Sherman Oaks Film Festival

2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Feature Film

Ceremony date & tickets — to be announced

In 1890s Whitby, a dying stranger brings a creeping sickness to a remote abbey, forcing Benedictine monks to confront an ancient terror that warps flesh and tests faith.

• Writer(s): Michael Consiglio, Alex Klein

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

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In 1890s Whitby, a devastating storm delivers a dying stranger to a remote abbey, where a brotherhood of Benedictine monks soon discovers a creeping sickness—one that warps flesh, tests faith, and threatens to unravel them from within. As isolation deepens and the darkness spreads, the monks must confront an ancient terror before it consumes them all.

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

Is healing from addiction or a first love truly possible?

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Viveka Garza Gómez
• Writer(s): Viveka Garza Gómez
• Producer(s): Viveka Garza Gómez, Amirah Adem
• Key Cast: Viveka Garza Gómez, Alexander Faeron
• Editor(s): Jewells Santos, Nicole Russell
• Cinematographer(s): Ziqi Yang
• Production Designer(s): Emma Pine
• Sound Designer(s): Ben Kruse
• Composer(s): Alexander Hansson

Language: English

Runtime: 11m

Country: United States

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: After receiving a crushing email from her first love, Renata retreats into the woods to avoid slipping into old habits. Obsessing on how to reply she quickly spirals into a violent night with what once threatened to destroy her.

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2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Feature Film

Ceremony date & tickets — to be announced

Let the culture clashes and love affairs begin.

• Writer(s): Bren Bennington Dahl

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

An adventure seeking college grad girl who wants to see the world, joins the Peace Corps and gets posted in the African Congo. There she takes a wild ride juggling language challenges and culture clashes while falling in love with two very different fellow volunteers, who end up changing her life forever.

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Comedy

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Richard Rogers
• Writer(s): Richard Rogers
• Producer(s): Ryan Bedsaul
• Key Cast: Ryker Baloun, Corey Landis
• Cinematographer(s): Matthew Roveto
• Composer(s): Rock Burwell

Language: English

Runtime: 12m

Country: United States

Synopsis: In this 90s PSA, a rebellious teen shrugs off his father’s anti-drug sermon and learns the hard way that marijuana might just be "the gateway drug to hell."

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

During the Black Panther movement, a pregnant Afeni Shakur battles 189 felony charges, forced to defend herself in a trial that could cost her freedom and her unborn child’s future

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Dominique R. Draper
• Writer(s): Dominique R. Draper
• Producer(s): Dominique R. Draper, Qingyi Song, Brana Monet, David Ahaiwe Dixon
• Key Cast: Journey Carter, Mitchell Edwards
• Editor(s): UTKARSH KUMAR
• Cinematographer(s): Brana Monet & Sika Stanton
• Production Designer(s): CAMILA RODRÍGUEZ
• Sound Designer(s): JIAQI "ARABELLA" BAI
• Composer(s): Tristan Jones

Language: English

Runtime: 15m

Country: United States

Synopsis: From her jail cell, eight months pregnant, Afeni Shakur writes a letter to her unborn son, Tupac, reflecting on her transformation from Alice Faye Williams into a Black Panther leader. As government surveillance and betrayal threaten the movement, Afeni and twenty fellow Panthers face 189 felony charges in the historic Panther 21 trial. With her freedom and unborn child’s future at stake, Afeni chooses to defend herself in court against a system determined to silence her.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

During the Black Panther movement, a pregnant Afeni Shakur battles 189 felony charges, forced to defend herself in a trial that could cost her freedom and her unborn child’s future

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Dominique R. Draper
• Writer(s): Dominique R. Draper
• Producer(s): Dominique R. Draper, Qingyi Song, Brana Monet, David Ahaiwe Dixon
• Key Cast: Journey Carter, Mitchell Edwards
• Editor(s): UTKARSH KUMAR
• Cinematographer(s): Brana Monet & Sika Stanton
• Production Designer(s): CAMILA RODRÍGUEZ
• Sound Designer(s): JIAQI "ARABELLA" BAI
• Composer(s): Tristan Jones

Language: English

Runtime: 15m

Country: United States

Synopsis: From her jail cell, eight months pregnant, Afeni Shakur writes a letter to her unborn son, Tupac, reflecting on her transformation from Alice Faye Williams into a Black Panther leader. As government surveillance and betrayal threaten the movement, Afeni and twenty fellow Panthers face 189 felony charges in the historic Panther 21 trial. With her freedom and unborn child’s future at stake, Afeni chooses to defend herself in court against a system determined to silence her.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

A raw exploration of neurodiversity, family dysfunction, and the Hollywood gaze on disability.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Peter Kangas
• Writer(s): Peter Kangas, Josiah Polhemus
• Producer(s): Peter Kangas, Josiah Polhemus, Taylor Rust, Elissa Down
• Key Cast: Brendan Looney, Leo Burnett, Josiah Polhemus
• Editor(s): Matthew R. Smith
• Cinematographer(s): Frank Paul Perez
• Sound Designer(s): Owen Peterson
• Composer(s): Katherine Beggs

Language: English

Runtime: 15m

Country: United States

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: Paul, a young autistic man, struggles to process his father’s terminal cancer diagnosis while haunted by Ever Green—a character from a Hollywood autism film he despises. Through therapy sessions and painful memories, Paul confronts his grief, his strained relationship with his father, and society’s stereotypical portrayals of autism. A raw exploration of neurodiversity, family dysfunction, and the Hollywood gaze on disability.

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2026 Official Selection: Featurette – Documentary

An LAPD officer fired toward partygoers at a South Central block party. Then detectives used a shadow warrant to investigate a shooting victim.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Jayrol San Jose, Ben Camacho
• Producer(s): Ben Camacho, Jayrol San Jose
• Editor(s): Jayrol San Jose
• Cinematographer(s): Jayrol San Jose

Language: English

Runtime: 21m

Country: United States

Synopsis: On June 3, 2020, LAPD Officer Nathaniel Beck, assigned to the Community Safety Partnership, fired five shots toward partygoers at a South Central block party. One bullet hit a man in the face. LAPD never disclosed Beck’s CSP assignment. Detectives then used a search warrant to investigate a shooting victim and never returned it to the court, leaving no public record. The Blue Hand, by Ben Camacho and Jayrol San Jose, follows what happened after the gunfire stopped.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

As the dream of emigration slowly unsettles the foundation of a young couple’s life, their little daughter sets out to mend things in her own way.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Niloufar Mehrshad Abdollahi
• Writer(s): Niloufar Mehrshad Abdollahi
• Producer(s): Niloufar Abdollahi
• Key Cast: Navid Salahi, Samaneh Shoaei, Ava Bakhshi
• Editor(s): Mahmoudreza Enshaei
• Cinematographer(s): Ali Saman
• Sound Designer(s): Mehdi Arafati

Language: Persian

Runtime: 12m

Country: Iran

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: A young couple is on the brink of emigration, hoping to build a better future for their little daughter. But when an unexpected delay disrupts the process, and Nazy — now pregnant — can no longer travel, tensions rise. Reza, unwilling to let go of their dream, proposes a devastating solution. Caught in a painful dilemma, Nazi is unaware that their daughter, Ava, has quietly made her own decision to resolve the crisis.

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Animation

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Miguel León
• Writer(s): Miguel León
• Producer(s): Claudia Osejo
• Editor(s): Manuela Osejo
• Cinematographer(s): Alexander Lossa
• Sound Designer(s): Tariq Burney, Claudia Jiménez
• Composer(s): Juan Rojas Perez

Language: Spanish

Runtime: 15m

Country: Colombia

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: Gilberto, an older Baker man by tradition, has to close his bakery due to a worldwide quarantine. He lives with his granddaughter Matea, an uninterested girl who is immersed in her cell phone. During the quarantine they remain locked up, living a distant relationship and waiting for everything to return to normal. One day a new bakery arrives in the neighborhood, equipped with high technology and with robots capable of baking bread without human interference. Gilberto must

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