Selections 2025
Anesthesia — *WINNER*
Director:Jeff Osborne
A sci-fi vision of an uncertain future ruled by tech billionaires, created with grit and ingenuity by a true multi-hyphenate filmmaker.
The Dead King
Director: Meredith Esquivel
A fever dream of symbols and shadows — where a man stumbles upon a dead king, only to be led into haunting mystery.
Good Boy
Director: Brett Robert Culbert
A story of empathy, healing, and the quiet bonds that transform us in moments of vulnerability.
What We Imagined
Director: Shubhavi Arya
Created by two young filmmakers (ages 8 and 9!), this magical digital world reminds us that being different is being brave.
If You Need Me — HONORABLE MENTION
Director: Sarah Rebottaro
A psychological thriller about codependency, desire, and the dangerous edge between helping and self-harm.
Find Me in the Void
Director: Denver Humphrey
A teen Black girl uses astral projection — and the support of her best friend — to solve her own disappearance, reframing the missing girl narrative as one of resilience and agency.
The Red Market
Director: Christopher Matthew Spencer
Drowning in debt, Zephyr Sage turns to the Global Organ Donor Exchange, where every choice carries a cost greater than money.
Demons Against Death Club
Director: Sarah Scarborough
A team of demons plot rebellion against the underworld’s balance of good and evil — but can their ruse hold?
The High Road — HONORABLE MENTION
Director: Luke Hart-Moynihan & Chris Hart-Moynihan
A solitary musician wrestles with whether to return to the stage — a reflection on passion, burnout, and renewal.
Amphitrite
Director: Genevieve Craven
An ocean woman longs to return home to the sea, but exile forces her into a world of human emotion and struggle.
Blood and Dust
Director: RJ Maurer
A cold-blooded sniper hunts a mysterious briefcase in 1998 Kern County — bold storytelling born from the 48 Hour Film Project.
Answers
Director: Christian Ramirez
A tense interrogation blurs the line between witness and accomplice. Adapted from Tom Topor’s play Answers, this gripping short digs into truth, guilt, and perception.
