The Lethe – dir. Marshall Sutherin

(FINALIST)

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Original Film Title: The Lethe

Director’s Name: Marshall Sutherin

Writer’s Name: Sofia Malone, Kaya Sparnicht, Elora Sparnicht

Producer: Michael DeFilippo

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming : United States

Language: English

Runtime: 20 minutes

Film Description:

Three college students create a promising memory-altering device for their final project. But when they clash over the use of their ground-breaking invention, things quickly spiral out of control, resulting in tragic consequences.

The Woods are Lovely, Dark and Deep – dir. Mykel Salazar

(HONORABLE MENTION)

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Original Film Title: The Woods are Lovely, Dark and Deep

Director’s Name: Mykel Salazar

Writer’s Name: Lindsay Jaeger

Producer: Keagan Karnes, Kelsey Landon

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming : United States

Language: English

Runtime: 19 minutes 55 seconds

Film Description:

The Woods are Lovely, Dark and Deep follows Anjelica as she reluctantly returns to her childhood haunt under grim circumstances. Her estranged Aunt Fern lies unconscious in a hospital, forcing Anjelica to stay in her aunt’s secluded cabin nestled among towering trees on an island near Seattle. Roarke, a friend from her past, remarks on how the relentless forest would reclaim everything if not constantly cut back. As days pass, Anjelica begins experiencing eerie visions and sounds that blur the line between reality and delusion. With her aunt’s condition deteriorating, the encroaching forest seems to mirror Anjelica’s own unraveling sanity, threatening to consume her entirely.

The Dog Days – dir. Ryan Kurt Whiting

(FINALIST)

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Original Film Title: The Dog Days

Director’s Name: Ryan Kurt Whiting

Writer’s Name: Ryan Kurt Whiting

Producer: Ryan Kurt Whiting, Jeff Solomon

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming : United States

Language: English

Runtime: 17 minutes 1 second

Film Description:

Summer in the suburbs. Loveless marriage, a gilded cage. Joyful innocence, unbridled potential. Slow surrender to middle-age, retreat and regret. Tails wag, sharp tongues devastate. Wonderful, terrible, miraculous, disastrous life leaves no heart intact. Through it all, ball keeps turning, we keep chasing.

Love of Magdalena – dir. Iva Kevra

(HONORABLE MENTION)

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Original Film Title: Love of Magdalena

Director’s Name: Iva Kevra

Writer’s Name: Iva Kevra

Producer: Iva Kevra, George Ivanovich

Country of Origin: Ireland

Country of Filming : Ireland

Language: English

Runtime: 5 minutes 20 seconds

Film Description:

Short film ‘Love of Magdalena’ is a psychological drama/thriller about a delusional journey of Magdalena where she is battling her sense of guilt after her husband’s death. It is about a world of a woman suffering from paranoid delusions, disabled from distinguishing the real from the unreal, tragically misled by mental illness to the loss of her child.

The story is set on an old property estate where the only residents are the two, Magdalena and her son Peter. The Georgian residence evokes a sense of mystery and every wall hides a secret of its own. Magdalena’s husband has recently passed away in unexplained circumstances and since then she has been dealing with a sense of guilt while suffering from paranoid delusions. In her visions she sees her late husband violently trying to drag her into the afterworld. Magdalena fears when confronted but also tries to fight back with every grain of power that she has. Her son Peter is a young boy, quiet, distressed, who wishes to save his mother but has no means for doing that. She scares him awfully much and not so rarely he suffers her abuse. Magdalena loves her son deeply but her delusion and the fear of the unreal are too difficult for her to cope with. She is tragically misled by mental illness into believing that there is only one way for her to save herself and her son. Magdalena makes a difficult decision by sending Peter away to his late father. We see Peter falling into her arms for the very last time, but shortly thereafter the fear in her eyes shows that the outcome is not the salvation she was hoping for.