2024 We Make Movies International Film Festival
◈ 4 days
◈ 156 films From Around the World
◈ 11 Screenplay finalists
◈ 35 BLOCKS OF PROGRAMMING & SPECIAL EVENTS
◈ $20 screenings THURSDAY-SUNDAY
◈ We Saved You A SEAT
2024 SELECTED SCREENPLAYS
Beasts
"Beasts" is a cautionary tale illustrating the perils of unresolved issues in relationships. Tayvel and Luna's idyllic life is shattered by the emergence of their monstrous alter egos, prompting a desperate struggle to salvage their love amidst chaos. As they confront their inner demons with the help of a friend, they learn the importance of addressing unresolved issues before they see what happens as a result.
Screenwriter: Nyle Odom
Eat Me
When a desperate food influencer crosses the wrong restaurant, she's cursed with an escalating hunger that can only be satisfied by one terrible thing.
Screenwriter Bio: Jason Tostevin's short genre work has been presented and awarded at festivals around the world, and featured in outlets from the New York Times to Short of the Week.
First Time
A young man falls under the influence of the woman over whom he's obsessed.
Screenwriter Bio: From the age of nine. Geoffrey Gould grew up on the stage in northern New Jersey, where he was also fascinated with filmmaking, experimenting with stop motion animation and narrative fiction, while years later finding himself frustrated that his state college filmmaking and writing teachers were fans of Avant-garde, and they looked down on anything close to entertaining or commercially viable. Moving to the west coast at the end of the 20th century, it didn't take long to book a few commercials and joining SAG. Sticking to his own dark humoured style, Geoffrey began getting back into creating short film screenplays. After having the story's premise, Geoffrey feels his writing style is analogous to take dictation; his characters' dialogue often driving the story, sometimes even surprising its author. His screenplay Bucky won the We Make Movies Rolling Production Fund competition and went on to win over 60 awards after premiering at the Hollywood Chinese Theater.
Lab Partners
Preeti and Daniel have won the Future Physicians essay contest, but when they struggle to raise their creative writing grades, the nightmare begins.
Screenwriter Bio: Tommy Britt is a writer from Virginia who writes short scripts in different genres. His goal is to showcase characters and situations not often seen on screen. His recent scripts include Lab Partners, Prepare the Way, and Today While Resting.
Mistletoe
When a woman joins her fiancé for a wake, the family’s dangerous secrets start bubbling to the surface.
Screenwriter Bio: Harker Jones grew up on a dirt road in Michigan in a town so small it doesn’t to this day have a traffic light. Now a Los Angeles denizen, he has written the acclaimed, best-selling love story “Until September” and nine screenplays, revealing truths through humor and horror. His short thrillers “Cole & Colette” and “One-Hit Wonder” have been accepted into more than 60 film festivals combined, garnering several awards. He was managing editor of “Out” magazine for seven years, spent two in gay porn, and worked at Disney Publishing. A member of both the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and Mensa, he loves cats and carbs and would like to be a one-hit wonder but would settle for being killed in a slasher movie
Please Hang Up
A customer support worker tries to stop the brutal murder of a client trapped in a company owned time loop.
Screenwriters: Based in Utah, Andrea and Sophie Tellez are daughters of a Honduran immigrant who learned English through movies, and as such, desire to write and direct films that transcends language and cultural barriers."
SHINE ON
A Michigan farmer and his daughter struggle to keep their spirits up in the middle of a heat wave and pandemic.
Screenwriter Bio: Harker Jones grew up on a dirt road in Michigan in a town so small it doesn’t to this day have a traffic light. Now a Los Angeles denizen, he has written the acclaimed, best-selling love story “Until September” and nine screenplays, revealing truths through humor and horror. His short thrillers “Cole & Colette” and “One-Hit Wonder” have been accepted into more than 60 film festivals combined, garnering several awards. He was managing editor of “Out” magazine for seven years, spent two in gay porn, and worked at Disney Publishing. A member of both the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and Mensa, he loves cats and carbs and would like to be a one-hit wonder but would settle for being killed in a slasher movie.
Tata
An estranged mother and daughter travel to a yearly vacation spot to sprinkle the ashes of their recently deceased grandfather, who manages to teach them one last lesson in his death.
Screenwriter Bio: Nicole Kohut is a queer storyteller who loves to write about sex and grief. A graduate of Columbia University, with degrees in English Lit and Women’s, Gender, + Sexuality Studies, her work explores the pacified realms of sexuality through the absurd. Over the years, she’s focused on defining her writing voice: dark, brutally vulnerable humor mixed with idyllic childhood dreams (and whatever she’s not ready to tell her therapist).
The Life A Leaf Could Live
When a leaf falls in front of a recently broken-up couple, the two hypothesize the possible lives a leaf could live, ultimately helping them come to terms with the meaning of their own relationship.
Screenwriter Bio: Nicole Kohut is a queer storyteller who loves to write about sex and grief. A graduate of Columbia University, with degrees in English Lit and Women’s, Gender, + Sexuality Studies, her work explores the pacified realms of sexuality through the absurd. Over the years, she’s focused on defining her writing voice: dark, brutally vulnerable humor mixed with idyllic childhood dreams (and whatever she’s not ready to tell her therapist).
The Neuroinfernal Friend
Melanie is a demon from the bowels of hell and her new-ish human friends have no idea. On a girls trip together, she hears a story about an old friend being cruel to Isabella and takes it literally when all the pals talk about murdering this cruel old friend.
Screenwriter Bio: Melissa Balint is an award-winning writer and director based in Los Angeles, known for her witty, inclusive, and often magical storytelling. She has directed multi-award-winning films like High Score, Based on a True Fly, and Mom Prep, and her work has been showcased internationally. Melissa's passion for genre storytelling extends beyond her films, reflected in her love for sci-fi, fantasy, and her Star Wars-themed wedding. She has gained valuable experience assisting and shadowing on TV shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Quantum Leap, and Legacies. In addition to her work in film and TV, she has directed for major brands like Coca-Cola and Stella Artois. Melissa is a board member of the Alliance of Women Directors and actively advocates for women and non-binary directors in the industry.
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This'll Do
On a beautiful sunny morning, Terrance, a sensitive hipster, surprises the woman he met the night before at a bar with his acceptance of her offer to get married. Ayla, a young professional who loves to have a good time, is more than a little confused as to why this odd man mistook her lame pickup line for a legit marriage proposal. Even so, Terrance has already invited their friends, family, and an interior decorated to make the start to their life together as perfect as possible. Amidst the mayhem that ensues as their guests arrive, a dismayed Ayla is desperate for the shenanigans to end. The tides turn when Terrence surprises Ayla with her long-lost beloved childhood dog, and she realizes he’s the man of her dreams. Unfortunately, that’s when her one-night stand chooses to depart leaving Terrance feeling betrayed and Ayla begging for his forgiveness.
Screenwriter Bio: A native Houstonian with Liberian roots, Tehana Weeks is an actor, writer, director, producer, artist, entertainer and business professional. Since graduating from Carnegie Mellon University with a major in Business Administration and a minor in Drama, Tehana has become an award winning actor and filmmaker. Though acting is her passion, it is her joy to create powerful content and to tell stories of underrepresented people, places and things. To date, Tehana has created and produced the web series Shrink Wrapped, for which she was nominated ‘Oustanding Lead Actress in a Comedy’ by LA Web Fest, wrote, produced, directed and starred in the short film COIN, which is the winner of a WorldFest Houston Bronze Remi Award, produced and directed the We Make Movies Film Challenge winner Mama Wanna, directed the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge short Super Inappropriate, which screened at HollyShorts, and wrote the screenplay EXIST which won second place in the inaugural We Make Movies International Film Festival.
