Adam Meeks’ ‘Union County’ and Kirsten Dickerson’s ‘Handmade Future’ Win Top Prizes at 10th Waco Indie Film Festival

The Waco Independent Film Festival (Waco Indie) announced the award winners for the 10th Anniversary edition, with Adam Meeks’ Will Poulter-starrer Union County winning Best Narrative Feature and Kirsten Dickerson’s Handmade Future winning Best Documentary Feature.

Reed Arnold’s screwball comedy Do Us Part took the prizes for Best Director and the Feature Audience Award, Bob Ray and Gene Gallerano’s Thank You for Listening won Best Texas Short and the Short Audience Award. Gregory JM Kasunich’s Meeting Your Maker won awards for Best Comedy Short, as well as Best Performance for Jonathan Kite.

Brett Weiner’s Everything is Brand was cited with the Festival Directors’ Choice Award. Recipients of the Programmers’ Awards were A.R. Ephraim’s A Woman’s Work, and Sarah Baskin’s I Want to Go to Moscow.

Festival co-founders and co-directors Louis Hunter and Samuel Thomas said, “Anytime you have an ‘anniversary’ year, it forces you to take a look at what your film festival has achieved and how it has evolved over the years. This year’s Waco Independent Film Festival reminded us all why our staff and the Waco community come together to make this event happen each year. Most importantly, our attending filmmakers once again reminded us about our inspiration: their inventive, entertaining, enlightening, and thrilling films. Once again, those filmmakers were embraced by the Waco film fans and community as well as each other, creating a supportive momentum that grew with each screening, panel, and party, leading up to the awards brunch and presentations. And that’s what Waco Indie has always been about.”

This year’s Waco Indie Screenplay Grant competition expanded to include a feature film category. The inaugural winner was Bixby Elliot’s “Salt Kiss.”

2026 Waco Indie Film Festival Filmmaker Award Winners

Feature Film Awards

Best Feature Film (Narrative)
Union County
Director: Adam Meeks

Best Feature Film (Documentary)
Handmade Future
Director: Kirsten Dickerson

Best Director – Feature Film
Reed Arnold (Do Us Part)

Best Performance – Feature Film
Anna Mirodin (The Legend of Juan Jose Mundo)

Best Screenplay – Feature Film
Evan Miller, Hardy Janson (Due West)

Audience Awards

Feature Film
Do Us Part
Director: Reed Arnold

Short Film
Thank You For Listening
Directors: Bob Ray, Gene Gallerano

Short Film Awards

Best Short Film
When Big People Lie
Director: Gianfranco Fernandez-Ruiz

Best Texas Short Film
Thank You For Listening
Directors: Bob Ray, Gene Gallerano

Best Student Short Film
Night Feeds
Director: Rana Roy

Short Film Awards by Genre

Best Drama Short
Beyond Silence
Director: Marnie Blok

Best Comedy Short
Meeting Your Maker
Director: Gregory JM Kasunich

Best Documentary Short
Houdini II: A Beautiful Day to Die
Director: Daniel John

Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi Short
The Ride
Director: Slava Denisov

Best Horror/Thriller Short
The Pearl Comb
Director: Ali Cook

Best Family Short
The Boy With the Dinosaur Head
Director: Imran J Khan

Best Music Video
“Chingona”
Director: Rupert Höller

Short Film Craft Awards

Best Director – Short Film
Taylor Coriell (Ladylike)

Best Performance – Short Film
Jonathan Kite (Meeting Your Maker)

Best Cinematography – Short Film
Andy Chen (Pretty Boys)

Best Editing – Short Film
Hillary Carrigan (Olive)

Best Screenplay – Short Film
Jonathan Hammond (Fireflies in the Dusk)

Best Production Design – Short Film
Nuha Mekki (Beauty Sleep)

Festival Directors’ Choice Award

Everything is Brand (Director: Brett Weiner)

Programmers’ Choice Awards

A Woman’s Work (Director: A.R. Ephraim )
I Want To Go To Moscow (Director: Sarah Baskin)

Screenplay Competition

Best Unproduced Screenplay – Feature
“Salt Kiss” (Writer: Bixbie Elliot)

Best Unproduced Screenplay – First Place
“American Values” (Writer: Ryan Mekenian)

Best Unproduced Screenplay – Short Film (Honorable Mention)
“Stealing Shayna” (Writer: Heather Older)