Worldwide Virtual Premiere of the of the 6th Annual Short Film Program

It is an honor and a privilege to bring you the worldwide virtual premiere of the 6th Annual Stage 32 Short Film Program! Below you will find nine amazing short films to watch that were carefully curated by Stage 32's panel of leading industry executives. Our esteemed panel of judges is made up of top producers, managers, development executives, and Oscar-winning filmmakers.

Our winning filmmakers hail from all over the world, and we could not be more excited to share their undeniable talents with you. We were proud to screen these films at the Oscar-qualifying Hollyshorts Film Festival in Hollywood, California last fall. Now, we're even more proud to showcase today's international virtual premiere to all of the development executives, agents, managers and agents that work with us.

Since 2016, the Stage 32 Short Film Contest has served as an unparalleled incubator for finding talented filmmakers and helping them forge connections that make their careers blossom. Our past finalists have gone on to be signed by Paradigm, APA, Gersh, Verve, Echo Lake, Circle of Confusion and more!

Congratulations to all the 6th Annual Short Film Contest winners, we cannot wait to see where your talents take you.

These films are only available for viewing Monday 3/21/22 - Friday 3/25/22

Executives - please get in contact with Amanda Toney, Jason Mirch or Richard Botto for introductions.

The 6th Annual Stage 32 Short Film Program

Grand Prize Winner

ADA by Julie Bruns & Steven Kammerer

ANGEL - by Dicky Chalmers

BABY'S PHONEY FRIEND - by Brianne Berkson & Miguel Gluckstern

INVISIBLES (KAUNAPAWA) - by Joel Haikali

RAG - by Yuval Sussler

TALENTLESS - by Jeff Perreca

THE PASSPORT - by Olivier Dressen

THE PLUMBER - by Cate Carson

WHATEVER IT TAKES - by David Kelly Crow

Grand Prize Winner: ADA

London, England. 1851. Dying of cancer and facing down early Victorian sexism, brilliant mathematician Ada Lovelace risks a high stakes gamble to raise the money needed to complete her life's object, the worlds first computer.

Julie Bruns - Vancouver, Canada

Writer/Actor, "Ada"

Born in the Great White North, the Yukon Territories of Canada, Julie first took the stage at four years old for a performance of I'm a Little Teapot. Her passion for the performing arts was born and she hasn't looked back. Much of her childhood was spent in Baja California, Mexico where she learned to speak Spanish fluently and fed her growing love of cinema with a series of self-directed short films. She eventually found her way to Vancouver, Canada to start a career in film and TV, performing in over 30 independent films before making her TV debut in Untold Stories of the ER's episode 'Dr. Robot', airing on TLC and Discovery Life.

She continued her training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) in London, England, and has refined her craft under the tutelage of Tom Todoroff, Anthony Meindl, Ben Ratner and Jeb Beach.

Her passion for storytelling led her to don the director's cap in five independent films to date, including Influenced and Sense Memory. She then combined her acting and directing chops, stepping both in front of and behind the camera in the comedy-skit Audition Nerves and then in the eco-horror short The Purgamentum.

In 2019, she starred as forgotten 19th-century genius mathematician Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace in the award-winning Crazy8s production of Ada, which she also co-wrote and co-produced. She has spoken in a number of interviews about the importance of centering Ada as the world's first computer programmer while promoting women in STEM.

Out on the international festival & awards circuit, Julie has won 4 Best Actress Awards, has received 5 other Best Actress nominations, and has won a Best Director award.

Steven Kammerer - Vancouver, Canada

Director, "Ada"

Steven Kammerer is an award winning filmmaker based in Vancouver, Canada. He has been nominated 6 times and won 2 awards for Best Director. His film "Ada" (2019) has garnered over 50 nominations on the festival circuit, with 19 wins including 5 wins for Best Short Film. "The Purgamentum" (2019), which he co-wrote & co-directed, has screened on SuperChannel and Apple TV. As a storyteller he passionatly explores the "historical imagination", in which the past is viewed as a thing to be continually re-jigged, reconstituting our origin myths in the search for alternative modernities. A case in point is "Ada", which returns the brilliant 19th century female mathematician, daughter of the poet Byron, to her rightful place at the origin of our computer age.

THE PASSPORT

Olivier Dressen - Shanghai, China

Writer/Director, "The Passport"

Olivier is a Belgian director, cinematographer, and photographer based between Shanghai and Los Angeles. He combines different techniques such as; photography, drawing, motion design, and video. His primary focus is character development and storytelling. Olivier's work includes collaborations as a creative director with considerable talents such as Kobe Bryant and Sophie Marceau and partnerships with several European and Asian celebrities.

His most recent short film, The Passport, recently received 62 nominations worldwide with sixteen wins; best short drama, best short film, best foreign director, best director, best actor, best thriller, crime thriller, two times best editing, best VFX...Oliver's work has also received the silver award at Cannes and the Promaxbda bronze award in Los Angeles. Along with his artistic practice, Olivier has collaborated with major brands such as Converse, Nike, Porsche, Elle magazine, and many more. With Adobe Creative Cloud, Olivier became their brand ambassador in 2017 with his photography series Girl Perfected. In 2018 Olivier endorsed Fuji Film's newest camera by shooting an entire music video in Los Angeles with its unreleased product. A dream come true with his first art show in Los Angeles and his toy series photography with fashion influencer Alex Costa, a collaboration with Stranger Thing's props team for his art installation and articles featured in LA Weekly and Hollywood reporter.

TALENTLESS

When a new procedure is invented that can take one person's talent and implant it into someone else, a struggling artist must decide if she should continue pursuing her dreams or sell her talent to the highest bidder.

Jeff Perreca - Los Angeles, California, USA

Writer/Director, "Talentless"

Jeff Perreca specializes in telling stories that are high concept, but also high character. Whether it’s laughter, fear, or a few tears, his work always aims to elicit emotion. He has a background in advertising where he worked as a writer/creative director for over fifteen years. Jeff has been a part of countless productions for some of the world’s biggest brands, like Chevy, Honda, U.S. Navy and Los Angeles Tourism.

He developed a TV Show with Blumhouse TV and Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions. His pilot “Graphic” was named as a finalist in the trackingb.com TV Script Contest and the Grand Prize Winner of the WeScreenplay TV Contest. He co-wrote a feature that was named to the 2018 Hit List. That same year he was also named to the Young and Hungry list. In 2019, Jeff made his directorial debut with the short film, “Talentless”. It was named a winner of Stage32’s Short film contest, and debuted at Dances with Films. It also played in academy-qualifying festivals like HollyShorts and Raindance. Most recently, Jeff was selected as a directing fellow for BlackMagic Collective’s First Frame Initiative.

BABY'S PHONEY FRIEND

Afraid of losing Mama and Papa to Phoney's evil forces, Baby wages war, vowing to destroy her enemy once and for all.

Brianne Berkson & Miguel Gluckstern (Briguel) - New York City, USA

Writers, Directors, Producers, Editors, & Composers, "Baby's Phoney Friend"

From the notes in a musical score to those given on a script or a set, we put our heart and soul into everything we do, developing and delivering powerful stories that drive emotional impact. Brianne Berkson, born in NYC and Miguel Gluckstern, born in Germany and raised in Spain, are BriGuel; we met while directing / producing a short film "Fly Away," and haven't left each other's side since. We celebrate and inspire diversity every day, bringing together different cultures, genres and styles through the most powerful and inspiring mediums in the world: film and music.

Since releasing our music in 2018, we've garnered huge recognition through press outlets and reached over 2 Million streams. In 2020 / 2021 our doc-short film and song The Difference screened at Tribeca Film Festival and continues to screen at 30+ festivals globally. In 2021 we released our comedic short film Baby's Phoney Friend, written / directed / produced / edited during quarantine with a skeleton crew as well as a 6 track EP of the same name with all songs set to the film's soundtrack, which we also composed. In addition to producing our own music and film, we operate a full service Production company BriGuel that services clients with their film and music needs. We're currently developing "Harmonize," a docuseries fusing music, art and social activism; producing "Alchemizing Auschwitz" a documentary feature filmed in the US, Poland and Austria; delivering impactful projects for clients; finalizing an EP; and raising our 2 beautiful daughters in NY.

ANGEL

Dicky Chalmers - Taipei, Taiwan

Writer/Director, "Angel"

THE PLUMBER

Cate Carson - Los Angeles, California, USA

Writer, Director, and DP,  "The Plumber"

INVISIBLES (Kaunapawa)

Sophie Haikali - Okahandja, Namibia, Africa

Producer, "Invisibles"

Sophie is an award-winning Afro-German content producer and writer based in Namibia with a production company Joe Vision Production (JVP) in Namibia, Germany& Angola. Before joining JVP she worked on different projects across Africa in the area of media research allowing her to establish a great network of professionals on the continent. This helps her in film as well as in the Creative Industry Guide initiative JVP launched. Sophie has several projects in development at different stages in different countries from series to feature film projects.

Joel Haikali - Namibia, Africa

Director, "Invisibles"

Joel Haikali is an award winning Namibian filmmaker, scholar and creative entrepreneur who writes and directs most of his movies from acclaimed short films, documentaries and to feature films. In the past 10 years he has established himself as a change maker in the African

creative industry. Joel holds a Master degree in film and is actively involved in the management of the film and creative industry as the Board Chairperson of the Namibia Film Commission"

WHATEVER IT TAKES

Marcus is an average guy unwillingly thrust into his city's criminal underbelly. With only his pure athleticism and wits, he does what is necessary to get out of a dangerous situation from three men set on ending his life.

David Kelly Crow - Princeton, New Jersey

Producer, "Whatever it Takes"

Sean Michael Bradley

Director, "Whatever it Takes"

John Martin

Producer, "Whatever it Takes"

RAG

Yuval Sussler - New York City, USA

Director, "Rag"

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