenplay Finalists:
  • "The Constant" by Alexandre Amancio
  • "Size 4" by Chris Bancel
  • "The Finality of the Infinite" by Nick Leigh Etie
• Lovecraft Under the Gun: "Mask of the Foil King" by Trash People From the Dump

In addition to the Film and Screenplay Awards, we host a Lovecraftian MicroFiction contest each year. This year's top winners were published in a limited edition book along with our story collection Tales From the Shores of Hali. The book will be available on arkhambazaar.com soon!

The 2026 Microfiction contest winners are:

"+/-1" by Timothy Lanz
"Chrysalis" by Brian Garbe
"Sharp Lurid Fingers" by S. G. Manley
"Working From Life" by Bob Brinkman
"The Call of the Dataset" by Chris Huning
"MagMagDono" by Maro Rose
"Stop and Smell the Roses" by Rick Hutchins
"Forbidden Language" by E.T. Jasso
"One Night in Big Cypress Swamp" by Matthew Carpenter
"Aurora" by Chad Anctil
"The Law of Names" by Jason Zuleger
"Armistice" by L. Carlton Fisk
"Mouth of the Prototaxies" by Luke Zwanziger
"Unrecoverable" by Tim Uren
"Jimothy the Elder God" by Sarah Mott
"Seen is Death" by MM DeHart
"I am the Mulitverse Bomb" by Sven Bonnichsen
"Zoetrope" by Russell Smeaton
"The King Ain't Mellow - A Spring Break Tale" by Nas Khan
"Helping Hand" by Russell W. Bynum - OVERALL WINNER!

Congratulations to all of the creators in this year's festival!