Author: Sherman Oaks Film Festival

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Comedy

When a couple runs over a stranger’s dog, they compete for the moral high ground at any cost.

Program 06 – Poignant Spotlight · Fri, Dec 4, 2026 · 9:45 PM

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• Director(s): Parker Croft
• Writer(s): Parker Croft, Nolan Gould
• Producer(s): Nolan Gould, Magen Ashley Young, Parker Croft
• Key Cast: Nolan Gould, Millie Gibbons, Bill Weldon

Language: English

Runtime: 13m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Academy Award-nominee Abigail Breslin presents:
The Liars of Black Mountain Road.

When a couple runs over a stranger’s dog, they compete for the moral high ground at any cost.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Drama

Three witnesses. Two sides. One prosecutor. Who will you believe?

Program 17 – Dynamic Spotlight · Sun, Dec 6, 2026 · 2:00 PM

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• Director(s): Evan Fine
• Writer(s): Evan Fine
• Producer(s): Michele Sieglitz, Jason Ting
• Key Cast: Emma Faun Ferguson, Kent Weishaus, Valentina Sarmiento, Adrien Rooke, Germaine Gaudet, Marcus Stock, Max Mahle, Bruce Fingles
• Editor(s): Evan Fine
• Cinematographer(s): Evan Fine, Jason Ting
• Production Designer(s): Sydney Gorin
• Sound Designer(s): Evan Fine, Andy Zenczak
• Composer(s): Evan Fine

Language: English

Runtime: 17m

Country: United States

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: A prosecutor fights for justice in the wake of a billionaire’s murder on New Year’s Eve.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Horror

Have your cake…and it eats you.

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Ren Ariel Sano
• Writer(s): Ren Ariel Sano
• Producer(s): Ren Ariel Sano, Logan Mack
• Key Cast: Daisy Lopez, John-Michael Sedor
• Editor(s): Joe Carugati
• Cinematographer(s): Logan Mack
• Production Designer(s): Grace Alie
• Sound Designer(s): Elizabeth McClanahan
• Composer(s): Sylvain Kauffman

Runtime: 9m

Country: United States

Synopsis: An unsuspecting young couple bring a cursed candle to a friend’s 30th birthday party and unleash an unlikely evil that comes to collect its just desserts.

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2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Feature Film

Screenplay Awards Ceremony · Sun, Dec 6, 2026 · 2:00 PM

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In this heartwarming musical comedy, a tech-hating grandpa’s “Tech Monster” story goes viral, teaching his family to balance technology with real-life connection.

• Writer(s): Thylea Michele Thymes

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

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In this heartwarming musical comedy, old-school Grandpa fights to reconnect with his tech-obsessed grandkids by telling them a bedtime story about a fearsome “Tech Monster.” But when the kids secretly post his story and it goes viral, they face angry classmates whose parents confiscated their phones. Now, they must convince everyone the monster is real while keeping Grandpa from discovering their viral video.

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Horror

Imagine you could become rich with with the push of a button – there’s just one, tiny catch…

Screening date & tickets — to be announced

• Director(s): Ben Rejzer
• Writer(s): Ben Rejzer
• Producer(s): Gabrielle LeBlanc
• Key Cast: Garrett McKenna
• Editor(s): Ben Rejzer
• Cinematographer(s): Jens Ericson
• Production Designer(s): Willie Flores
• Composer(s): Jon Monroe

Language: English

Runtime: 16m

Country: United States

Synopsis: When posed a with a simple choice – get rich, but be hunted forever – a young man must fight sanity and survival under the careful watch of an tiny, striped tormentor.

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2026 Official Selection: Screenplay – Screenplay – Feature Film

Screenplay Awards Ceremony · Sun, Dec 6, 2026 · 2:00 PM

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After a life-transforming journey migrating West, a spoiled Southern belle elopes with a Union soldier who opens her eyes to the evils of slavery. Inspired by a true story.

• Writer(s): Stephanie Hutchinson

Language: English

Country: Not Specified

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Naive but feisty Southern belle Talitha comes of age during a covered wagon move West, encountering hunger, Indians, and a steamboat fire and sinking. She is unaware that her wealthy father has lost his fortune in a stock market crash and has borrowed money from a rich old merchant – who plans to marry her. Talitha falls in love with a pro Union Southerner who confronts her about the family’s African American slave. Inspired by a true "Romeo & Juliet" Civil War love story.

2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Comedy

Some family secrets are just too big.

Program 02 – Originality Spotlight · Fri, Dec 4, 2026 · 7:15 PM

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• Director(s): Henry Bock, Nick Tiffany
• Writer(s): Henry Bock, Nick Tiffany
• Producer(s): MK Goss, Joey Walsh, Amy Sedaris
• Key Cast: Sean Finnegan
• Editor(s): Camille Getz
• Cinematographer(s): Gabriel Armstrong
• Production Designer(s): Matt Adams
• Sound Designer(s): Justin Enoch
• Composer(s): Curtis Green

Language: English

Runtime: 14m

Country: United States

Los Angeles Premiere

Synopsis: While celebrating his engagement, Sean finds out that his future brother-in-law has an unnaturally large penis.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Horror

don’t hold it in

Program 14 – Haunted Spotlight · Sat, Dec 5, 2026 · 9:45 PM

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• Director(s): Caden Lacy
• Writer(s): Caden Lacy
• Producer(s): Caden Lacy, Alexis Kihm
• Key Cast: Georgia T Willow
• Editor(s): Matt Farren
• Cinematographer(s): Marcelo Solis Mercado
• Production Designer(s): Cene Paris
• Sound Designer(s): Kyle Riccio
• Composer(s): Gabriel Scott

Language: English

Runtime: 8m

Country: United States

Synopsis: A young woman gets sick and begins to panic as increasingly concerning things start coming out of her nose.

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Horror

After hearing a rumor among the young novices, Sister Eleanor begins investigating a haunting at the abbey, only to discover that the spirit is deeply connected to her own past…

Program 22 – Thrilling Spotlight · Sun, Dec 6, 2026 · 5:30 PM

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• Director(s): Xihe Huang
• Writer(s): Xihe Huang, Erika Dunn
• Producer(s): Wenhan Zhang
• Key Cast: Geraldine Bielke, Kennedy Taylor Taylor, Simone Link
• Editor(s): Zhengzheng "Lexy" Zhao
• Cinematographer(s): Daniel Qi
• Production Designer(s): Mel Garcia
• Sound Designer(s): Yaning "Scott" Liu
• Composer(s): Zoey Lim & Tiffany McConnell

Language: English

Runtime: 15m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Sister Eleanor notices the haunting in the Abbey, and witnesses Fiona (a young girl in the Abbey) being possessed and saying Sister Eleanor’s name before she became a nun. Sister Eleanor confesses to Father Abernathy, and Father Abernathy mentions he wants to choose Fiona to be a new novice nun. And this moment, the haunting starts again. Sister Eleanor runs away, but meets Fiona again, this time she realizes that the ghost possessing on Fiona is Sister Eleanor’s childhood

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2026 Official Selection: Short Film – Animation

A faceless man escapes his empty life through a mirror that reveals everything he lacks.

Program 18 – Inspiring Spotlight · Sun, Dec 6, 2026 · 3:15 PM

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• Director(s): Daniel Robichaud
• Writer(s): Daniel Robichaud
• Producer(s): Daniel Robichaud
• Editor(s): Daniel Robichaud
• Production Designer(s): Daniel Robichaud
• Sound Designer(s): Daniel Robichaud
• Composer(s): Adrián Berenguer

Runtime: 9m

Country: United States

Synopsis: Faceless Greg discovers in his mirror reflection a vibrant world containing everything missing from his life: color that sings, wonder that breathes, and adventure that calls his name. Drawn across its threshold, he wanders a living dream where beauty blooms and danger takes shape, then flees it by the narrowest margin.

Yet something follows him back: a dragonfly’s quiet grace, a sudden burst of sunlight, a dying flower remembering how to live.

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