The Camp Kuleshov trailer competition for emerging creative artists in post production – a.k.a. Camp K – has announced the winners of its Grand Prizes in the categories of Editing, Graphics, Sound Design and Music Score.
Lev winners are selected from among the first prize winners in each category from each region. The Lev honor is for Lev Kuleshov, the noted Russian filmmaker and editor who developed the Kuleshov effect and is considered a pioneer in the editing craft. The Lev Awards were chosen from among the first-place winners in the Camp K competition held in the East/Southeast, Midwest and West/Southwest regions. Designed to give emerging talent a chance to heighten their creative and craft problem-solving skills while also gaining access to invaluable mentorship opportunities, Camp K asks entrants to take existing films and re-imagine trailers for them as something new and different.
Lev winners were presented with their trophies at the 2025 AICP Awards in Chicago, as were the 2024 winners. Going forward, the Lev honor will be bestowed immediately following the Camp K Regional competitions, with the Lev being presented at the Chicago event.
L to R: Waner Zhang, Zoltan Monori, Lucas Hansa, and Thomas Sheriff
The Lev winner for Editing went to Thomas Sheriff of Whitehouse Post for his trailer for “About Time,” reimagining the romantic time travel comedy as a psychological thriller. The piece won first place in the East/Southeast competition.
For Graphics, Waner Zhang of Uppercut won the Lev for her opening title sequence for the film “Inside Llewyn Davis.” It won first place in the East/Southeast competition.
In Sound Design, the Lev was awarded to Lucas Hansa from Another Country for his re-interpretation of “Forbidden Planet.” The piece won in the Midwest competition.
The Lev for Music Score went to Zoltan Monori of Heard City for his score for “Cloverfield.” This is the second year in a row Monori won the Lev for Music Score; his entry last year was for “Castaway.” His Camp K win was in the East/Southeast competition.
A special panel of post production artists and producers convened to judge the First Place winners in each category across all participating competitions. This jury included: Jen Dean of Cut+Run; Kimmy Dubé of Cosmo Street Editorial; Chris Franklin of Big Sky Edit; Daniel Hart of Shindig Music; Tom Jucarone of Sound Lounge; Valerie Lasser of Big Sky Edit; Brian Leitner of Utopic; Matt Nelson of Storefront Music; Jay Nelson of Cut+Run; Joe O'Connell of Sonic Union; Fernando Raigoza of Arcade Edit; David Rubin of Cutters; Robert Ryang of Cut+Run; Micah Scarpelli of Uppercut; Jenny Schaye of Optimus; and Pieter Viljoen of Uppercut.
AICP Awards Chicago Presentation
On the evening of November 20th at the AICP Awards in Chicago, the 2025 Lev winners, as well as the 2024 winners, were presented with trophies for their honored pieces. The 2024 winners were: Fernando Raigoza of Arcade Edit (Editing); Marly Koven of Flavor (Graphics); Cliff Fitch of Cutters Studios (Sound Design); and Zoltan Monori of Heard City (Music Score).
L to R: Waner Zhang, Lucas Hansa, Cliff Fitch, Zoltan Monori, Marly Koven, and Thomas Sheriff
Kathryn Hempel, Editor/Partner at Cutters, and the architect of the Camp K competition, along with Robby Hurd, head of Enterprise and New Business at Musicbed + Filmsuply, presented the winners their trophies. All Lev winners, along with all the 2025 and 2024 Camp K winners, can be found here and here. The Lev winners receive a $1,000 gift card courtesy of Musicbed + Filmsupply, an AICP Supporting Partner. In addition, Musicbed provides selections from its music library to Camp K entrants at no charge. More information about the competition, including rules, objectives and source films, can be found on the Camp K website at www.campkuleshov.org.