WE ARE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE OUR GRAND PRIZE WINNERS and TOP 5 FINALISTS!
It has been such a pleasure reading so many imaginative and powerful short scripts this season. Deciding upon the Winners, was an undeniable challenge given the impressive quality of the scripts you shared with us. But our Short Film Fund doesn’t end with the screenplay competition. We are humbled and thrilled to now assist our Grand Prize Winner’s script into production and beyond.
This is only the beginning.
For full details of what happens next, check out our Short Film Fund post-contest timeline.
Want to know more about how the Short Film Fund can help kick-start your screenwriting career? You can read all about the history of the Short Film Fund here, and our amazing relationship with ARRI Rental who will be offering free camera equipment rental during production.
GET YOUR SHORT SCRIPT INTO PRODUCTION WITH THE SHORT FILM FUND.
Don’t miss a deadline. Download our Contest Calendar!
GRAND PRIZE WINNER -LOCO (AWARDED $15,000 CASH GRANT)
written by by Eddie Mujica
LOCO
A surreal, dark comedy about mental health stigma in the Latinx community. At his first therapy session, Rafael Reyes relives the anxious thoughts from the night of his 30th birthday.
SECOND PLACE WINNER - FREE MARTIN (AWARDED A $1,000 CASH PRIZE)
written by S. J. Thompson & Hayes Hart-Thompson
FREE MARTIN
A fourteen-year-old and her girlfriend run away from home after fears their relationship has been discovered.
OUR TOP 5
In addition to our two Winners, we would like to congratulate our Top 5 Finalists.
DEAR HARLEY by Lee Whittaker
DEFINITELY NOT A MONSTER by Brea Cola Angelo
OVER AND OUT by Callie LeClaire
THE BOY by Josh Thompson
THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER’S WIFE by Nico Raineau
This season, our Top 5 Finalists will receive feedback on their scripts from our Judges along with free membership to our alumni Screenwriters’ private Facebook Group. Plus, the Grand Prize Winner will also receive a free Festival Pass to HollyShorts 2023.
OUR TOP 15 FINALISTS
(in alphabetical order)
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Alexander Cox & Robert Bell | ORA ET LABORA ET MOR | Upon the death of their monastic colleague, two medieval monks reckon they’ve found a shortcut into paradise. |
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Beck Williams | Pace | While on separate challenging journeys, two Trans boxers find solace in training together. |
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Brea Cola Angelo | Definitely Not a Monster | Months after burying her husband of forty years, a devoted mother of five is still dealing with the fallout from his rape allegations. To set the record straight, she arranges a televised interview with a famed journalist. But things don’t go according to plan. |
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Callie LeClaire | Over and Out | A lost hiker’s only chance for survival is a high-functioning autistic boy and a two-way radio. |
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Eddie Mujica | LOCO | A surreal, dark comedy about mental health stigma in the Latinx community. At his first therapy session, Rafael Reyes relives the anxious thoughts from the night of his 30th birthday. |
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Jessica Rowlands | RISE | A charismatic young boy who lives on a rubbish dump in Zimbabwe must convince a reclusive boxing coach to teach him to fight to find safety and strength in a world that has left him behind. |
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Joe Tripician | The Gringo in the Hammock | When a rapacious American businessman tries to buy a piece of Brazilian beachfront property, he gets the runaround from a craggy local fisherman who repels him in the most extraordinary and devilish way. |
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Josh Thompson | The Boy | A 12-year-old boy discovers something about himself. |
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Kacy Boccumini | Every Day is Sunday | When the team captain gets hurt right before the big game, Coach, a middle-aged trans man, and former athlete, tries to rally a team of trans and non-binary football players in a game against their biggest rivals: The Cissies. |
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Lee Whittaker | Dear Harley | Harley, nine, deals with gender dysmorphia, and is confronted with hateful bullies at school and struggling parents at home. |
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Natasha Mwansa | South of Jemima | When Jemima tries a new form of contraception, she encounters a horrifying cocktail of side effects. Suffering from hallucinations, changes in appearance, and some kind of parasite growing inside of her. Will she be able to recover her former self? |
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Nico Raineau | The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife | When Katie McCoy suffers a tragedy, she goes to great lengths to avoid being relocated by the Lighthouse Bureau, fighting against a male-dominated society to remain in her home: the Limestone Lighthouse off the coast of New England. Inspired by true events. |
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Pablo Riesgo Almonacid & Pablo Cervera | Cuando Volvimos A La Tierra | An astronaut recreating Mars conditions in the US desert is saved by a couple of passing immigrants. A deadly negotiation ensues over the astronaut’s water, vital for both the astronaut’s humanity-saving mission and the immigrants’ hopes to survive their journey. |
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S. J. Thompson & Hayes Hart-Thompson | free martin | A fourteen-year-old and her girlfriend run away from home after fears their relationship has been discovered. |
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Vi Trang | Empty House | A little girl secretly goes back in time to reminisce about her late mother, until her absent father finds his own way there. |