A man's obsession with a stranger leads him through the underworld of Paris to an uncanny revelation. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's "The Man of the Crowd."

REFLECTION OF A DEADMAN

Sofia's obsession with her phone comes at the cost of her social life. But what starts as an innocent scrolling quickly takes a dark turn when an app begins sending her messages. As the messages grow increasingly disturbing, Sofia realises this is more than a social media stunt, as it reveals itself in the real world and drags her into theirs.
Losing yourself in your phone has never been easier. 

Sofia's obsession with her phone comes at the cost of her social life. But what starts as an innocent scrolling quickly takes a dark turn when an app begins sending her messages.
With every notification blurring the boundary between the screen and reality.

As the messages grow increasingly disturbing, Sofia realises this is more than a social media stunt, as it reveals itself in the real world and drags her into theirs.
Losing yourself in your phone has never been more terrifying.&nbsp;

Don't Ignore Me

After a panther hunting teen goes missing, an influencer sets a challenge to find the panther loose in Penrith. A group of teens record their efforts to find the panther.

After a panther hunting teen goes missing, an influencer sets a challenge to find the panther loose in Penrith. A group of teens record their efforts to find the panther in this found footage flick.

The Panther

	Four girls at a sleepover attempt to tell scary stories with varying degrees of success.

Four girls at a sleepover attempt to tell scary stories with varying degrees of success. There's stories of revengeful cow, a worm genie and a lightning storm with a sense of humour, but could one of these tales be true?

I Knew a Boy Once

In a near future, Adam's life unravels as eerie visions of his sister Claudia, drenched in seawater and shadows, haunt him. Society teeters on collapse, with chips governing minds and drones enforcing laws. Struggling to grasp reality, Adam confronts dark truths of his past as Claudia nears a dangerous, irreversible cliff edge. Based on the first chapter of my feature"After Adam," this short is a visually stunning, mind-bending exploration of control, sacrifice, and the cost of life.

In a not-so-distant future, Adam lives in a world where technology dictates emotion, thought, and reality itself. Society teeters on the edge of collapse, Adam's life begins to unravel when eerie visions of his sister Claudia, drenched in seawater and shadows, haunt his every step. In a world where chips govern minds and drones enforce laws, Adam grapples with forces far beyond his control. As his grip on reality slips, he must confront the dark truths of his past and the growing storm within, all while Claudia inches closer to a dangerous, irreversible choice. 
This short is based off the first chapter of my script "After Adam" which is a visually stunning, mind-bending journey that explores control, sacrifice, and the terrifying cost of survival in a world on fire.

After Adam

Wartime winter Kyiv. Maryna, a girl detective, is searching for missing people with her partner, an IT expert. This time a little girl has disappeared, and searching for her Maryna has to go through a mysterious quest. This is a mystical detective story about a childhood lost in the war.

&nbsp;Synopsis: Wartime winter Kyiv. Maryna, a girl detective, is searching for missing people with her partner, an IT expert. This time a little girl has disappeared, and searching for her Maryna has to go through a mysterious quest. This is a mystical detective story about a childhood lost in the war.&nbsp;

Director Bio:
Elina Myshanych – young actress and director, 14 years old, Kyiv. Studied in Virtual Club (London Film School), online-lab “Yellow Bus” (Kyiv), Kids Movie Film School (Kyiv). Author of the four short fiction films and the short doc film, got some festival prizes in Ukraine, Europe, USA and Australia. Elina is an actress in professional industry, recently she acted the leading teen role in Ukrainian 8-episodes TV-series. She is in Kyiv now.&nbsp;

Director Statement if any – Cinema for me is to come up with a story, characters, and then bring it all to life on screen.&nbsp;

About:&nbsp;
I made my short film “Adult” when the electricity went out for a long time because of Russian missile attacks. So we had a long vacation at school – a good time to make the film. &nbsp;

Our crew on “Adult” was consisted of me and my mom. She was a cameraman when I worked as an actress. Before filming I draw storyboards, then on the location I set up the camera and asked my mom to shoot, and I was going into the frame.&nbsp;

“Adult” is a winter story. I was always waiting for a lot of snow to fall. We reshot some scenes because there was a little snow at first, but a few days later there was as much snow as we needed.&nbsp;

It was very cold all time because I had to be without a hat: my character Maryna is adult, she doesn`t wear it. After that I promised myself that I would never shoot a film in winter again. But the next film, “Mystery of the Keeper”, I shot mostly in winter too.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Adult

A teenage girl wakes up in a park with no memory of what happened. She seeks help, but nobody can see or hear her.

A teenage girl wakes up in a park with no memory of what happened. She seeks help, but nobody can see or hear her.

Go towards the light

When Isabella checks into a therapy clinic she is introduced to three other girls with similar issues. Each girl is assigned a partner to work with them in the program. As things don't go the way they expect, they make a pact to cheat the program and unfortunately suffer the consequences.

This film was written and performed by the Advanced Teenage group of The Hills Drama School for the purpose of entering into SF3 SmartFone FlickFest 2024.

When Isabella checks into a therapy clinic she is introduced to three other girls with similar issues. Each girl is assigned a partner to work with them in the program. As things don't go the way they expect, they make a pact to cheat the program and unfortunately suffer the consequences. This film was written and performed by the Advanced Teenage group of The Hills Drama School for the purpose of entering into SF3 SmartFone FlickFest 2024.

Voices Unheard

Mackenzie and her brother don’t get along, but after he passes away from a car accident, she gets the opportunity to counsel two siblings who also don’t get along and have also just been in a car accident. While she gets to know them, she begins to discover that there may be more that happened on the night of their accident than they are both telling her.

LIAR

A girl is tormented by recurring dreams, where she is relentlessly pursued and killed by an entity every night. As the line between her dreams and reality begins to blur, she must face the terrifying possibility that she may never escape the nightmare, leaving her to question: What is real, and what is just a dream?

Déjà Rêvé

In a tragic twist, a sister's quest to save her brother from an organization's clutches ultimately leads to her own downfall. She seeks help from a former member, but together, they cannot escape the organization's deadly grip.

FEAR NOIR is about one woman’s journey through fear to reclaim her family and a sense of self-definition. Desperate to find out what happened to her brother after an organization indoctrinates him, she overcomes seemingly insurmountable obstacles only to pay the ultimate price.
Fear Noir, a neo-giallo noir feature film, was shot on an iPhone 10 using the Moment lens and Filmic Pro software, pushing the boundaries of low-budget filmmaking. With a shoestring budget of just $6,000 CAD ($4,324.79 US), Caleb Dante Olivieri, who wrote, directed, shot, and edited the film himself, achieved a stunning visual aesthetic by blending professional and non-actors and working with a crew of just two to three people on any given day.
The film's bold approach continues with a deconstructed giallo narrative, featuring a proactive protagonist, survivors escaping a cult-like organization, brainwashed masked members, and a troubled vigilante seeking retribution. Shot half in color and half in black and white, the film reflects the transformation from a familiar world to an unfamiliar one, adding to its unique charm.
By embracing guerrilla filmmaking and using props only when serving the story, Caleb created an immersive and authentic experience. This unconventional approach has resulted in a truly innovative film that defies genre conventions.

FEAR NOIR

All things began with the accursed discovery of those infernal mountains. Some secrets are too dreadful to unearth... The movie is based on H.P. Lovecraft's cult novella At the Mountains of Madness.

All things began with the accursed discovery of those infernal mountains. Some secrets are too dreadful to unearth... The movie is based on H.P. Lovecraft's cult novella At the Mountains of Madness.

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS

When Emilio engages with an unknown caller, his dull existence suddenly becomes a life or death rush, and driving may be his only shot at survival. 


ADFD SYNOPSIS
Emilio works for a big studio as a sound engineer after giving up on his dream of becoming a successful musician and has settled for a paycheck. On any given morning he wakes up to his dull daily routine, when an unknown number starts texting him provocative female photos out of the blue. Emilio eventually engages with the stranger thinking it’s a sexy woman chatting him up. He soon finds out the man behind the unknown number has also kidnapped his wife and the only way to ensure her safety is to follow his disturbing instructions to a T. The demands are bizarre but harmless at first, until they quickly become more and more twisted, involving the destruction of his own family and close relationships, and eventually placing Emilio in dangerous and life threatening situations.
Emilio is reluctant to comply with the unknown caller at first and attempts to involve the police, making the situation worse and putting his wife Sonia in imminent danger. After several failed attempts to rebel against extortion, he finally succumbs to his new reality and obeys the unknown caller on every single outrageous instruction in order to save his wife. Emilio drives his truck all over Los Angeles meeting absurd deadlines and making distressing phone calls to his loved ones. Amongst these is one to his brother Felipe where he has to tell him he’s having sex with his wife. A call to his wife’s best friend asking her to be sodomized by him. He is also instructed to ditch a very important sound session while insulting his boss, resulting in him getting fired. After several upsetting situations that seem self destructive, his life and reputation fade swiftly. And yet, it is the only way he can save his wife. When Emilio completes the last task on the list, which involves him driving around with a powerful explosive on the passenger seat, the unknown caller decides he’s bored playing this game and shoots Sonia in the head while Emilio is on the line. He then hangs up and disconnects the number leaving a demolished Emilio on a side road unable to reach his wife or her captor and with no valuable information to provide to the authorities.
Emilio has lost everything and everyone, his life has been completely destroyed for no clear reason and there’s nothing he can do about it. Powerless to even seek revenge, he then decides to go home to kill himself by swallowing pills mixed with alcohol. As he fades away, his wife walks into the house and it’s clear she’s not injured or upset. She has no idea of what is happening to her husband. When Emilio tries to speak, his lights go out. Six months later we find out Emilio has survived the suicide attempt and is now in therapy. He's on the phone with his brother and seems to be on good terms with everyone. Just as he hangs up the call, a news alert pops up on his cell phone screen that reads:
"A Day For Driving" under FBI investigation. The virtual game played by the elite living in Mars allegedly responsible for dramatic suicide rate increase on planet earth. Emilio freaks out and begins searching online to read more about it but, not only does the article disappear, but he can’t find anything on the topic whatsoever. He breathes deeply and takes medication pills in order to regain control. This leads to the assumption that it’s all in his mind. Emilio keeps on and on the morning of his niece’s birthday, while he awaits calmly in the car for his mother, after taking his medication and doing his breathing therapy, he receives one more disturbing text. What now?

A DAY FOR DRIVING

A man is going through his late father's belongings when he stumbles upon an Aztec death whistle.

After Henry's father passes away, he travels into town to sort through his estate. His sister, Annie, is being as supportive as she can over the phone. While searching for their father's old pocket watch, Henry stumbles upon an Aztec Death whistle and is unprepared for what happens when he blows into it.&nbsp;

Death Whistle

Tomash receives strange messages about the disappearance of her ex-boyfriend

 Not Completely Lost

A girl deals with the emotional aftermath of a bad night out

“Tonight” was spontaneously created in one evening. Jasmine and Mel were hanging out and decided to just “make a short film!"
 They grabbed their camera and starting shooting, they watched a story unfold with the shots, added a voice over on top, quickly composed some music and voila!
 Jasmine and Mel have studied acting and film making together at Sydney Actors School and since graduating have been working on their own web series and short film, they are so grateful to be a part of this years festival.

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