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A Darker Place: Cases from the DCA (Chapman) (USA)
SYNOPSIS: A team of elite D.C.A. Bio-Enforcers becomes the prey of a rogue anomaly, trapped inside a nightmarish dimension where reality bends to the creature’s will.
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Language, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Rowan Kelley
GENRE: Sci-Fi
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Friday, Oct. 23rd @ 11:00 AM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Rowan Kelley is a genre writer-director with a love for stories steeped in grim gothic atmospheres, rich worldbuilding, deep mythology, thematic monsters, and adventurous narratives with heart. Born in Boulder, Colorado, Rowan has lived in Virginia, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, and is a recent graduate of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. His work has appeared on Crypt TV and YouTube and screened at notable genre film festivals. Drawn to difficult projects, Rowan found the ultimate challenge in A Darker Place: Cases from the D.C.A., a multidimensional monster hunt and ’90s-style action creature feature in the vein of Aliens, Ghostbusters, and Halo.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Baby Fever (Chapman) (USA)
SYNOPSIS: A woman has a monstrous transformation at her best friend’s baby shower.
RATINGS GUIDE: Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Katrina Vergara
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Oct. 29th @ 2:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Katrina Vergara is a Filipino-American writer/director. She abandoned a career in tech to tell stories about similarly wayward women. She recently graduated from Chapman University with her MFA in Film Production and is currently developing Baby Fever into a feature.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Beware the Wolfs (AFI) (USA)
SYNOPSIS: During an extended stay at their grandparents’ home, a young boy begins to suspect that his elders may be more dangerous than they first appear.
RATINGS GUIDE: Adult Content
DIRECTOR: Alex Bush
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Wednesday, Oct. 28th @ 2:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Alex Bush (they/them) is a filmmaker whose work explores social structures, identity, performance, and imagination, often noted for its bold interplay of theatricality and visceral psychology. Their directorial work has screened internationally, including AFI Fest, Tribeca, CAA Moebius, WME FutureFest & HollyShorts, with support on their feature work from Tribeca Institute, BendFilm, Lars Knudsen & Ari Aster’s Square Peg, & Antigravity Academy. They are a graduate of AFI Conservatory, where they were a Canva Scholar & recipient of the Richard Rodgers Spirit of Excellence Award. alexpbush.com
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Carousel (NYU) (USA)
SYNOPSIS: When he’s gifted a possessed zoetrope, a lonely circus clown’s birthday plans whirl into chaos.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Christopher Kosakowski
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Friday, Oct. 23rd @ 2:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Christopher Kosakowski is a writer-director, editor, and VFX artist originally from New Jersey. A graduate of NYU Tisch, he embraces using the fantastical, strange, and horrifying to tell character-driven stories that highlight humanity and confront challenging universal topics.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Did It Ever Happen? (High School) (USA)
SYNOPSIS: This film is inspired by the complexities of memories while second guessing childhood events.
RATINGS GUIDE: All Audiences
DIRECTOR: Sabine ZF
GENRE: Horror, Fantasy
PREMIERE STATUS: North American Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Saturday, Oct. 24th @ 8:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Sabine ZF is a high school filmmaker based in the Seattle area whose work blends live action and multimedia animation to explore deeply personal yet universal themes. She began her filmmaking journey creating and editing iMovie trailers on her parents’ phones, driven by a desire to connect with audiences through humor and storytelling. Over time, her work evolved into emotionally layered films that invite viewers to question memory, identity, perception, and the realities they hold to be true. Through an experimental fusion of animation and live action, Sabine creates immersive visual experiences that aim to evoke a wide spectrum of emotions while encouraging reflection and conversation.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Empty Lands (USC) (EGYPT / USA)
SYNOPSIS: When a soldier and his wife move into a state-subsidized house, the mystery of a missing daughter from the family who once lived there disturbs their domestic life.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Language, Sensuality, Adult Content
DIRECTOR: Karim El Alfy
GENRE: The Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Wednesday, Oct. 28th @ 11:00 AM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Karim El Alfy is an Egyptian screenwriter and film director best known for creating and directing the hit independent series Nesr El Scene (2022). He studied filmmaking at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Europa (USC) (ICELAND / INDIA / JAPAN / USA)
SYNOPSIS: In a future where we’ve exhausted our water source on Earth, three astronauts are tasked with a mission of extracting water from Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Once they land, the sole oceanographer on the mission is summoned by the ocean to make the ultimate choice of human vs. nature.
RATINGS GUIDE: All Audiences
DIRECTOR: Jacqueline Elyse Rosenthal
GENRE: Sci-Fi, Fantasy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Oct. 29th @ 11:00 AM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Jacqueline Elyse Rosenthal is a DGA Award, Student-Emmy, and Two-Time Telly Award winning Writer-Director dedicated to celebrating the resilience of the human spirit through film. Her MFA thesis film BACKLOG (Cannes official selection) about the national rape kit backlog has screened at over 90 festivals internationally, and the Feature length script has been an official selection at the following Fellowships: 2024 Athena Writer’s Lab, 2025 Athena List (Semi-finalist), 2025 Austin Film Fest Second Rounder, 2026 Accelerator Fellow for Stowe Story Labs Narrative Lab, and was announced in Deadline as the Inaugural winner from +1,000 entries of Stage 32’s Empowering Women Screenplay Competition and received a development deal. Jacqueline since made EUROPA, at Sony Pictures, produced by ETC@USC, where she helmed a large studio/student hybrid crew and brought together teams in Iceland, India, Japan and the US. The film is currently on the festival circuit and has won numerous awards, as well as recently being nominated for Best Sci-Fi and Best Effects at Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts. Next, Jacqueline has 5 Features in development and is repped by 3 Arts Entertainment, Culture Creative Entertainment, and Del Shaw. MFA USC.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Gummy Bear (AFI) (USA)
SYNOPSIS: Fear, sensuality and a Wonderlandian descent paint the frames of this experimental short film about a young woman and a controlling gummy bear.
RATINGS GUIDE: Sensuality, All Audiences
DIRECTOR: Grace Godvin
GENRE: Fantasy, The Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: World Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Saturday, Oct. 24th @ 8:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Grace Godvin is a writer/director born in Dallas,Texas. She began her career at SNL, where she spent five years working for Lorne Michaels. She then went on to direct both on stage and in film, including the award-winning short AC Unit, amongst others. Grace recently received her MFA in Directing from the American Film Institute. Vasilisa Kuzmina is a young filmmaker and scriptwriter of Russian-Iranian descent based in United States. Vasilisa debuted as a film director with the web series “Alisa,” which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in 2020 in the Pilot Competition Program. “Nika” is her first feature film, which premiered at SXSW 2022 in the Narrative Feature Competition and won Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Perfomance. Vasilisa holds an MFA’s degree from the American Film Institute.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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If Tomorrow Never Comes (BRAZIL / USA)
SYNOPSIS: Set in the post-apocalyptic world of a dying Amazon jungle, a native boy who has stolen a year supply of breathable air, breaks into a worker’s bunker. When the authorities come searching for the stolen goods, the worker must choose between his own survival and protecting the boy.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Language
DIRECTOR: Luca Bueno
GENRE: Sci-Fi
PREMIERE STATUS: World Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Wednesday, Oct. 28th @ 11:00 AM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Luca Bueno is a Brazilian-born director, writer, and producer whose work blends grounded human drama with elevated genre storytelling. His films have screened at Academy Award-qualifying festivals, with his work covered by Deadline and MovieMaker Magazine. He is represented by Atlas Artists, with multiple projects in development.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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In My Blood (NYU) (USA)
SYNOPSIS: Desperate to live up to his father’s expectations, a talented but inconsistent minor league baseball player turns to steroids, igniting a dangerous transformation of body and mind.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence, Brief Nudity, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Alex Bendo
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Utah Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Virtual Exclusive Screening
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Alex Bendo is an American filmmaker from New York City. He has directed and produced more than thirty short films, supported by NEON, Film Independent, and Spike Lee. His work has premiered at Sundance, SXSW, Telluride, Berlin, and Cannes. Alex was selected as a 2025 Fellow for Ari Aster’s inaugural Square Peg Social. He is the co-founder of Endangered Species and holds an MFA in Film from NYU Tisch.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Kemet (ARTFX) (FRANCE)
SYNOPSIS: A young Egyptian prince travels to a temple where he must follow a ritual to rise as the next pharaoh. This ceremony brings him to the Duat, a spiritual space where he will be judged by the gods.
RATINGS GUIDE: All Audiences
DIRECTOR: Ahmed Mazen
GENRE: Fantasy, The Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: International Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Monday, Oct. 26th @ 11:00 AM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Ahmed Mazen is an Egyptian director, VFX artist, and editor who likes to turn the ordinary into mythology, blending practical filmmaking with visual effects to uncover the strange, magical stories hiding in plain sight.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Lights Camera Carnage (Loyola Marymount) (USA)
SYNOPSIS: When a group of ambitious film students summon a real demon to star in their movie, survival quickly becomes the only scene left to shoot…
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Violence, Strong Language, Adult Content, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Logan Weisberg
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Sunday, Oct. 25th @ 9:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Logan Weisberg is a writer/director from South Florida. His pure, innocent soul was corrupted in film school at Loyola Marymount University and he has been making horror films ever since.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Newcomer (USC) (USA)
SYNOPSIS: A grieving man attends a séance hoping to contact his departed love, only to uncover the horror of what really happens after we die.
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence, Mild Language, Intenes Imagery
DIRECTOR: Sam Shapson
GENRE: Horror, Sci-Fi, The Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: World Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Oct. 29th @ 8:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Sam Shapson is a writer-director with an MFA from USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program. Before Stark, he spent over a decade as a DGA 1st Assistant Director on 200+ indie features, commercials, and music videos. His short THE KING IN YELLOW was nominated for Best Horror Short at FilmQuest and Nightmares Film Festival, playing Screamfest LA, Grimmfest, Nevermore, and Brooklyn Horror, with earlier shorts playing internationally including Fantasia, Austin, and CineQuest.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Night Feeds (AFI) (USA)
SYNOPSIS: A mother drowns in postpartum as a night-nurse unnerves her and war floods her screens. Is the madness in her mind or the world around her?
RATINGS GUIDE: Mild Violence, Nudity, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Rana Roy
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: None
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Oct. 29th @ 2:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Rana Roy is a London-born, Dubai-raised award-winning filmmaker of Egyptian, Nubian-Sudanese, and Indian descent. She built an international career spanning dance, music, television, theatre and film for over 25 years before she earned an MFA in Directing from the AFI in 2025. She is currently developing her debut feature, MUMMY, a psychological body horror, reclaiming a word long stolen from it’s cultural origins.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Pandora (London Film School) (UK)
SYNOPSIS: In a post-pandemic future, cloned humans are raised and slaughtered for food. Gifted butcher Dora finds her loyalty to her father tested when he is attacked by one of his livestock.
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Violence, Strong Language, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Isabelle Kirk
GENRE: Horror, Sci-Fi
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Oct. 22nd @ 2:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Isabelle Kirk is a writer, director and editor based in London, UK. Pandora is her first short film and her graduating thesis from the London Film School. She is interested in female-focused horror and stories about disability and neurodivergence.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Petals (AFI) (USA)
SYNOPSIS: A young woman must travel deep into the recesses of her mind to rescue her long-neglected best friend: a stuffed animal she’d abandoned as a child.
RATINGS GUIDE: All Audiences
DIRECTOR: Carl Rennie
GENRE: Sci-Fi, Fantasy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Wednesday, Oct. 28th @ 2:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Carl Rennie is a writer, director, and producer with a love of genre and creating fantastical worlds for grounded, often forgotten characters. A graduate of the American Film Institute (AFI) Conservatory, his work has been BAFTA-longlisted and screened at premier festivals including LA Shorts, Dances With Films, and the Beverly Hills International Film Festival. Carl’s unique trajectory also includes two decades of tech industry leadership at Netflix, YouTube, and Google.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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Shedding (AFI) (CHINA / UK / USA)
SYNOPSIS: Plagued by compulsive hair-pulling and her mother’s obsessive control, Grace secretly collects her own hair for a purpose. When her mother discovers what she has been hiding, Grace turns the very ritual of love and control she was raised with back on her.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: TBD
GENRE: Horror
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Oct. 22nd @ 5:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Chinese director living in LA. MFA in Directing from AFI; BFA from Emerson College. A 2025 Film Independent Project Involve directing fellow whose work blends gore, fantasy, and absurdism with naturalistic sensibilities.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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The Fabric of Darkness (Lodz) (POLAND)
SYNOPSIS: A stormy night. Ezra, a knight of the order, returns to his beloved, accused of witchcraft. Soon, Ezra’s cottage is visited by witch hunters, and his beloved’s safety is in question.
RATINGS GUIDE: Strong Violence, Nudity, Sensuality, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Maciej Herzog
GENRE: Horror, Fantasy
PREMIERE STATUS: World Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Monday, Oct. 26th @ 11:00 AM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Maciej Herzog, born in 1990 in Poznań, raised in Września. An electromechanic by profession. Currently a student of directing at the Lodz Film School. He likes to tell stories about flesh-and-blood people that we could meet every day. Amateur writer, amateur photographer, professional allotment gardener. Favorite breed – mutt.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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The Nymph (Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg) (GERMANY)
SYNOPSIS: To help his beloved, a water nymph uses magic, but at a great cost: with every spell, his world dies a little more.
RATINGS GUIDE: Sensuality
DIRECTOR: Vanessa Stachel
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMIERE STATUS: Regional Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Wednesday, Oct. 28th @ 2:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Vanessa Stachel loves to tell stories. From childhood comics and zombie comedies to award-winning genre films and spec spots, she’s all about weirdly lovable characters and bold ideas. She will finish her directing studies at the renowned Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Germany in 2027.
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
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The Sorrows of Young Charlotte (National Film School) (UK)
SYNOPSIS: After a devastating break-up, Charlie sleeps with her friend Werther on a whim. But when he confesses his true feelings for her, an unnerving and darkly explosive argument erupts.
RATINGS GUIDE: Violence, Strange Language, Nudity, Adult Content, Intense Imagery
DIRECTOR: Shir Ariya
GENRE: Horror, Comedy, The Beyond
PREMIERE STATUS: North American Premiere
SCREENING DATE: Thursday, Oct. 29th @ 11:00 PM
DIRECTOR’S BIO: Shir Ariya is a Thai filmmaker based in the UK. She is drawn to character-driven stories that combine heightened realism with a dark comedic twist. She has written six short films and directed five dark comedy short films: The Stain (2023), I’m Interesting I Swear (2024), Crab No. 7 (2025), which was selected for the BFI London Film Festival, and most recently The Sorrows of Young Charlotte (2026) and The Pleasure of Being Held (2026), both made as part of the Directing Fiction course at the National Film and Television School (NFTS).
IMAGES FROM THE FILM: Coming Soon
TRAILER: Coming Soon
