Sherman Oaks Film Festival

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Comedy

Your son has a problem… it’s worse than you think.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Justin Singleton
• Writer(s): Justin Singleton
• Producer(s): Jess Paul
• Key Cast: Jess Paul, Nomi Gene, Raheem Mansaray
• Editor(s): Justin Singleton
• Cinematographer(s): Justin Singleton
• Production Designer(s): Jess Paul
• Sound Designer(s): Justin Singleton
• Composer(s): Finn Clarke

Language: English

Runtime: 10m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Two parents and their son’s kindergarten teacher discuss his very particular problem.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Arthouse/Experimental

A man bargains with a "genie" AI program, but fails to realize the cost of the transaction before trapping himself—and his pregnant wife—in a digital purgatory.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Indy Gott
• Writer(s): Indy Gott
• Producer(s): Indy Gott, Maxwell Marcus
• Key Cast: Indy Gott, Veronica Bruce, Emma Kotos
• Editor(s): Aaron Vasquez / Indy Gott
• Cinematographer(s): Ryan Joseph
• Sound Designer(s): DANIEL McNAMARA

Language: English

Runtime: 10m

Country: United States

Synopsis: A man embarks on a perilous journey of the mind as he enlists the help of a dubious app to reconnect with a loved one. Stuck in a continuous loop whilst trying to progress, he falls victim to the very thing he thought was going to help him.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Animation

A boy with shoulder broader than a door trying to fit in.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Jane Jiang, Kerry Sun
• Writer(s): Jane Jiang, Kerry Sun
• Producer(s): Ringling College of Art and Design
• Key Cast: Yanick Welihozkiy
• Editor(s): Jane Jiang, Kerry Sun
• Cinematographer(s): Jane Jiang, Kerry Sun
• Sound Designer(s): Studio Labs
• Composer(s): Etia Farmiga, Micheal Berry

Language: English

Runtime: 3m

Country: United States

Synopsis: This is a story about Bruno, a boy born with shoulders broader than a door frame. As he grows up, he faces a series of challenges, awkward situations, and humorous twists that come with being a little different from everyone else.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Horror

You have to do what it says… or else.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Mike Robinson
• Writer(s): Mike Robinson
• Producer(s): Kat Hartman Rocco, Sean Cruser, Mike Robinson
• Key Cast: Kunjue Li, Matthew Burnside, Kevin Toomey, Jenny Castro, Ryan Featherston
• Editor(s): Kevin Toomey
• Cinematographer(s): Sean Cruser
• Production Designer(s): Alexander Cantrell
• Sound Designer(s): Jérémy Ben Ammar
• Composer(s): David Bauer & Nick Sudar

Language: English

Runtime: 13m

Country: United States

Synopsis: A woman is terrorized by a mysterious orange circle who intimidates her into attacking people with a pair of garden shears.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Horror

Make America taste great again!

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): David Dylan Thomas
• Writer(s): David Dylan Thomas
• Producer(s): Stephanie Malson, Maurice Gaston
• Key Cast: Davon Cochran, Walt DeShields
• Editor(s): Raquel Davis
• Cinematographer(s): Jalen Ramseur-Williams
• Production Designer(s): Jai Monee
• Sound Designer(s): Timothy Day
• Composer(s): Gangstagrass

Language: English

Runtime: 11m

Country: United States

Synopsis: True story, beneath Washington Square, an urban park in Philadelphia, lie buried the bodies of hundreds of enslaved people. What if, one night, they all came back as zombies, but they only ate white people?

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2026 Official Selection: Featurette – SciFi

Those who resist change are a dying breed.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Peter Thomas Ruocco
• Writer(s): Peter Thomas Ruocco
• Producer(s): Tuba Asena Ugurlu
• Key Cast: Zac Jaffee, Erica Mae McNeal
• Editor(s): Peter Thomas Ruocco
• Cinematographer(s): Cliff Traiman
• Production Designer(s): Jacquelyn Scott
• Sound Designer(s): David Sandwisch
• Composer(s): Chris Houston

Language: English

Runtime: 32m

Country: United States

World Premiere

Synopsis: In a future run by a godlike super-intelligence that optimizes every citizen’s path through life, all Henry P. Jones wants is to be left alone. But when his contribution score drops below zero, he is summoned to the Department of Life Navigation for a mandatory consultation. What begins as a routine evaluation quickly turns into a ruthless examination of his choices in life, forcing him to prove that he still has something to offer the world.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Sagi Kahane-Rapport
• Writer(s): Sagi Kahane-Rapport
• Producer(s): James Edward Stewart, Leandro Amorim-Downie
• Key Cast: Susanne Wuest, Patrick Guldenberg, Elmar Gutmann
• Editor(s): Sagi Kahane-Rapport
• Cinematographer(s): Adam Madrzyk
• Production Designer(s): Hope Little
• Sound Designer(s): Bret Killoran
• Composer(s): Isaac Mailach

Language: English

Runtime: 15m

Country: Canada

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: When camera pioneer Ernst Leitz’s defiance of the Nazi regime is discovered by the Gestapo, his daughter Elsie must navigate a high-stakes battle of the wits with a Gestapo detective to save her father’s life.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

A renowned event host tries to reconnect with his inspirational grandfather, a revered singer of the 1970s now living with Alzheimer’s dementia, upon discovering he can still sing.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Derry Shillitto
• Writer(s): Kieran Hardcastle
• Producer(s): Chloe Elizabeth Martin
• Key Cast: Nicholas Lumley, Kieran Hardcastle
• Editor(s): Luke Radford
• Cinematographer(s): Will J Carman
• Sound Designer(s): Alex Stroud

Language: English

Runtime: 17m

Country: United Kingdom

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: Peter (NICHOLAS LUMLEY – ‘Paddington 2’, ‘Lady Macbeth’) a popular singer/stand-up entertainer of the seventies and eighties, resides in a care home in Nottingham as a result of Alzheimer’s dementia.
Kezz (KIERAN HARDCASTLE – ‘This Is England’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’) his naturally-gifted event host of a grandson, assumed he was all but lost to the condition, until… during a routine visit, he’s suddenly shocked and astonished to learn that due to the remarkable effects of

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2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Feature Film

Ceremony date & tickets — to be announced

A comedy about grief. Yes.

• Writer(s): Mary Rose Almasi

Language: English

Country: USA

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Meg lives a carefully ordered life, built on routine and restraint following the loss of her 18-year-old daughter, Gabby. Practical and disciplined, she approaches grief with structure.

Gabby, meanwhile, is navigating a chaotic afterlife that feels like an unfinished teenage bedroom. Convinced her mother’s pain is her responsibility, she tries to help through bumbling interventions—until she realizes some things can’t be fixed, and she must learn when to let go.

2026 Official Selection: Music Video

It’s common courtesy to wait…

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Tague MB Zachary, Nathan M Reiland-Smith
• Writer(s): Tague MB Zachary
• Producer(s): Nathan M Reiland-Smith, Tague MB Zachary
• Key Cast: Tague MB Zachary, Cristopher B Zachary, Dr. Chocolate
• Editor(s): Nathan M Reiland-Smith, Tague MB Zachary
• Cinematographer(s): Nathan M Reiland-Smith
• Production Designer(s): Ashley Villa
• Composer(s): Tague MB Zachary

Language: English

Runtime: 6m

Country: United States

Synopsis: A young man faces adversity when he is asked to wait until everyone has food on their plate. This musical comedy explores familial tensions and godlike restraint.

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