Author: Film Invasion Los Angeles

2026 Official Selection: Horror – Short

In order to save her young teammate from the bloody expectations of their coach, baton twirler Emma must confront her own insecurities in the middle of an important competition.

• Director(s): Kate Ohlweiler
• Writer(s): Kate Ohlweiler
• Producer(s): Kate Ohlweiler, Daniel Mohseni, Melissa Romberg
• Key Cast: McKensie Rummel, Pili Schonert, Julie Chapin
• Editor(s): Kate Ohlweiler
• Cinematographer(s): Kimberly Edelson
• Production Designer(s): N/A
• Sound Designer(s): Julian Nowik
• Composer(s): Julian Nowik

Language: English

Runtime: 11m

Country: United States

Synopsis: An experienced baton twirler, Emma, cuts off pieces of her body that she deems to be unsuitable for competition, enabled by her coach, Ethel. However, when Emma accompanies a younger twirler, Wesley, to her first competition, she has to confront her bloody practice, it’s results, and how it begins to affect young and impressionable Wesley.

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2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Feature Film

Ceremony: Screenplay Awards Ceremony · Sat, Aug 22, 2026 · 6:00 PM

• Writer(s): Michael Peter Bolus
• Producer(s): Castaic
• Key Cast: CA

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

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The extraordinary life of GERTRUDE BELL – often called the “Female Lawrence of Arabia” – whose masterful infiltration of the male-dominated worlds of Victorian England and Middle Eastern sheikdoms, while simultaneously navigating the traumas of an ill-fated love affair, propels her into one of the most fascinating and consequential roles of World War I, including the creation of the modern state of Iraq.

The extraordinary life of GERTRUDE BELL – often called the “Female Lawrence of Arabia” – whose masterful infiltration of the male-dominated worlds of Victorian England and Middle Eastern sheikdoms, while simultaneously navigating the traumas of an ill-fated love affair, propels her into one of the most fascinating and consequential roles of World War I, including the creation of the modern state of Iraq.

2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Feature Film

Ceremony: Screenplay Awards Ceremony · Sat, Aug 22, 2026 · 6:00 PM

Some wounds burn forever. A Southern Gothic folk horror reckoning with artistic ownership and the high cost of being seen.

• Writer(s): Jeremy Christensen

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

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When a struggling country singer is compelled to return to the haunted Kentucky holler where she grew up, she must confront her dark past with her grandfather, the town she fled, and the sinister presence of a long dead witch that will kill to escape. As the darkness heals her scars and reshapes her confidence, bodies pile up, and she must choose who to become. A Southern Gothic folk horror reckoning with artistic ownership and the high cost of being seen.

When a struggling country singer is compelled to return to the haunted Kentucky holler where she grew up, she must confront her dark past with her grandfather, the town she fled, and the sinister presence of a long dead witch that will kill to escape. As the darkness heals her scars and reshapes her confidence, bodies pile up, and she must choose who to become. A Southern Gothic folk horror reckoning with artistic ownership and the high cost of being seen.

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

Chaos ensues when a group of college students stumble upon a dead body at a frat party.

• Director(s): Isaiah Silas Wright
• Writer(s): Marcus Lamar Corrothers
• Producer(s): Aja Hinds, Luke Pengelly
• Key Cast: Aja Hinds, Jeff Lawless, Nate Bartoshuk, Zach Cowan, Marcus Lamar Corrothers, Yaya Ogun, Gabriella David

Language: English

Runtime: 9m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Two college students with plans for a one night stand are soon interrupted when they discover a dead body in the Frat House. With little information to go around, and as more party-goers discover the body, their situation—as well as their ideas for a solution—only grow worse. With reputations, careers and futures now hanging in the balance, everyone begins to wonder how responsible they really want to be.

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2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Feature Film

Ceremony: Screenplay Awards Ceremony · Sat, Aug 22, 2026 · 6:00 PM

In the end, the love we carry is what gives us the strength to let go.

• Writer(s): MP Soldo

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

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Haunted by the loss of the woman he never stopped loving and spiraling toward self-destruction, a scarred musician agrees to a raw on-camera interview that unfolds through music and memory, reliving love, loss, and sacrifice as he discovers that the love we carry is what gives us the strength to let go.

Haunted by the loss of the woman he never stopped loving and spiraling toward self-destruction, a scarred musician agrees to a raw on-camera interview that unfolds through music and memory, reliving love, loss, and sacrifice as he discovers that the love we carry is what gives us the strength to let go.

2026 Official Selection: Featurette – SciFi

In a dystopian future, a grieving scientist discovers Earth exists within a single neuron. He launches a desperate quest across space and time to find his son.

• Director(s): Raphael Buisson
• Writer(s): Raphael Buisson
• Producer(s): Raphael Buisson, Jack McMann, Kip Thorne, Rafael Maman, Hsiao Shih-Chun
• Key Cast: David Alan Graf, Kip Thorne, Ranen Warren, Jessica Park, Alan Aymie, Tamara Becker Cimmerian, Christian Haines
• Editor(s): Raphael Buisson
• Cinematographer(s): Adrien BOurguignon
• Production Designer(s): Jessie Clarkson
• Sound Designer(s): Doris Shen
• Composer(s): Augustin Izoard and Raphael Dargent

Language: English

Runtime: 22m

Country: United States

Synopsis: In a dystopian future, a grieving scientist discovers Earth exists within a single neuron. He launches a desperate quest across space and time to find his son.

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2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Short Film

Ceremony: Screenplay Awards Ceremony · Sat, Aug 22, 2026 · 6:00 PM

An anxious man who struggles with asthma meets the woman who takes his breath away.

• Director(s): Erika Carsella
• Writer(s): Erika Carsella
• Producer(s): Erika Carsella
• Key Cast: Brooke Emerick, Annie Tank

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

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While eating alone at a diner, a socially anxious man believes his insecurity and embarrassment cost him a chance at connection, unaware that the women he idolized may be far more like him than he ever imagined.

While eating alone at a diner, a socially anxious man believes his insecurity and embarrassment cost him a chance at connection, unaware that the women he idolized may be far more like him than he ever imagined.

2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Feature Film

Ceremony: Screenplay Awards Ceremony · Sat, Aug 22, 2026 · 6:00 PM

An executed serial killer’s soul infects store mannequins as a grieving teen must survive a locked-in party to escape the killer before he finishes his ritual for Hell’s power.

• Writer(s): Warren Proulx Jr

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

In 1987, occult serial killer Nikolas Holcomb dies by electric chair, trading his soul to the Devil. Instead of gaining hellish powers, his spirit is trapped inside the plastic mannequins of Reilly’s Department Store. Teen Kara—whose sister was Nikolas’s last victim—sneaks into the store with friends for a graduation party. The mannequins come alive, hunting the teens to finish Nikolas’s ritual. Facing her sister’s killer, Kara fights back, destroying him for good.

In 1987, occult serial killer Nikolas Holcomb dies by electric chair, trading his soul to the Devil. Instead of gaining hellish powers, his spirit is trapped inside the plastic mannequins of Reilly’s Department Store. Teen Kara—whose sister was Nikolas’s last victim—sneaks into the store with friends for a graduation party. The mannequins come alive, hunting the teens to finish Nikolas’s ritual. Facing her sister’s killer, Kara fights back, destroying him for good.

2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Short Film

Ceremony: Screenplay Awards Ceremony · Sat, Aug 22, 2026 · 6:00 PM

Father knows best, son knows better?

• Writer(s): Chris Paseka

Country: Not Specified

After a health scare, an Archie Bunker-like father and his gay son struggle with connecting. Are they exactly alike or worlds apart?

After a health scare, an Archie Bunker-like father and his gay son struggle with connecting. Are they exactly alike or worlds apart?

2026 Official Selection: Comedy – Short

While at a funeral for an uncle he barely knew, Jonathan must sneak out to avoid more uncomfortable conversations and to make it the party of a lifetime.

• Director(s): Michael Rojo
• Writer(s): Michael Rojo
• Producer(s): Jane A Rogers, Emmanuel Salgado
• Key Cast: Michael Rojo, Jane A Rogers, Spencer Kramber
• Cinematographer(s): Emmanuel Salgado
• Composer(s): Zach Spound

Language: English

Runtime: 11m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Jonathan has a problem: the hottest party of the year is happening on the exact same day as the funeral of an uncle he barely knew. Determined not to miss out on the party, he launches a series of lies in an attempt to sneak out of the funeral. Faced with the regret of a relationship never explored, he learns that some opportunities can’t be rescheduled—and some goodbyes deserve to be heard.

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