Posted by Richard "RB" Botto
When we started our short film program contest 3 years ago, our hope was to discover one or two filmmakers a year who had "next level" talent and bring their talent and works to our global network of industry executives in the hopes of helping them push their careers along. 
 
We're ashamed to say, we underestimated the talent within our community.

Over the last 2 years, many of our winning filmmakers have gone on to significant achievements within the industry. Our first year Grand Prize winner, Matt Kazman, who directed a killer short called, well, KILLER, was sent on a number of high level meetings through his success in our contest and landed a job directing a show at MTV. Last year's Grand Prize winner, Lisanne Sartor, is now in production on a feature film version of her short, SIX LETTER WORD. And another of last year's winners, Steve Desmond, director of the incredible short, MONSTERS, was just involved in a bidding war (eventually won by Warner Bros.) for a script he co-wrote called HARRY'S ALL NIGHT BURGERS (details here)

And that's just to name a few!

This year, we had a record number of entries, leaving our panel of industry judges with a very difficult task. In the end, 7 movies made the cut. And we've already had some interested industry parties requesting more information about the filmmakers and their films.

These 7 films will now make up our 2018 Stage 32 Short Film Program which will be screened at the 2018 Raindance Film Festival, the 2018 Hollyshorts Film Festival and exclusively to a global audience on Stage 32. The winning films will also be made available to our list of hundreds of industry executives as part of our continuing effort to provide all our incredibly talented members unparalleled access to those who can help offer guidance and/or further their careers.

 
Our Grand Prize winner this year is THE LETTERS, made by Terez Koncz from London, England.

 
Please help me congratulate all the winners!
 
 
FILM FILMMAKER LOCATION
BURNING BRIGHT Aaron Bierman Santa Monica, CA
GENESIS Abtin Mozafari Gorgān, Iran
MAN EATER Zara Burdett London, England
MONDAY Dinh Thai Los Angeles, CA
SAC DE MERDE Greg Chwerchak New York, NY
THE LETTERS (WINNER)  Terez Koncz London, England
TWO WORLDS Andy Lefton Minneapolis, MN

 


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