SPLIT FOCUS, 6min., Dance/Experimental

Directed by Cherie Carson. DP/Editor: Micha Dunston

"Split Focus" is a captivating dance film that delves into the intricate relationship between self-perception and external projection. Through mesmerizing shadow play, the film explores images of spirit and internal feelings versus outward appearances, prompting viewers to question which aspect demands more attention— the dancer herself or her shadow. Visually poetic, it offers a compelling examination of how we project ourselves into the world and the duality of inner and outer identities.

http://www.upswingaerialdance.org/

https://www.instagram.com/upswingaeriaDirector Statement

I explore the layers of human identity and emotion through movement and visual storytelling.

My choreography and filmmaking are driven by a desire to illuminate the unseen forces that shape our understanding of ourselves and others. "Split Focus" is a dialogue between the physical body and its shadow, using dance and shadow play as a metaphor for the internal and external worlds we inhabit.

I look to challenge perceptions, create imagery that encourages viewers to reflect on the projections, masks, and truths that define us. With a background rooted in both choreography and award-winning filmmaking, I strive to craft immersive, visually compelling narratives that resonate on a visceral level—highlighting the beauty, complexity, and often unseen depths of the human spirit.

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Watch the best scene reading: https://youtu.be/biuPP3yLUY4

Get to know the writer:

What is your screenplay about?

A gunslinger is hired to rescue and return a young person to their family despite all outlaws, odds, and attire.

What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Western, Action, Drama

Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?

I believe, especially now, that understanding, listening, and accepting are something we need to get back to doing. Whatever form/medium necessary to push that, might be helpful.

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THE BODY, 6min.. Horror/Comedy Short Film

Alex thinks she is at home alone, finishing up her "work," when her brother Ansel interrupts. Now, she must clean up all the evidence before he can see it.

www.instagram.com/official.kennedy.productions

Director Statement

This film has been a seed in my mind for many years now. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this. It is my thesis to complete my undergraduate degree. I think it perfectly captures my weird sense of humor and love for all things horror. Making this film meant everything to me as my friends and family rallied around to support me. It is my baby, and bringing it to life has been one of my greatest honors. I hope it makes you laugh.

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WATERLOGGED, 4min., USA, Action/Crime

A cop gets under water with her CI's and needs to find a way out.

Conversation with director Kent Lloyd on the making of the film.

http://uvselfdefense.com/stunts

https://www.instagram.com/spearheadstunts

Director Statement

Waterlogged is meant to be an auditory experience. I was inspired by all of my live dance music players from college and season 2 of Daredevil to help the audience experience what our hero goes through.

This piece was a giant collaboration from my stunts class. Monica, Rayla and Tennyson did most of the heavy lifting in terms of choreography and costume design. But they asked me to help stunt coordinate and direct and help write the script since the action was developed without any specific dialogue at all.

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MARA, 18min., USA, Horror/Thriller

After years spent recovering from a botched exorcism, Jake prepares to reintegrate into society. However, the mounting pressures of everyday existence trigger a harrowing regression back into madness. Conversation with filmmaker Ben Harl

https://www.instagram.com/scompassstudios/

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Glistening Benevolence, 6min., UK, Music Video

Directed by Matt Cargill

https://instagram.com/familydrone

Sly & The Family Drone Unleash ‘Glistening Benevolence’: Take the trip into slime-drenched folk horror and the cosmic unknown. . .

Neo-jazz wrecking-crew Sly & The Family Drone summon forth a new vision of terror and transcendence with the video premiere of ‘Glistening Benevolence’. Filmed at an undisclosed, shadowy music festival in the heart of Hampshire, the visual journey is a macabre ritual of psychedelic sludge, blending live performance footage with ominous vignettes of slime-coated landscapes, cosmic dread, and unholy rites under the moon.

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Bruce Hornsby's track "Absolute Zero" highlights this look into cold and the recesses of the waking mind.

www.instagram.com/morris.film

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Jpop Music Video shot in New York City's Times Square.

Conversation with rising star Olivia Millin on the making of her music video with her team.

http://oliviamillin.com/

https://instagram.com/oliviaamillinn

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Yellow Dress, 4min., UK
Directed by Raph Isadora Seymour
What is she doing? Trying to make a garden? Trying to make something…and who or what is trying to stop her? Crude stop-motion makes startling and poetic images and tells a story of resilience and the desire for happiness for both the hero and the villain of the piece.

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated you to make this film?

I wrote a poem and decided to animate it. My friend and I had gone to Peckham Common to feed the crows. I liked their movements and cunning and was also interested in their sinister connotations and their innocence.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

The idea came to me in 2022 and I was finished in early 2024.

How would you describe your film in two words!?

Puppet Poem.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

The biggest obstacle in making the project was balancing my time. Working a job and having other creative projects, working in stops and starts and still maintaining a creative flow however I feel this alongside the stopwork animation and patchwork effects may have benefited the style of the piece.

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Right Beside You, 3min., USA

Writer/Star: Lisa Maciel

The night before her cousin’s wedding—to her ex—Isabel hides away, desperate to escape. But Liam, her fiercely loyal best friend, follows her, and something shifts. Their laughter fades. A glance lingers. A touch lasts too long. Unspoken truths press between them—until reality slams back in.

www.instagram.com/lisamaciel13

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The First Night, 7min., Brazil

Directed by Gabriel Milessis Braga

After collapsing at the altar, Elise awakens inside an old church, and something inside her has changed. Guided by a mysterious man who seems to understand her condition, she begins to confront a new, terrifying hunger. The First Night is a gothic meditation on becoming, resistance, and the quiet seduction of darkness in our lifes.

https://www.instagram.com/thegabrielwars/

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BELONG TO YOU, 6min., Iceland
Directed by Ísak Magnússon, Óliver Sólberg
Belong to you follows a swimming pool employee who thinks about his relationship with his coworker on a quiet night.

Get to know the filmmakers:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

We had just graduated from high school, where me and Ísak had worked quite closely together, and we wanted to continue our partnership and continue creating. I had this idea that was originally a poem and from that we started production. The poem was originally just meant for me to vent out my feelings.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

The idea first came about when I wrote the poem in early 2024. From that there was the early drafts of the script, but that came to a halt until me and Ísak picked it up in august 2024. We started production but that also came to a short stop, because we couldn’t find the right actors. Then, by miracle, we found the two perfect ones. We shot the film in one day at a closed swimming pool on november 23rd and finished shooting after only eight hours of filming. Then came post production which took about two months and the film was finished in late february of 2025. So in total the film took about a year to complete, from idea to the big screen.

www.instagram.com/isak2814

www.instagram.com/olivertumi

BELONG TO YOU, 6min., Iceland
Directed by Ísak Magnússon, Óliver Sólberg
Belong to you follows a swimming pool employee who thinks about his relationship with his coworker on a quiet night.

Get to know the filmmakers:

What motivated you to make this film?

We had just graduated from high school, where me and Ísak had worked quite closely together, and we wanted to continue our partnership and continue creating. I had this idea that was originally a poem and from that we started production. The poem was originally just meant for me to vent out my feelings.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

The idea first came about when I wrote the poem in early 2024. From that there was the early drafts of the script, but that came to a halt until me and Ísak picked it up in august 2024. We started production but that also came to a short stop, because we couldn’t find the right actors. Then, by miracle, we found the two perfect ones. We shot the film in one day at a closed swimming pool on november 23rd and finished shooting after only eight hours of filming. Then came post production which took about two months and the film was finished in late february of 2025. So in total the film took about a year to complete, from idea to the big screen.

Now it's better, 12min., Romania

Directed by Alice Ioana Nicolae

In a world where it is easier to tear down than to build, to blame rather than to take responsibility, there are still resources for a better life. Although very painful and seemingly unique to each couple, the stories of our protagonists are almost universally valid, or perhaps very relevant in our current social and political context.Will the protagonist couples save their relationships? We will see in the short film 'Now It's Better.'

www.instagram.com/alicenicolaehl

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The true story of a small-town girl, born with physical limitations, abandoned as a baby, bravely builds her life and creates a love story that crosses continents through the romance of letter writing. An empowering and cinematic story of love and resilience.

https://www.greytowngirlthemovie.com/

Conversation with screenwriter and producer Rani Sitaram on the making of the film.

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Folie Glacée, 11min., Canada

Directed by Louis Rémillard

Eli et Vincent se commandent une collation à la crèmerie locale sans s'attendre aux horreurs qui ruineront leurs rendez-vous en amoureux

www.instagram.com/shotbypoui

What motivated you to make this film?

It all started with me and my friend, who's the director of photography on the film, hanging out in Montreal. We both got ourselves ice cream cones and as we were eating them, walking around, the idea of the story kind of came to us as a joke at first. I thought about it for a moment, and I ended up telling myself it would make a fun screenplay. I came up with the idea of the ice cream vendor being ill intended and serving contaminated ice cream and he suggested the idea of the couple being on a date. So I owe it a lot to my friend's encouragement and believing in my story once the screenplay was finally done. We were excited to make something that would be wacky, fun and horror since it is a genre we both liked very much.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
 As it is for most passion projects, everyone was either working their full time job or started working on other projects. The crew was mostly composed of my newly graduated classmates so it was a dance of work-fun balance.I think it took about six months of production but since it was all done in free and voluntary time, those six months were spreaded throughout a whole year. 

How would you describe your film in two words!?
Wacky and bloody!

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
It was definitely having to shoot the film almost entirely at night. Scheduling became complicated because I wanted everyone on deck, comfortable and up to work. Having to rest throughout the day and having to shoot everything before sunrise became particularly challenging for the biological clock. We did everything possible to make the experience as fun as it could be and playing with fake blood, making scary scenes definitely contributed to the good ambiance on set. Although it was challenging, we have good laughs to look back to.

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Jamaica Story is a documentary made to inspire Jamaicans worldwide to invest their time as well as their money to help create a brighter and stronger Jamaica!

https://instagram.com/jamaicastory/

Director Statement

I was born in NY to Jamaican parents, but spent a pivotal time in Little London, Westmoreland, Jamaica. This time created a love and affinity for Jamaica I barley understand sometimes. In 2018 I had the crazy idea to film a feature length documentary about Jamaica talking to any and everyone who said yes. I reached out to anyone I could through many mediums. I spent my own money going back and forth between Jamaica and the US. People told me I was crazy, but here I am today still following my dream of creating a documentary to help change a country and a people.

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FLESH WISH, 4min., UK
Directed by Timothy Benjamin Slessor
An experimental horror inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, David Cronenberg and Clive Barker, this music video / short details in an abstract way the summoning of demons through a ritual performed behind the locked doors of a 1970s terraced house.

What motivated you to make this film?

Several factors! Firstly, I wanted to make something visual to accompany the release of my album. Secondly, I wanted to experiment with a lot of different ideas and techniques, but importantly have a finished piece of work to show for it, not just a bunch of tests. Thirdly I wanted to see how I could kind of corrupt and pervert generative ai platforms and work them into my editing and animation / vfx practise and finally I wanted to make something that would surprise and confound my friends and colleagues!

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

It was about three to four months of laborious work, mostly in after effects and premiere. I had to create all of the images and heavily distort and rework them and the editing was done frame-by-frame. About 6 months after it was finished I considered going back and tweaking some things but one look at the edit sequence was enough to convince me to leave well alone!

How would you describe your film in two words!?

Quite fleshy.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

The hardest thing was just getting it finished! It was so hard to create enough interesting images and scenes, especially given the extremely fast cut-rate. I kept trimming the track down (ultimately from around 5 mins to about 3'45 I think) just so I could get it done (I had to keep pushing the release of the album back too as a result). 

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HOLIDAY SPECIAL, 91min., USA

Directed by Harry Roseman

Community, Celebration, Conversation, Chores; these are the key themes of this experimental documentary. Four days of shopping for Thanksgiving dinner as well as the meal itself are

the ostensible subject of this film. Community is reflected in the interaction with people while shopping as well as the camaraderie of the dinner quests. The quotidian nature of these tasks is subverted by the abstract camerawork and narrative structure, offering the viewer a new perspective on both. The vertical orientation of the film reaffirms looking ahead as we follow the trajectory and shape of the shopping cart moving down the narrow aisles, as well as following the gaze of the filmmaker as he walks forward.

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Sitka’s Hidden Wonders, 43min., USA
Directed by Ben Hamilton
Sitka’s Hidden Wonders is a 40-minute theatrical nature film that blends sweeping cinematography with a deeply personal story of return. Told by award–winning wildlife filmmaker Ben Hamilton, the film explores what it means to truly see a place—through the hidden layers of one of Alaska’s wildest coastal ecosystems.

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-sitkas-hidden

https://instagram.com/sitkawonders

What motivated you to make this film?

Every summer, over 600,000 people visit Sitka, but most just walk around town and never see the incredible natural wonders all around us. I wanted to create a film that connects them to this place—beyond the shops and the docks—into the wild heart of Sitka. After years of filming here for networks like BBC and National Geographic, this was my chance to make something for Sitka itself.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

The film took two years of full-time work, plus a year of planning and permits before that. And some shots were collected over the last decade—moments I'd been saving for the right project.

How would you describe your film in two words!?

Local. Connected.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

The biggest obstacle was really time.  The focus and intensity it took to deliver a film like this while still being there for my small kids and wife. It meant weeks away in the field, long nights editing, and constantly trying to balance the work with family life.

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Sauvetage, 5min., Australia
Directed by Jackson Bentley, John Stokes
When a special forces operative is held captive by a sadistic crime boss is interrogated, the only way to save him is through the element of surprise.

https://instagram.com/sauvetage_short_film

https://www.instagram.com/jacksonbentleyvisuals/

https://www.instagram.com/drastic_stokesy/

Get to know the filmmakers:

What motivated you to make this film?

John – We were motivated to make this film as we were given the opportunity to work with the legendary Richard Norton. It was originally supposed to just be a short scene to be used as a pitch but Jackson and I wanted to go all out and produce a short film in a very short amount of time.

Jackson – Originally it was meant as a sizzler reel to show some producers, Richard Damien and I were pushing quite hard to have a feature film made starring Richard, however John is a very quick writer and everything just started aligning for us to turn this into a short.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

John – I believe it was a Thursday where the producer Damien told us that he had somehow convinced Richard Norton to join us for a shoot the following Sunday. I quickly wrote together the script which never went past version 1. We organised the location, crew and cast – all entirely for free as everyone wanted to work with Richard Norton. We filmed in 6 hours on the Sunday and I edited the film within a day after the shoot.

How would you describe your film in two words!?

John – Bitter Sweet. Bitter due to the lead actor Richard Norton recently passing away, but sweet since we now have an award to honor his memory. We are forever in debt to Richard for being involved in this film and he has been a great mentor and friend to us.

Jackson – I think John nailed it, it still feels very surreal that Richard has passed, I think we are still in a little bit of shock and grief but I’m so grateful for receiving his knowledge and just being able to call someone I admired so much a friend plus being able to direct him was even cooler.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

John – The only obstacle was time, as we only had 6 hours to film. If we were being honest, there are some things we’d do differently if we had more time but we are proud of what we did with what we had! Other than that I remember Jackson became ill and went to hospital the day before! Luckily he was still able to make the shoot to co-direct with me.

Jackson – Haha yes directing a script you read only 12 hours before and on the back end of strong pain killers was definitely interesting. Having only 6 hours booked to shoot the short was definitely stressful, but I am so proud and honestly cannot believe our whole crew pulled that off.

What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

John – I actually didn’t realise that we would get audience reactions so it was a great surprise! It’s such an honour to hear feedback like this from half way across the world!

Jackson – I thought it was really cool! I’m just a guy from a very small town in Australia who 8 years ago was a drug addict with no direction in life, so this was very special to me.

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