• News

Panic Fest Announces 2021 Audience Award Winners

Concluding its ninth year, Kansas City, Missouri’s Panic Film Festival has just revealed the winners of its first-ever audience awards. Read on for the full list!

Congratulations to all the Audience Award winners for the ninth annual Panic Film Festival. This marked the first year Panic Film Fest handed the voting over to attendees and they made their vote count. Over 700 people voted to crown winners in five different categories. The virtual award ceremony was held on Sunday night in Gather Town, where attendees could chat with filmmakers and congratulate them on their win.

“We couldn’t be more proud of our lineup and our filmmakers and hope you enjoyed the fest. We are already busy making plans for Panic Fest 2022 and will continue our hybrid / virtual ticket model for next year,” says Panic Fest co-founders Adam Roberts and Tim KC Canton.

Best Feature Film
Keeping Company
Director: Josh Wallace

Short Film Best of Fest
Koreatown Ghost Story
Director: Minsun Park, Teddy Tenenbaum

Best Actress
The Stylist
Actress: Najarra Townsend

Best Actor
Blood Conscious
Actor: Oghenero Gbaje

Best Director
The Old Ways
Director: Christopher Alender

For more information, visit panicfilmfest.com

Read More

Get The Grim Reader.
Rue Morgue's free newsletter.
Editor's notes.
Cultural insight.
Curated horror across film, books, music, and art.
First looks.
Select previews.
No algorithms.
Join Free

In Print Since 1997

Issue 231

Rue Morgue #231 Jul/Aug 2026

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #231 – Summer Slasher Issue FEATURES Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun’s TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA guts the slasher formula from the inside out, turning it into a romance about the horror of becoming who you were always meant to be. Plus! GILLIAN ANDERSON and HANNAH EINBINDER unpack Schoenbrun’s radical dismemberment of…

Issue 230

Rue Morgue #230 May/Jun 2026 – RARE

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #230 FEATURES Filmmaker Curry Barker transforms a simple wish into a spiralling nightmare of love, possession, and bloodshed in his breakout feature OBSESSION. Plus: The story of Barker’s found-footage shocker MILK & SERIAL, which turned a micro-budget experiment into a viral horror breakout. Hollywood made it a monster. History tells a different…

Issue 229

Rue Morgue #229 Mar/Apr 2026

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #229! FEATURES A nerve-shredding found-footage thriller built around sound, UNDERTONE signals the arrival of a terrifying new voice in Canada’s booming independent horror scene. Plus! Meet the new breed of independent Canadian horror filmmakers behind DREAM EATER, SWEETNESS, HANGASHORE, THE LAND OF NOD and THE CURSE OF GHOST ISLAND. Part post-punk, part…

Issue 228

Rue Morgue #228 Jan/Feb 2026

Plus

Inside Rue Morgue #228! FEATURES He fascinated audiences in 2001 with the French period martial arts horror film BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF. Then he followed it up in 2006 by bringing the eerie world of SILENT HILL to cinematic life. Now, visionary director CHRISTOPHE GANS unleashes his latest nightmare with RETURN TO SILENT HILL. Plus!…