2023 SHORT FILM FUND FALL SEASON WINNERS

WE ARE HONORED TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS & TOP 5 FINALISTS FOR THE FALL SEASON OF OUR SHORT FILM FUND!

Thank you so much to all the writers and filmmakers who shared their work with us this season. It is undeniable that there are many fantastic stories out there that deserve to be told – that need to be produced – and we are grateful to all those who entrusted their work with us. And now, our panel of award-winning Judges have chosen this season’s Winners.

Our Short Film Fund doesn’t end here. We are excited to now help our Grand Prize Winner into pre-production, production, and beyond. We will also be circulating the Top 15 Finalists’ scripts to select members of our Industry Roster & Directors with the writers’ permission.

For full details of what happens next, check out our post-contest timeline.

Want to know more about how the Short Film Fund can help get your stories produced and kickstart your career? Read about the History of Our Short Film Fund and/or listen to this podcast episode of JUST CLICK SUBMIT with our Short Film Fund Manager.

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OUR 2023 FALL SEASON TOP 15 FINALISTS

(in alphabetical order by writer’s first name)

	Anjini Taneja Azhar	Who Are You, Nanu?	After her grandfather’s (Nanu’s) ceremonial cremation brings her to the Holy Ganges River in India, eight-year-old oddball Aisha befriends the phantom of her Nanu’s rambunctious 11-year-old self and discovers the journey after death.
	Ariel Mahler & Matisse Haddad	t4t	When a closeted trans girl meets a crossdresser online, he takes her to a lingerie shop where an intriguing stranger helps her embrace her true self.
	Barry Smyth & Martin Nee	What makes Leni run?	The greatest propagandist of the Third Reich never faced justice, but there was a time when she almost did.
	Brian Rawlins	A Eulogy for The Beloved Carl Jenkins	A heartbroken woman encounters a conflicted contract killer who holds her at gunpoint until she offers a satisfactory prayer for the man he just murdered.
	Debby Huvaere	The Boy Without Words	A mute Kawahiva boy’s ability to interpret the language of the elements keeps his Amazonian tribe safe from unwanted intruders.
	Duran Jones	Milo and the Silent King	In a dystopian future where people no longer have the ability to speak, a battle rapper hiding his special gift must find the courage to use his voice, with the help of a reclusive dandy-styled mad hatter, if he wants to save his family.
	Felicia Manning & Alex Troxler	Scantron	A passionate Latina coder faces a career-family dilemma as she exhaustively builds her way to success, only to be ousted by the very AI she helps create.
	Isabel Palma	Drapes	Faced with the potential breakdown of her traditional marriage, unstable seamstress Miriam (56) develops an obsession with her daughter’s girlfriend, Eliza (21). As she tries to get closer, Miriam is consumed by her own self-destructive sexual fantasies which threaten to break up more than just her marriage.
	Jared Brewer	Forgotten Bodies	After a cargo truck hiding undocumented migrants is intercepted by members of a violent drug cartel, a young mother and her daughter must fight to stay alive while being held hostage in the back of the truck’s sweltering trailer.
	Jeremiah Towolawi	The Truth About Space	A young man is released from prison and has to face up to the lie that his estranged daughter has been led to believe – that he was in space.
	Jerome Watson & John Carter	Out By Sundown	When his family is threatened by an all too familiar danger in the mid-’80s, a young boy must navigate the fantastical in order to save them before it’s too late.
	Michael Basha	My Idiot Sister	After their mother dies, a selfish young woman visits her childhood home in order to cheer up her profoundly disabled sister.
	Michelle Zende & Mélia Lisette	Se Necesita Un Pueblo	Cierra Rodriguez, a single mother, navigates modern life in below-the-poverty-line Los Angeles. Spending her days working in a medical office and moonlighting as an exotic dancer, she attempts to support her son and mother.
	Nathalie Ahmadzadeh & Debora Bottino	Haram My Love	Haram, My Love follows Scottish Jane who, while travelling in Iran, falls head over heels in love with Iranian Shirin – where they spend a night together at a party, dreaming of a life together that could never be.
	Taylor Karin	Nip	An addict runs into his ex in a liquor store.

OUR 2023 FALL SEASON SEMI-FINALISTS
(in alphabetical order by writer’s first name, 50 screenplays have progressed representing the Top 3% of all submissions)