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Full Sail University Teams Sweep All Three Major Awards in Coca-Cola Refreshing Films Program [Sponsored]
Full Sail University teams swept the competition in the 2026 Coca-Cola Refreshing Films program, earning top honors across the nationwide filmmaking contest. Alongside a Red Ribbon Panel Grand Prize Award win for the graduate team’s Behind the Screens and Best Music Composition honors for Full Sail Lab instructor Kevin Kraus, the student team’s What Makes Them Magic was voted this year’s Cinemark Fan Favorite by the nationwide audience.
What Is Coca-Cola Refreshing Films?
Since 1998, Coca-Cola has celebrated student filmmakers with the nationwide Coca-Cola Refreshing Films Program, a film competition in which current students or recent graduates from participating film schools across the United States submit entries of original scripts following a specific theme provided by contest organizers. The scripts are meant to highlight Coca-Cola’s role in the moviegoing experience while giving entrants the chance to produce their script into a full-fledged short film in the final phase of the contest. This year, only three submissions moved on to the final round, and Full Sail teams took two of the top spots.
The program connects student storytellers with real-world brand collaboration, professional mentorship, and theatrical distribution—a rare opportunity for college-level filmmakers.
Industry exhibition partners such as AMC, B&B, and Cinemark Theatres provided locations, script feedback, and distribution support. The program also has technical partners such as Red and Nikon, which provided professional cameras and lenses for both the primary film set and the behind-the-scenes teams. During postproduction, the teams received music-composition and sound-design mentorship from CineVantage, while Company 3 provided color grading to each of the films.
Katie Pryor, Program Manager for Coca-Cola Refreshing Films, has worked with the initiative for nearly eight years and was impressed by Full Sail’s facilities, faculty, and student support.
“I think the facilities here at Full Sail are really, really mind-blowing,” Pryor says. “The resources and opportunities that Full Sail provides to their students are phenomenal. This program is a great opportunity for students to get that branded filmmaking experience while they still have the safety net and the resources of the school.”
Student Team – What Makes Them Magic
Writer and director Brandon Bishop and producer Christina Almuina—both current Full Sail Film undergraduates—created What Makes Them Magic, a heartfelt story about the emotional impact of movies.
Set inside a movie theater, the film follows several audience members as moments on screen inspire real-life change: a father imagining his daughter’s future wedding, a graduate channeling the confidence of a gladiator, and friends reconnecting through shared movie magic.
“One of the only art forms that you go spend two hours in is a movie, and then you make a fundamental life change after that because you saw something that moved you,” Bishop says. “That’s really great, beautiful, and magical.”
Their production worked in Full Sail’s $3 million virtual production studio, Studio V1, as well as at AMC Altamonte Springs, via the program’s theater partnership. The crew for the short was predominantly comprised of students studying in Full Sail’s Film & Television programs, along with support from faculty across multiple departments, including 3D arts, virtual production, and audio.
Following nationwide audience voting, What Makes Them Magic was voted this year’s Cinemark Fan Favorite.
Graduate Team – Behind the Screens
Written and directed by Film grad Angel Quinapallo and produced by fellow Film grad Kylie Shouse, Behind the Screens celebrates the evolution of cinema through the lens of Americana.
The concept imagines a hidden world behind the movie screen where the history of cinema lives on to continuously bring the magic of the movies to life.
“This script just crackles with energy and captures the creativity and controlled chaos that happens behind the scenes when creating movie magic,” says Shouse. “It mirrors all the work that we as student filmmakers experience to create these 60 seconds of branded content.”
Ambitious in scope, Behind the Screens features the work of dozens of Full Sail students, graduates, and faculty, who custom-built a T-Rex tail and costumed dozens of characters spanning film history.
Filming for the team’s short also took place in Studio V1, utilizing Full Sail’s virtual production capabilities, with some scenes shot at the Cinemark Orlando and XD, thanks to the program’s theater partnership.
After months of collaborative production, the team’s final submission of Behind the Screens was named the Red Ribbon Panel Grand Prize Award winner.
Music Production graduate Kevin Kraus also played a role in the university’s sweep, earning the Best Music Composition Award for his work on Behind the Screens.
“It’s incredibly gratifying to get an award for something that I’ve put so much time and work into,” says Kevin. “This whole project has been an absolute labor of love.”
Real-World Experience
Across both productions, approximately 80–90 percent of the crews were made up of Full Sail University students and graduates—meaning current students got the chance to gain hands-on experience on a nationally recognized branded production while collaborating with peers, faculty mentors, and industry professionals in a fast-paced environment.
From budgeting and insurance to casting, revisions, and brand approvals, both teams navigated a professional workflow that mirrors industry standards.
