– Grand Prize Winner –
Militia by Henry Dunham
Detroit native Henry Dunham is a Los Angeles-based writer/director.
After attending Michigan State University as an English major, he moved to Los Angeles to intern at various production companies including Mandeville, Mosaic, Atlas Entertainment, and directly under producers Charles Roven and Andy Horwitz.
Parlaying his natural ability for storytelling into working as a script reader, then consulting on numerous projects, he began writing his own original material, then wrote, directed, and produced the short film The Awareness.
Once accepted to shortoftheweek.com, it became one of the highest rated sci-fi short films on the site and was featured on over 20 filmmaking blogs, including Vimeo ‘staff pick’, io9.com, Aintitcool.com, and Geek tyrant. The short later premiered on opening night of the Brussels International Film Festival Leuven.
After winning the 2015 competition, Henry signed with industry partner Madhouse Entertainment, later getting picked up by UTA. His winning screenplay Militia is in production as of 2017, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead) and Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) with Henry tabbed to direct.
– Runner-Up –
The Coyote by Nir Paniry
Nir Paniry is an award-winning filmmaker who began his career in entertainment as a storyboard artist and animator. Since then, Nir has worked on a number of productions, both animated and live-action, while producing his own shorts and writing specs on the side.
His drama script, Kamikaze Dolls, won Best Rising Star at the prestigious IFP awards in New York. In 2012, he premiered his first feature film, Extracted, a low-fi sci-fi micro-budget film he wrote and directed, at SXSW.
Finalists (20)
Anomie by Robert Burdsall
Babygirl by Robert Garrett
Chiriaco Summit by Ryan Vaughn
Hitch Slapped (a.k.a. Deerly Beloved) by Colin Costello
Dust to Dust by Cate Honzl
egbok by Jennifer Goldson
Felicity Falling by Sean Coons & BTS Agnomen
Girl Pretending to Read Rilke by Laramie Riddle Dennis
Gusher Logan by Morris Long
Heartbreaker by Andrew Martin Robinson
Herland by Derek J. Pastuszek
Holly & Tyler by Aaron Moss
Maze by Katherine Waskul
Militia by Henry Dunham
Oil and Water by Alfred Thomas Catalfo & Morgan Webster Dudley
The Couple by Micah Cohen
The Coyote by Nir Paniry
The Grey Wolf by Michelle Daniel
The Remakes by Amy-Claire Scott
The Third Bomb by Phillip Parker
Semifinalists (55)
Al Hirt, Champion of the World by Mike Evans
Anomie by Robert Burdsall
Babygirl by Robert Garrett
Benjamin the Great by Scott Ruane
Brights by Edward Klau
Brimstone by Ariel Ehrlich
Chiriaco Summit by Ryan Vaughn
Damsel by Jessica Paine
Debbie the Viking by Graham Parke
Hitch Slapped (a.k.a. Deerly Beloved) by Colin Costello
Double Eagle by Tom Radovich
Dust to Dust by Cate Honzl
egbok by Jennifer Goldson
Eight Eight Zero Two by Andrew Byrne
Erotic Romance by Rachel Kempf
Farewell Tour by Clementine Bastow
Felicity Falling by Sean Coons & BTS Agnomen
Galapagos by Lukas Hassel
Gauntlet by Nate Ruegger
Girl Pretending to Read Rilke by Laramie Riddle Dennis
Girl Unmoored by Jennifer Gooch Hummer
Grimm Reapers by Michael E. Berg
Gusher Logan by Morris Long
Heartbreaker by Andrew Martin Robinson
Hell N’ High Water by Zack Harding
Herland by Derek J. Pastuszek
Holly & Tyler by Aaron Moss
Honey Trapper by Aaron Bergman Jackson
Interrogatory by Pedro Baron
Kidnap That Fool by Lloyd Elliott
Les Malheurs de Sophie (Sophie’s Misfortunes) by Camille Stochitch
Let’s Kill DB Cooper by Mark Price
Losing Touch by Mark J. Stasenko Jr.
Man or Bork by Marjory Kaptanoglu
Maze by Katherine Waskul
Militia by Henry Dunham
Oil and Water by Alfred Thomas Catalfo & Morgan Webster Dudley
Play Dirty by Jeff York
Prey No More by Lee Matthew Goldberg
Silent Hero by Bradley Stryker
Surge by James Watts
Tagged by Colin Costello
The Couple by Micah Cohen
The Coyote by Nir Paniry
The Devil’s Tattoo by Mitchell Boyce
The Dust by Amanda Brennan
The Echo by Mark J. Stasenko Jr.
The Grey Wolf by Michelle Daniel
The Last Babinski by Andrew Siara
The Memory Palace by Justine Gunn
The Memory War by Adam Pachter
The Remakes by Amy-Claire Scott
The Third Bomb by Phillip Parker
Zoey Ramone by Steven Boltz
Zorro Ascension by Alex Pickering & Matthew Breault
Quarterfinalists
29 by Elliot Glass
A Long Hot Winter by Daniel Brothers
A Night Among the Dead by Eugenia Hannon
Abraham and Ginger by Tejal Desai
Accomplice by Christopher T. Phillips
Acts of God by W. Reed Moran
Al Hirt, Champion of the World by Mike Evans
Anomie by Robert Burdsall
Babygirl by Robert Garrett
Benjamin the Great by Scott Ruane
Big Gun Man by Garrett F. Baker
Black Eagle by Douglas Wolfe
Blood Pawn by Anthony Moore & Matt Getty
Bridesmen by David M. Booher
Brights by Edward Klau
Brimstone by Ariel Ehrlich
Burn After Dating (B.A.D.) by Ana Lazarezic & Yasemin Tekiner
Chennai 2070 by Vishnu Sasisekaran
Chiriaco Summit by Ryan Vaughn
Clean Break by Matthew Zoni
Comic Book Kings by Amanda Keener
Crashers by Scott Cunningham
Damsel by Jessica Paine
Darling by Alyssa B. Beatty
Debbie the Viking by Graham Parke
Hitch Slapped (a.k.a. Deerly Beloved) by Colin Costello
Disorderly Conduct by Arlena G. Byrd
Double Eagle by Tom Radovich
Dust to Dust by Cate Honzl
Eden by Jessica Chou
egbok by Jennifer Goldson
Eggs by Averie Storck
Eight Eight Zero Two by Andrew Byrne
Emerge by Anneli Gelbard & Igor Zor
Erotic Romance by Rachel Kempf
Farewell Tour by Clementine Bastow
Fashionably Late by Jeffrey Radlauer
Fatherland by WH Clark
Felicity Falling by Sean Coons & BTS Agnomen
Fireflies by Amanda Keener
Float Test by Jules Brudek
Flyover State by Sarah Tither-Kaplan
Fool’s Gold by Johnny Cho
Galapagos by Lukas Hassel
Gauntlet by Nate Ruegger
Ghosts of Dickens by Matthew Bishop
Girl Pretending to Read Rilke by Laramie Riddle Dennis
Girl Unmoored by Jennifer Gooch Hummer
Grimm Reapers by Michael E. Berg
Gusher Logan by Morris Long
Heartbreaker by Andrew Martin Robinson
Hell N’ High Water by Zack Harding
Herland by Derek J. Pastuszek
Holly & Tyler by Aaron Moss
Honey Trapper by Aaron Bergman Jackson
How to Catch a Time Traveler by Graham Parke
Interrogatory by Pedro Baron
Invisible Scars by Edward Klau
Jack Hammer by Nick Scown
Jacksonville by Jeffrey R. Field
Kidnap That Fool by Lloyd Elliott
Lady 5 by AJ Brooks
Lands End by Jesse Cobb
Las Ventas by Alexander Vargas
Last Mile by Sylvia Batey Alcala
Last Refuge by Donald Grail
Les Malheurs de Sophie (Sophie’s Misfortunes) by Camille Stochitch
Let’s Kill DB Cooper by Mark Price
Leverage by Alexei Mizin & Ryan van Dijk
Lifeline by Dylan Brann
Lightning Bug by Emil Fendler
Losing Touch by Mark J. Stasenko Jr.
Macau Twilight by Tony Shyu
Man or Bork by Marjory Kaptanoglu
Maze by Katherine Waskul
Mean Curves by Anthony Detisch
Militia by Henry Dunham
Misery Loves by Noah Martin
Mock Draft by Heidi J. Nyburg
No Man’s Land by Jeffrey Field & Michelle Davidson
Oil and Water by Alfred Thomas Catalfo & Morgan Webster Dudley
Paso del Norte by Alberto Rey
Play Dirty by Jeff York
Prey No More by Lee Matthew Goldberg
Reckless Hearts by Corey Bodoh-Creed
See You Soon, Reverend Moon by Gena Oppenheim
Seven Days in Rose Town by David Hudacek
Silent Hero by Bradley Stryker
Sovereign Citizen by Craig Peters
Spooked by Scott Ruane
Surge by James Watts
Synergizers by Craig Cambria
Tagged by Colin Costello
The Couple by Micah Cohen
The Coyote by Nir Paniry
The Demon of Hope Street by Craig Peters
The Devil’s Tattoo by Mitchell Boyce
The Dust by Amanda Brennan
The Echo by Mark J. Stasenko Jr.
The Epidemic by Tom Anstead
The Green Seed Conspiracy by Philip Benz
The Greenhouse by Nile Cappello
The Grey Wolf by Michelle Daniel
The Last Babinski by Andrew Siara
The Last Job on Earth by Austin Hice
The Lazarus by Ryan Lipscomb
The Memory Palace by Justine Gunn
The Memory War by Adam Pachter
The Pinkerton by Michael Boland
The Remakes by Amy-Claire Scott
The Third Bomb by Phillip Parker
The Tour by Brian Thomas Wilson
This Old Man by Nicholas Oktaras
Three of Swords by Matias Caruso
Transmigration by Aaron Yanes
Twains, Trains, and Riverboats by Kevin Cleary & Patti Vasquez
Uncanny Valley by Anthony Moore & Matt Getty
Undetected by Scott Ludden
Untapped by Chloe Hung
Yours Truly by Daniel Sanchez
Zoey Ramone by Steven Boltz
Zorro Ascension by Alex Pickering & Matthew Breault