🎬 CapCut × SXSW AI Challenge Winner Announcement
The CapCut x SXSW AI Creator Challenge successfully concluded on Feb 12th, 2026, and we’re excited to share the results with you. Over the course of the challenge, we received 82 incredible submissions. The creativity, originality, and effort from the community truly exceeded our expectations—thank you to everyone who participated and shared their ideas with us. Now, We’re thrilled to officially announce the winners below.
🏆 Top 3 Winners - Breana Daugherty
Win a CapCut sponsored trip to SXSW in Austin, Texas
"Night Terrors" - Turning Fear into Power
"Night Terrors" transforms a childhood lucid dream into a bold cinematic experience about confronting fear. Inspired by a recurring dream from her youth, the creator reimagines the moment she learned to face what once terrified her, turning darkness into control.
Built entirely on CapCut, she used Nano Banana to generate striking, high-contrast AI imagery and Veo to bring those visuals into motion with dramatic, cinematic camera movement. The glowing eyes, etched linework, and shadowed dream figures create a cohesive, graphic world, while CapCut's editing tools, effects, and pacing elevate the tension and release throughout the film.
The result is visually intense yet emotionally grounded. A piece that demonstrates how CapCut's Gen AI tools can transform a personal memory into a stylized, story-driven short. This submission stood out for its strong concept, distinctive aesthetic, and seamless integration of AI-powered image and video creation within CapCut.
🏆 Top 3 Winners - Dorothy Pang
Win a CapCut sponsored trip to SXSW in Austin, Texas
"Love Hotel" - Intimacy Reimagined
This creator crafted "Love Hotel", an experimental short inspired by Japan's uniquely themed love hotels, spaces designed for privacy, escape, and fleeting intimacy within the intensity of Tokyo's urban life.
Written and narrated by the creator, the film blends personal storytelling with AI-driven worldbuilding. The voiceover was recorded and modified using CapCut, while visual sequences were generated using CapCut AI tools including Veo, along with Nano Banana Pro for image development. Editing, sound design, and final polish were completed entirely in CapCut, resulting in a cohesive and atmospheric cinematic experience.
What began as curiosity evolved into a layered reflection on vulnerability and human connection. The result is visually stylized yet emotionally grounded. A film that uses AI not just for spectacle, but to deepen narrative intimacy.
This submission stood out for its thoughtful concept, immersive art direction, and seamless integration of CapCut's AI tools into a deeply personal story.
🏆 Top 3 Winners - Robin Warren
Win a CapCut sponsored trip to SXSW in Austin, Texas
Arcade Energy in Overdrive
This creator transformed childhood arcade nostalgia into a high-speed anime short powered by CapCut Gen AI. Using Seedance and Veo 3 inside CapCut, he rapidly generated race sequences and pulled them directly into his timeline to experiment, iterate, and shape the story in real time.
With no fixed storyboard, the build was improvisational. Generating multiple variations, refining shots, and even changing which car wins mid-edit to better match the track's aggression and momentum. CapCut's AI tools played a central role throughout the process, from generative video creation to color matching, audio extraction, upscaling, and precision fixes that kept the workflow fast and fluid.
Completed in just five days, the final piece is loud, stylized, and unapologetic, A cinematic sprint that showcases how CapCut Gen AI reduces friction between idea and execution.
🎥 10 Screening Winners
10 videos selected will be featured in a highlight reel screened at CapCut’s SXSW panel.
Click each video to feel the creativity of CapCut Gen AI creators.
