Emerald Coast Film Festival

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Emerald Coast Film Festival Let’s help make a positive difference in the world together via music and film ~Dianna Chenevert / Emerald Coast Film Festival founder

Making a film is rarely easy. Unexpected weather, equipment glitches, tight budgets, location setbacks, and those long d...
10/16/2026

Making a film is rarely easy. Unexpected weather, equipment glitches, tight budgets, location setbacks, and those long days of problem-solving are part of the journey for almost every filmmaker. If you’ve faced those moments and kept going, you’re already becoming a champion.

“Consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (James 1:2-3)

There will always be non-stop learning opportunities. Those same challenges are what shape the champions we love to celebrate. Don’t give up—your project is worth finishing and sharing.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

The Emerald Coast Film Festival was founded during COVID in 2020 to encourage filmmakers and others who were struggling to stay inspired. Since then, we’ve continued standing with creators through obstacles of our own—Hurricane Ian (2022), Hurricane Milton (2024), the devastating loss of our founder’s home and ministry office (2025), and Hurricane Isaias on the Emerald Coast (2026). “But Jesus is still the captain of my vessel (me). I’m rolling with it, adjusting course as Holy Spirit leads, and will continue to support and further promote our award-winning filmmakers. Thank you and God bless you all for hanging in there with me! And for our newer creatives, welcome aboard! No matter what, let’s make a positive difference in the world together via music & film!” — Dianna Chenevert, Founder

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

We look forward to receiving your work and celebrating your stories that uplift, inspire, and make a lasting impact.
Submit today — let’s make this an award-winning year together.

👉 www.FilmFreeway.com/EmeraldCoastFilmFestival-1

CONGRATULATIONS🎉Director Ashley Billington for “AI Jesus” Category short film Genres: Drama, Satire, Sci-Fi, Comedy🎬 AI ...
10/14/2026

CONGRATULATIONS🎉
Director Ashley Billington for “AI Jesus”

Category short film
Genres: Drama, Satire, Sci-Fi, Comedy

🎬 AI Jesus is a sharp, satirical short film exploring what happens when faith collides with artificial intelligence. When a small-town Florida church gets its hands on a cutting-edge humanoid robot named Manuel Diaz, the congregation is divided. Pastor Alex welcomes Manuel as a high-tech tool to modernize the ministry, while Pastor Kevin is deeply skeptical. Manuel’s every word and gesture begin to captivate the community, blurring the line between machine and messiah. Pastors from a rival church sabotage Manuel by paying a webmaster to hack the AI Jesus - making for an unforgettable sermon.
The film takes aim at our culture’s eagerness to embrace new technology without fully understanding it—and the ways charisma, spectacle, and spiritual longing can be exploited. With humor, heart, and an undercurrent of unease, AI Jesus delivers a timely reflection on who we choose to follow, and why. In an era where algorithms can out-preach humans and digital personas can outshine the real thing, the story asks a provocative question: if salvation came packaged in silicon and scripture, would we even notice the difference?

Director Biography - Ashley Billington

Producer/Writer/Director, Ashley Billington was born and raised in South Florida in the late 80's early 90’s. Ashley spent summers in North Carolina where an appreciation for southern culture was formed. Ashley studied at the University of Mississippi and earned a degree in Broadcast Journalism. After College Ashley worked for Bloomberg Television in Washington D.C., then moved back to South Florida. Ashley has always had a love for writing and film. Ashley currently has 7 books published on Amazon under the pen name "Ashley Robert". Ashley has produced two features before, Everglades Killings & The Dark Hammock.

Director Statement
With AI Jesus, I wanted to hold up a mirror to our uneasy relationship with technology and faith—and maybe make the audience laugh while they squirm. The story began as a simple “what if” question: what would happen if a small-town church was gifted a humanoid AI that could speak like a preacher, quote scripture on command, and never get tired of shaking hands at the door? From there, it became less about the robot itself and more about the people around it—their hopes, fears, rivalries, and blind spots.

I stripped away the spectacle of sci-fi futurism and grounded the film in something instantly recognizable: church politics, human ambition, and our tendency to project greatness onto anything—or anyone—that makes us feel inspired. By presenting Manuel, our AI Jesus, as a blank canvas with a serene face and measured words, the real story becomes how people react to him. My hope is that audiences leave the film not with answers, but with questions about who they trust, why they believe, and how quickly we hand over our hearts to the next great thing.

CONGRATULATIONS 🎉 Director - Boaz Dvir for “CLASS OF HER OWN”Category: Documentary 🎬 “CLASS OF HER OWN”During her first...
10/13/2026

CONGRATULATIONS 🎉 Director - Boaz Dvir for “CLASS OF HER OWN”

Category: Documentary

🎬 “CLASS OF HER OWN”

During her first 25 years at Duval Elementary (East Gainesville, Fla.), Gloria Jean Merriex was a typical teacher. She adhered faithfully to her district’s rigid pacing guides. But after her school flunked its high-stakes state exam, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), she changed. Completely. As a result of failing the FCAT, Duval faced major consequences. They included a budget freeze and the threat of a shutdown. The state and district pressured Gloria and her colleagues to strictly follow the curriculum and guidelines. Gloria fought back. She created a curriculum from scratch to make her lessons relevant to her students. Recognizing rhythm and repetition help children grasp and remember complex concepts, she experimented with music and movement. She wrote original songs and choreographed geometrical motions. She flipped the playbook, starting the school year with the hardest concepts. She practiced tough love. And she substantially raised her expectations of her students—and herself. In one year, she catapulted Duval to an A. She became a national model, giving us a blueprint for student success.

CONGRATULATIONS 🎉Director Giuseppe A. Modicafor “ Here Where The Sea Shines”Category: Short film Director Biography - Gi...
10/13/2026

CONGRATULATIONS 🎉
Director Giuseppe A. Modica
for “ Here Where The Sea Shines”

Category: Short film

Director Biography - Giuseppe A. Modica

Italian-American director and screenwriter, born in the USA in 1985, to Italian parents. He lives in the province of Rome and studied directing, screenwriting and theater at academy. He began his film career working his way up through the ranks on sets as a directing or production assistant, including in the USA. He made his first short films on very low budgets starting at the age of 16. In 2025 he made the short documentary “Qui dove il mare luccica”, produced by Last Horizon and with the patronage and with the patronage of the municipality of Sorrento. Currently the short film has 85 selections at international festivals and won 45 awards.

🎬 Here Where The Sea Shines

Set in the small port of Marina Grande, Sorrento, this short documentary follows Rosy, a ten-year-old dog who has become the beloved mascot of the village. Once the faithful companion of her fisherman owner who has since passed away, Rosy now spends her days helping her new family at the local bar, watching over the fishermen and the sea, and embodying the spirit and traditions of the entire community.

CONGRATULATIONS 🎉 Director - Inna Kudryavtseva for “Draw Our Home”🎉Category: Documentary🎬 “Draw Our Home”A fire took eve...
10/13/2026

CONGRATULATIONS 🎉
Director - Inna Kudryavtseva for “Draw Our Home”🎉

Category: Documentary

🎬 “Draw Our Home”
A fire took everything from them. On a hot summer day in Vodoratsk village, flames instantly engulfed a large house — home to Lyudmila Yurkina and her adopted children, including children of different nationalities and boys with mental disabilities.�Having lost everything, the woman decided to overcome her grief: to find a new home together with her big family and rebuild their lives. Before the cold set in. The film was shot during the 73DOC documentary film laboratory in Ulyanovsk region, Russia

Director Biography - Inna Kudryavtseva

A cinematographer of documentary and fiction films, documentary director, graduate of the Cinematography program (curated by I. V. Demin) and lecturer at the Moscow Film School. A participant and laureate of domestic and international film festivals, including “Message to Man”, “Short Film Days” and others. A winner of the “73DOC” Documentary Film Laboratory in 2024.

CONGRATULATIONS Director Alena Hines for “THE MEMORIES BETWEEN” 🎉Category: student filmDirector Biography - Alena HinesR...
10/13/2026

CONGRATULATIONS Director Alena Hines for “THE MEMORIES BETWEEN” 🎉

Category: student film

Director Biography - Alena Hines
Raised in the rural part of Bedford, KY, Alena attended Western Kentucky University for a BFA in film production. After directing a comedy and a sci-fi film, a family drama turned out to be no easy task. The journey of making this film explored elements of family connections that she hopes to share with the audience. She has previously directed Cowboys, Cops, and Candy (2023), and The Sum of Our Parts (2025) during her time at WKU.

🎬 THE MEMORIES BETWEEN”
When a sister and her brother reunite to pack up their childhood home after their mom's death, they get transported into their memories where they must confront their past and what tore them apart in order to get back to the present.

Director Statement
This film was inspired by my own relationship with my brother. Siblings fight all the time when we’re kids, but as we grew up I realized those fights meant something. Now as an adult, I asked myself how to reconnect with my brother, and I thought of things we did together as kids. One of those things was playing video games- a lot. So, I really took hold of that and brought it to life in this story, where a video game was part of the solution to reunite them. It’s not about the game, though, it’s about the connection it brings. That’s what this story is about, and I hope families, wherever they are in their lives, can take this film as a way to reconnect with their loved ones. Video games are a fun way to do it.

CONGRATULATIONS 🎉The Honorable Mention Award goes to Director Melih Bahaddin KÜÇÜK for his short film: “FRAGMENTS OF A ...
10/13/2026

CONGRATULATIONS 🎉
The Honorable Mention Award goes to
Director Melih Bahaddin KÜÇÜK for his short film: “FRAGMENTS OF A JOURNEY”

Melih Bahaddin KÜÇÜK is a 27 year old Director, producer, and writer from Türkiye. This project is an Experimental Short Film, Poetic Art-House Film.

Message from the Director: I’m
Melih Bahaddin Küçük , a short film director living in Turkey. For over twenty years, my country has been facing an ongoing economic crisis, and living standards continue to decline, making filmmaking increasingly difficult under such conditions. Thank you for this opportunity to be included in the Emerald Coast Film Festival. I hope you enjoy my short film.

🎬 Fragments of a Journey is a poetic short film that explores the fractures hidden within seemingly ordinary moments. The film follows a single character as they navigate the subtle yet unsettling details encountered in everyday life. A glance, a sound, an object… each feels like a fragment torn from the past.

More ECFF award winners to come! Stay tuned!
10/11/2026

More ECFF award winners to come!
Stay tuned!

Congratulations Director Andrew Jacob Brown for “AFTER” - Emerald Coast Film Festival 2026 “Best Original Series Episode...
10/11/2026

Congratulations Director Andrew Jacob Brown for “AFTER” - Emerald Coast Film Festival 2026 “Best Original Series Episode” Award winner 🎉

🎬 AFTER millions vanish from the face of the earth, a group of troubled fugitives are forced to work together in order to survive in the Last Days

Emerald Coast Film Festival is honored to present Andrew Jacob Brown with the “Best Original Series Episode Award” for “After” Season 1, Episode 1.

Judges found the story creative and original, with excellent dialogue, strong intrigue for what comes next, and solid fight choreography. This recognition celebrates his work as writer, director, producer, and actor in this faith-based series about redemption and survival.

In his multi-role as writer, director, producer, and lead actor, Brown delivers a compelling foundation for the series. As Eli Jenkins, Andrew Jacob Brown’s performance is grounded and compelling, particularly in the episode’s action sequences, where the fight choreography and physical commitment were noted as stronger than anticipated. The authenticity he brings to the character’s journey further strengthens the premise and leaves the audience invested in what comes next.

We also commend the co-stars and film crew for their contributions. The authenticity of key supporting performances and the overall strength of the ensemble helped bring the world and relationships to life, while the technical and creative collaboration behind the camera supported the story’s momentum and emotional impact.

Congratulations, Andrew, and to the entire cast and crew. We look forward to seeing where the story continues to grow.

Director Biography - Andrew Jacob Brown

Andrew Jacob Brown began studying the craft of writing in 2007, and went onto write his first novel "Haven: The Fate of the Four Races" in 2012 which soon went onto win two book festival awards in the same year. But it was his love for movies and the bible that inspired him to learn the craft of screenwriting. In 2013-14, he won two straight contest awards with his script "In Debt Deep," and the script was optioned. In 2016, he made his first short film "Moriah," which was a gold winner in the 2017 Neo Noir Film Festival. Then in 2018, Andrew changed his focus to acting and producing. And with his years of writing and martial arts experience, he created 6 action-dramas in 5 years. Andrew resides in Huntsville Alabama with his wife.

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