Full Sail University Sweeps the 2026 Coca-Cola Refreshing Films Competition with Historic Wins

Full Sail University achieved a remarkable clean sweep at the 2026 Coca-Cola Refreshing Films program, capturing the highest honors in the prestigious nationwide student filmmaking competition. The university’s exceptional performance culminated in the Red Ribbon Panel Grand Prize Award for the graduate team’s short film Behind the Screens, the Cinemark Fan Favorite award voted by audiences nationwide for the undergraduate team’s project What Makes Them Magic, and the Best Music Composition honor awarded to Full Sail Lab instructor Kevin Kraus. This unprecedented clean sweep highlights the cutting-edge curricula, state-of-the-art facilities, and collaborative ecosystem cultivated at the Florida-based institution, reinforcing its status as a premier training ground for the next generation of cinematic storytellers.

The Coca-Cola Refreshing Films program, established in 1998, has grown over nearly three decades into one of the most distinguished platforms bridging higher education and the professional entertainment industry. Designed for current students and recent graduates from participating film schools across the United States, the initiative challenges emerging filmmakers to develop original scripts centered around a specific theme provided by contest organizers. These narratives are tasked with highlighting Coca-Cola’s enduring role in the shared moviegoing experience. The ultimate prize for finalists is the rare opportunity to see their scripts transformed into fully realized, professional short films distributed across major theatrical chains nationwide.

The competitive journey to the top is rigorous and demanding. Out of numerous nationwide submissions, only three projects advanced to the final production round this year, with Full Sail University securing two of those coveted spots. The initiative provides student participants with invaluable exposure to real-world brand collaboration, professional mentorship, and theatrical exhibition networks. Industry giants such as AMC Theatres, B&B Theatres, and Cinemark Theatres serve as crucial exhibition partners, offering primary shooting locations, constructive script feedback, and wide-scale distribution support. Furthermore, technical powerhouses like RED and Nikon contribute professional-grade cinema cameras and advanced lenses for both primary and behind-the-scenes units. Post-production workflows are equally elevated through industry partnerships, with CineVantage providing dedicated music-composition and sound-design mentorship, and Company 3 delivering professional color grading for every finalist film. Katie Pryor, Program Manager for Coca-Cola Refreshing Films, has spent nearly eight years overseeing the initiative and expressed profound admiration for Full Sail’s infrastructure and institutional backing. She noted that the university’s resources provide an ideal safety net for students to experience professional branded filmmaking under optimal conditions.

Undergraduate Excellence: What Makes Them Magic

Among the standout entries was the undergraduate production What Makes Them Magic, a deeply resonant exploration of the emotional resonance and transformative power of cinema. Written and directed by Brandon Bishop and produced by Christina Almuina, both current students in Full Sail’s Film Bachelor of Science degree program, the film weaves a heartfelt narrative centered inside a traditional movie theater. The plot follows several distinct audience members whose lives are profoundly shifted by what they witness on the silver screen: a father visualizing his young daughter’s future wedding day, a recent graduate channeling the fierce confidence of an arena gladiator, and estranged friends rediscovering their bond through the shared magic of storytelling.

Reflecting on the thematic core of their project, Bishop emphasized the unique communal nature of theatrical viewing. He pointed out that cinema remains one of the rare art forms where individuals willingly dedicate two uninterrupted hours in a dark room, frequently emerging with altered perspectives and a drive to make fundamental life changes. Bringing this vision to life required a sophisticated blend of advanced technology and logistical coordination. The production utilized Full Sail’s cutting-edge, $3 million virtual production studio, Studio V1, alongside location shooting at AMC Altamonte Springs facilitated by the program’s exhibition partnerships. The production crew was composed predominantly of students from Full Sail’s Film and Television programs, supported extensively by interdisciplinary faculty collaborators specializing in 3D arts, virtual production, and audio engineering. Following extensive theatrical screenings and a nationwide voting campaign, the audience response culminated in What Makes Them Magic being crowned the Cinemark Fan Favorite.

Graduate Ambition: Behind the Screens

On the graduate side, the competition entry Behind the Screens offered a visually striking, ambitious homage to the history of cinema framed through the lens of Americana. Written and directed by film graduate Angel Quinapallo alongside producer and fellow film graduate Kylie Shouse, the short film imagines a secret, bustling world existing just behind the movie screen where the rich history of cinema is actively preserved to continuously generate theatrical magic.

Shouse described the script as a crackling burst of energy designed to capture the controlled chaos and relentless creativity that happens off-camera during professional film production. She noted that the narrative serves as a direct mirror to the rigorous experiences shared by student filmmakers attempting to compress complex stories into 60 seconds of branded content. The scale of Behind the Screens was immense, demanding the collaborative efforts of dozens of current students, graduates, and faculty members who custom-built intricate props—including a full-scale T-Rex tail—and designed period-accurate costumes representing various eras of cinematic history.

Production for the graduate team spanned multiple locations, leveraging the advanced LED volume stages of Studio V1 for sophisticated virtual production sequences, while also utilizing Cinemark Orlando and XD for authentic theatrical settings. Following rigorous post-production evaluation by industry professionals, Behind the Screens was officially named the Red Ribbon Panel Grand Prize Award winner. Adding to the team’s accolades, Music Production graduate and Full Sail Lab instructor Kevin Kraus secured the Best Music Composition Award for his intricate, evocative score accompanying the film. Kraus described the recognition as an intensely gratifying milestone for a project that required extraordinary dedication and served as a true labor of love.

Industry Implications and Real-World Pedagogy

The sweeping success achieved by Full Sail University at the 2026 Coca-Cola Refreshing Films competition underscores a broader pedagogical shift within modern film education. By embedding students directly into high-stakes, brand-sponsored workflows, institutions can bridge the traditional gap between academic theory and industry practice. Across both winning productions, an estimated 80 to 90 percent of the crew positions were filled by Full Sail students and recent graduates. This robust participation rate ensured that current undergraduates gained direct, hands-on experience navigating the complexities of a nationally recognized commercial production.

Under the guidance of faculty mentors and industry professionals, the student-led crews navigated every phase of a professional workflow, mirroring the strict standards demanded by commercial Hollywood studios. Responsibilities spanned comprehensive pre-production logistics—such as budgeting, insurance acquisition, casting, and script revisions—to rigorous post-production deliverables and brand compliance approvals. The ability of these student teams to deliver polished, commercially viable content under tight deadlines demonstrates the efficacy of modern film school training grounds equipped with enterprise-level technology. As branded entertainment continues to expand as a vital sector of the global media landscape, initiatives like the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films program, bolstered by institutional powerhouses like Full Sail University, provide an indispensable runway for the next generation of directors, producers, composers, and technical craftspeople entering the professional arena.