Scary Stories and Psychedelics:

Synopsis: Luna, Max and Zoe are on a girls getaway in the desert to do some much needed unwinding and unplugging from the world. After hanging poolside all day, Zoe and Max convince Luna to take psychedelic mushrooms with them to help expand their minds. But when the shrooms begin to take greater effect, Luna’s anxieties about climate change and human nature are unearthed, shifting the tide of the trip. As they spiral deeper into a bad trip, each woman finds herself having to confront her inner darkness and anxieties in corporeal forms of hallucinated horrors.

Filmmaker Bio: Arabella Anderson is a Peabody Award winning and WGA Award nominated writer and director living in Los Angeles. She has written and produced on shows such as Riverdale (CW), Star (Fox), and Transparent (Amazon). Arabella has also directed, written and produced music videos and short films that have premiered at various film festivals including the Sundance Film Festival, Frameline, and Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Synopsis: A man is having fun, hot boxing his mom's car, when the town's Sheriff rolls up. Things only get worse when something demonic stirs within the woods.

Director Bio: Adam Raynes (Kansas) and Joey Partridge (Colorado) have been making short films as a means of exploring their favorite genre- Horror. Teaming up, they were able to create a fun horror comedy that found its footing in their individual strengths. Although this wasn't their first film together, it is far from their last! They look forward to making the movies they like to see and entertaining their friends, family, and all of you.

Synopsis: A weekend among a vapid group of friends takes a shocking turn after hidden cameras in a sketchy vacation rental are overlooked.

Filmmaker Bio: Aryka Randall is an independent Film Producer and Screenwriter who has written and produced several web series, an Amazon Prime series, and a handful of short films which have been successful on the festival circuit. All of her films have a shared emphasis on women forward characters, comedy and drama.

Aryka plans on teaching upcoming generations of filmmakers how to create their own independent film productions in the future, while continuing to produce her own scripts.

Synopsis: A struggling method actress kills at the most horrific audition of her career.

Filmmaker Bio: Born and raised in The East Village, Veronica is a graduate of the American Film Institute where she received her MFA.

She splits her time between New York City and Los Angeles directing, writing and producing. Childhood halloween was the inspiration of her horror obsession and creative influences. Her love for horror began in kindergarten where she wrote a very disturbing short story about a vampire which provoked a parent teacher conference. She hasn’t put down the pencil since then. The infatuation and love for horror is in her blood. However, the blood is more often than not combined with a little sparkle. She often combines the glitz and glamor of larger than life characters against a sinister backdrop. 

Veronica has had development experience at StudioCanal, BonaFide Pictures, CBS Television and Ghost House Pictures where she served as Sam Raimi’s development assistant in preparation for pitching and selling a television show. She’s also served as a writer’s room intern for a StudioCanal/Apple+ show. Veronica’s most comfortable place is out on a limb between the shoals of the living and the dead—perched precariously over the island of the undead.

Synopsis: Sunflower is driven by metaphors and social commentary on the impacts of anti-Blackness and colorism on the Black psyche and community through a sci-fi lens.

Blackness is what makes us a target in American society. But in Sunflower, it is this same Blackness, our melanin, that becomes the only form of protection from this new, violent virus from the sun’s radiation that has cracked through one ozone layer. The virus develops in those with less melanin, and it represents the truly dangerous, infectious nature of racism itself.

Director Bio: Tiara Williams is a bold, witty, unapologetic powerhouse writer and director. Her breakthrough web series, Gentrified, garnered national attention and support from many, including Oscar-winning director Matthew Cherry.  Her work has screened at the Denton Black Film Festival, Austin Spotlight Film Festival, Capital City Black Film Festival, the 2018 SXSW Austin School of Film Showcase and Black Austin Film Festival. 

Tiara has also been featured in publications such as The Austin Chronicle, Austin Monthly Magazine, The Austin American Statesman and Black Girl Nerds. Most recently she directed digital content for Onyx Collective and Hulu during SXSW for the Emmy nominated series “Black Twitter” and is currently in pre-production for her next short film “Night Terrors”.

Synopsis: After finding out her boyfriend was unfaithful, Samara Nerium performs a hex spell that goes a little too well.

Director Bio: Chephrena Mbouombouo is a German and Cameroonian filmmaker based in Los Angeles. She has a strong interest in the dark humor genre, weaving in themes of witchcraft, racial injustice and female empowerment mixed with campy, colorful and fantastical visuals in her films.

Synopsis: A Young Girl sells ice cream from her cart on the sidewalk until one day it was stolen. She takes matters into her own hands and her twisted revenge unfolds.

Filmmaker Bio: Randy Zuniga is a writer/ director.  His first short film, The Foot Fetisher, premiered at Midwest Weirdfest Film Festival. He wrote the feature film, The Window (2024) which just released on multiple platforms. Randy has also written several published short stories in various magazines along with The Nosleep Podcast.

Synopsis: Conspiracy radio show host, Leonard Terry, profits off the fear of his audience. After prophesying a soon to be alien invasion on air, he receives a message from a mysterious caller revealing what will actually happen to humanity in their final days.

Filmmaker Bio: Born and raised in Sonoma County, Alex attended San Diego States Film and Television program before moving to Los Angeles to work in television for the past 9 years. His love of horror/thrillers started young with a VHS tape of Child’s Play and an accidental viewing of The Exorcist. With ambitions of becoming a Writer/Director,

Alex found an opportunity to self Produce and Direct some of his writing during the 2023 Writer’s Strike. His films are only made possible with the help and hard work of his friends, family, cast, and crew.

Synopsis: Ah… the Holidays. Filled with joy, laughter, and cheer. And this year, murderous, knife-wielding elves. On Christmas Eve, Tiffany learns that being on the naughty list means more than a lump of coal in your stocking when she encounters a malevolent Imp among the presents under the Christmas tree. Now she must fight for her family’s lives against the elven intruder if they are going to have a Merry Christmas.

Filmmaker Bio: Ty Huffer is an award-winning filmmaker who resides in Seattle, Washington. A film fanatic from a young age, he was inspired to pursue a career in film by films like “Big Trouble in Little China” and Charlton Heston’s “Omega Man”.

After graduating from the Seattle Film Institute, he has made his mark by thinking outside the box to create stories that are as fun as they are compelling. Ty’s content always aims to stretch the viewer’s imaginations, surprise them, and most importantly make them scream and laugh.