Horror
Psychological, supernatural, creature, folk, body horror, and dread-driven stories.
Online Film and Script Awards Festival
Stories from the dark side of cinema.
A virtual festival for horror, sci-fi, mystery, noir, thriller, dark comedy, and cinematic work that slips through the cracks of the ordinary.
Accepted Genres
Horror, sci-fi, mystery, noir, thriller, and strange hybrids.
Sci-Fi
Speculative, dystopian, cosmic, experimental, and future-facing genre work.
Noir / Neo-Noir
Crime, mystery, moral rot, shadow-soaked stories, and hard choices.
Dark Comedy / Strange Hybrids
Films that do not behave, but still belong in a late-night genre program.
Our Promise
Every filmmaker gets a fair look.
Judges watch every submitted film in full.
Winning projects receive free digital certificates and laurels.
Submission status updates are handled clearly and consistently.
The festival keeps evolving through filmmaker feedback.
Submit Your Film or Script
Bring us the work that does not fit anywhere else.
The Dark Fest accepts horror, sci-fi, mystery, thriller, noir, dark comedy, and strange cinematic hybrids from filmmakers working outside the ordinary.
2025 Season
Latest Award Winners
Filter by honor
Filter by project type
No projects match those filters.
2ND
A Super Friendly Guy
Winner: Best Short Film Script 2nd Place
Best Short Film Screenplay
Writer: Mićo Ivanović
David is a super friendly guy during the day. But is he really that friendly at the end of the day?
Award Winner
Blood and Dust
Winner: Jury Award Winner
Best Short Film
Director: RJ Maurer
A cold-blooded sniper hunts down a mysterious briefcase in 1998 Kern County
2ND
Bloody Sunday
Winner: Best Feature Film Screenplay 2nd Place
Best Feature Film Screenplay
Writer: Angela Thorne
The reality distortion of FIGHT CLUB meets the shadowy foreboding of REBECCA when a hallucinating Senator’s daughter, isolated and exiled to the home where her sister died, must cling to sanity as her image-obsessed mother drives her toward madness—and a killer closes in.
Read More
2ND
Darkroom
Winner: Best Short Film 2nd Place
Best Short Film
Directors: Evalee Lowrey, Brenna Crace
A young photo store clerk finds a mysterious envelope of film negatives. Upon developing them, he discovers a sinister connection to the photographer.
3RD
Dead Air
Winner: Best Short Film Script 3rd Place
Best Short Film Screenplay
Writer: Eric Gorodetsky
After moving into a new apartment, a grieving woman begins receiving voicemails from herself — but not from her.
3RD
Don’t Look In The Dark
Winner: Best Feature Film 3rd Place
Best Feature Film
Director: Samuel Freeman
When a couple's phones begin recording on their own during a camping trip, what they capture isn't just darkness. It's something that wants to be seen. 🔥 “A groundbreaking found footage film that people will be talking about for decades to come.” — Adrian Țofei (Be My Cat) 🏆 Winner – Most Innovative Film, Unnamed FootageFestival 2026 🏆 Winner – Best Feature, Birmingham Horror Film Festival 2025 🏆 Winner - Best Horror Film, Wallachia International Film Festival 2025 🎬 Official Selection – New Jersey Film Festival 2026 🎬 Official Selection – New York CineFest 2026 🎬 Official Selection – Toronto Indie Horror Film Festival 2026 🎬 Official Selection – GASP! Horror Film Festival 2026 🎬 Official Selection – Unnamed Footage Festival 2026
Read More
Honorable Mention
It’s Not an Eating Disorder
Honorable Mention: Best Short Film Honorable Mention
Best Short Film
Director: Johnny Brindle
Zee clashes with the prison mandated therapist over her "diagnosis", her rights, and her very existence.
Honorable Mention
JUST ANOTHER DAY
Honorable Mention: Best Short Film Honorable Mention
Best Short Film
Director: John Borowski
An ordinary day in the life of a Senior woman named Harriet -- with a little dark comedy suspense twist! A fitting commentary on both the pharmaceutical industry & women in unfulfilled life-long marriages.
Award Winner
Look Inside
Winner: Best Micro Short
Best Short Film
Director: Carlos Estevan
An old man loses his head
1ST
Match
Winner: Best Short Film 1st Place
Best Short Film
Director: Victor Basallote
Rachel, a bored and insomniac young woman, contacts Zalir through a dating APP, a creature who will do the impossible to make their paths cross, forever...
2ND
Neustadt by Night
Winner: Best Noir/Neo Noir Short 2nd Place
Best Film Noir & Neo Noir
Director: Alexander Krahl
A washed-up private eye takes on a missing-person case that plunges him through the chaotic nightlife of Dresden's Neustadt—into absurdity, madness, and a truth stranger than fiction.
3RD
Off-Key
Winner: Best Noir/Neo Noir Short 3rd Place, Best Cinematography
Best Film Noir & Neo Noir
Director: Michael McCallum
A down and out trombone player finds himself at a crossroads with his career and life in a dark, wet alley at night.