Official Selections For the 2023 Imaginarium Convention Independent Film Festival!
We had a record number of entries already this year, and our 10th Anniversary will feature the strongest field of projects that we have showcased yet!
All Official Selections will be juried for awards consideration, with awards announced at the 2023 Imaginarium Convention Awards Banquet held on Saturday, July 15th, 2023!
The screening schedule of Official Selections is featured in our Imaginarium 2023 Digital Program in addition to the screening schedule page on this site.
Download the digital program here:
Feature Films
The Devil’s Instrument
Synopsis: In an attempt to save his family, a wealthy novelist tries desperately to get out of his previous deal with the devil.
Director: Adam Sergent
Runtime: 1 hour 19 minutes
The Group (Balagam)
Synopsis: Komurayya, an old man living in a Telangana (India) village, is a jovial figure who wakes up early in the morning, greets everyone and works on his farm. He has three children – two sons, Aillaya and Mogilayya and a daughter, Lakshmi. But his family is no longer the same. His grandson Saayilu, a bright but self-centered youngster, decides to get married to clear his debts with the dowry he gets. Komurayya’s death just before the engagement changes the course of his life and the family members, rattling some skeletons in the closet. The family’s post funeral pinda (riceball) ritual, attended by the whole village, shows that the old man’s soul is unsatisfied with something when the crows refrain from eating the offerings. Will the family sort out their differences, figure out the old man’s wishes and free the departed soul?
Director: Venu Yeldandi
Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes
The Hardest Part Is Remembering
Synopsis: A hopeless man searches for the good in life. Will he be able to let go of the past to obtain it?
Director: Julian D. Edgar
Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
Locked In
Synopsis: Two women from opposite sides of society find themselves the infatuation of a mysterious killer while struggling with their own convictions and misconceptions.
Director: Chase Dudley
Runtime: 1 hour 19 minutes
Stranded
Synopsis: After the loss of their mother, a group of estranged siblings set out to fulfill her request of scattering her ashes at their cabin outside Fouke, Arkansas. Along the way, the siblings are forced to hash out issues and reopen old wounds as they become stranded and stalked by a legendary monster that lurks in the woods.
Director: Shawn Burkett
Runtime: 1 hour 22 minutes
They See You
Synopsis: Three Outcast Brothers Steal a Mysterious Board and unknowingly unleash a horde of ghouls onto their hometown during Halloween.
Director: Tory Jones
Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes
The Tree House (A Casa Da Árvore)
Synopsis: Dora, a 45-year-old biologist lives alone in an isolated house, where she conducts an ethically questionable research. Looking for a partner she can trust, she hires a new caretaker, Mateus, not realizing that he is also hiding his own secrets. Gradually, the two grow closer and Mateus finally discovers more about Dora’s research: human composting. Mateus, who applied for the job in search of his father, who he believes to have worked at the house before disappearing without reporting, confronts Dora, but she manages to lure him like prey into her office, in the Tree House.
Director: Flávio Ermírio de Moraes
Runtime: 1 hour 21 minutes
Unpacking
Synopsis: Six women, sold on the promise of radical transformation, travel to Bali into the hands of an influencer guru and get slapped with reality: change is messy AF.
Directors: Alexandra Clayton and Michal Sinnott
Runtime: 1 hour 21 minutes
The Year of the Dog
Synopsis: Matt, a loner alcoholic at rock bottom, struggles to maintain sobriety for 30 days so he can honor his mother’s dying wish, to visit her in hospice, sober. His book-thumping AA sponsor, Fred, offers him refuge at his farm, where Matt meets Yup’ik, a stray dog — played by a real-life Husky rescue — with a unique athletic talent. The man and dog relationship is challenging at first, but with the help of a close-knit Montana community, the two strays find a connection and discover what it takes to pull through to the finish line.
Directors: Robert Grabow, Michael Peterson, Andrew McGinn
Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes
Short Films
The Assassin’s Apprentice 2: Silbadores of the Canary Islands
Synopsis: Kaylee, an apprentice assassin for TAA Corp., is taking a long-deserved vacation in the Canary Islands, when her Freerunner drone arrives to project a holographic image of Rick, her handler. Rick explains to Kaylee that her vacation has been cut short, and that she is being urgently summoned by Roy, the head of TAA Corp.’s Canary Island Bureau headquarters, for a new mission. Kaylee follows the Freerunner drone to the TAA Corp.’s Canary Island headquarters, where Roy explains that F.A.D., a rival group of counter-assassins, are on the island to eliminate TAA Corp.’s drone trainers, known as “Silbadores.” Kaylee drives her ninja motorcycle at breakneck speeds along beautiful coastal roads to TAA Corp.’s drone training grounds where she saves the Silbadores from deadly Swarmbots unleashed by the F.A.D. counter-assassins. A final showdown with the F.A.D. counter-assassins Sork and Karla ends with a surprising result.
Director: Russ Emanuel
Runtime: 25 minutes 23 seconds
The Bank Job
Synopsis: A small group of bank robbers learn the importance of scouting potential banks, before showing up to rob them.
Director: Seth Young
Runtime: 4 minutes 24 seconds
The Box
Synopsis: Two friends find a box in the woods and reconnect by trying to find out what’s inside.
Directors: David Colao, J.D. Wentzel
Runtime: 3 minutes 52 seconds
Bump In The Night
Synopsis: A man is awakened by a strange noise and goes to investigate it. What could it be?
Directors: David Wate, Herschel Zahnd
Runtime: 4 minutes 2 seconds
Dark Side Of The Moon
Synopsis: A lawman and a prisoner play a deadly game beneath a full moon.
Director: Lincoln Reed
Runtime: 8 minutes 3 seconds
DEATHWORLD: 2120
Synopsis: Science Fiction short film: The sole survivor of a crash on an unpopulated planet continues her mission.
Director: Andrew H Miller
Runtime: 9 minutes 56 seconds
The Dollcatcher
Synopsis: A woman’s attempt to catch a few hours of peace and solitude in the woods is interrupted in the night by a mysterious girl.
Director: Jamey Hastings
Runtime: 15 minutes 40 seconds
Don’t Look In The Corner
Synopsis: A young woman assumes she’s protecting her parents and younger sister when she moves on her own. She does not know the entity that has followed her also haunts her family until the dire end.
Director: Keshia Thomas
Runtime: 4 minutes 40 seconds
Ghost-O-Matic
Synopsis: Homework on a Saturday? Madness. Rebellious Jessie is forced to work with bookish Madison on a ghost hunting science project for school.
Director: Shane Devon
Runtime: 21 minutes 51 seconds
Harvey & Linda: A Knives’ Tale
Synopsis: Linda is going through a transition in her life, which is to become a better version of herself. Up until now this meant leaving her former life as a serial killer behind. Someone who has seen Linda through the good and the bad is her loyal knife, Harvey, who documents Linda’s change and is withholding a secret himself.
Director: Derrick Spruill
Runtime: 9 minutes 5 seconds
In Justice, IN
Synopsis: After returning home from a career in the Army, Ethan finds Justice, Indiana isn’t the quiet small town it once was. It doesn’t take long before Ethan finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery and, as a result of a broken justice system, confronting the suspected murderer himself.
Director: Brian Snow
Runtime: 15 minutes 9 seconds
In The Basement
Synopsis: Joe Argan has quarantined himself in his basement and tries to solve all of his problems from his computer. His hypochondria is getting the best of him. Based on Moliere’s 17th century classic comedy, “The Imaginary Invalid.”
Director: Steve Cleberg
Runtime: 42 minutes 26 seconds
Like Son, Like Father
Synopsis: 15-year-old Harry came out as gay via a YouTube video while his Army Ranger father was deployed in Afghanistan. Upon his return, Father and Son have a heart-to-heart talk at the beach where the father reveals a secret of his own…
Director: Mark Bethea
Runtime: 17 minutes
Little t
Synopsis: Follow Alexis, a recent college graduate, on the most stressful day of her life – her dream job interview. She’s armed with a resume, design portfolio, and two trusted companions: her ‘inner critic’ and ‘inner child.’ Join Alexis on a journey through the origins of comfort food as she uncovers new depths within herself and finds the courage to be her own advocate. Will this be enough for Alexis to land her dream job?
Director: Masha Ellsworth
Runtime: 5 minutes 44 seconds
The Mayor Jones
Synopsis: A new mayor faces a major dilemma when he is forced to choose between following his family’s values or siding with his political party. Things heat up when he must decide if he will support the construction of a for-profit prison in his city. Will he cave-in to political pressure or will he change course and follow his heart?
Director: Ethan Avery
Runtime: 38 minutes 59 seconds
Mirror
Synopsis: “Mirror” is a one-woman psychological horror film and mental health piece about what happens in the aftermath of living through neglectful and abusive relationships. How it can cause you to lose friends. For family to distance themselves, and how the silence and alone time can create a toxic relationship with yourself as well. In “Mirror” it explores what might happen when all that negative energy is focused on oneself for too long and the entity that is born from its depths.
Director: Meghanne Dailey
Runtime: 11 minutes 11 seconds
Mooncheeze
Synopsis: In an attempt to save he flagging acting career, Ben Winters, auditions for a commercial that no one, Including his good friend Ali, wants him to take.
Starring David Wate and Sandra Holliger. Written and Directed by Herschel Zahnd based on actual events from his life!
Director: Herschel Zahnd
Runtime: 11 minutes 58 seconds
New West
Synopsis: Trigger and Gene were Hollywood legends and the best of friends, but years after a falling out the two must team up once again to fight a villain from their past.
Director: Jordan Mears
Runtime: 40 minutes
The Old Guys
Synopsis: A private investigator and his life long friend go on a job that doesn’t go the way its supposed to.
Director: Thomas Moore
Runtime: 4 minutes 44 seconds
Paleface
Synopsis: A merciless outlaw discovers blood money has its own price as he comes face to face with a supernatural vigilante.
Director: Matt Long
Runtime: 8 minutes 42 minutes
Roscoe
Synopsis: After leaving his old gang, Silas Roscoe is focused on supporting his girlfriend, Rosa. But when an unexpected visit threatens to upend their new life, Silas must fight to save the only thing he has left.
Director: Parker Ridings
Runtime: 10 minutes 49 seconds
Solitaire
Synopsis: A small town minister who presides over marriages doomed to fail finds solace in a game solitaire as the rest of his life crumbles. Solitaire is a loving, if imperfect, homage to short story writer Raymond Carver.
Director: Amy Neswald
Runtime: 19 minutes
Spellbound
Synopsis: James’ dull daily routine is disrupted by a strange apparition that begins to haunt him in his waking moments and dreams alike. Suspecting who might be behind these disturbances, James sets out to confront the culprit.
Director: Robin Rippmann
Runtime: 10 minutes 51 seconds
Submerge: Blue Star
Synopsis: Ni’re and her genetically enhanced daughter Liz find themselves at odds with one another, while on the run from the Krag Empire Commander Ka’tis and her team. Ni’re will stop at nothing to protect her family. The Saga Continues.
Director: Demetrius Witherspoon
Runtime: 20 minutes
Taking Initiative
Synopsis:An adventuring wizard realizes she’s trapped in a tabletop roleplaying game and attempts to escape a malevolent game master. Along the way she encounters hungry mimics, goblins, and a mysteriously powerful 20-sided die as she learns to take control of her own
destiny.
Director: Mikayluh Bowers
Runtime: 2 minutes 16 seconds
Time Spent
Synopsis: Nathan and his girlfriend are struggling with the cost of living crisis in the UK, so when Nathan gets a chance to interview for a dream job, he jumps at it.
After arriving in London for his interview, Nathan finds himself at a luxury apartment which feels a world away from his council flat on the estate. Nathan quickly realises that something is off when he’s faced with making an impossible decision that will affect the rest of his life. With the clock ticking, Nathan will have to decide whether to accept an opportunity of a lifetime or give up his memory of these events.
Director: Rob Daniel Hutt
Runtime: 12 minutes 28 seconds
The Voice in Isabel Fleiss’s Office
Synopsis: A woman with an unusual malady–cobweb buildup in the throat–receives an even more unusual treatment in this adaptation of a surreal poem by North Carolina writer Virgil Renfroe.
Director: Jim Haverkamp
Runtime: 6 minutes 24 seconds
The Wedding Application
Synopsis: After her marriage application is rejected by the Department of Interpersonal Relations, Kaylee Jane Berry looks for a way to get over the love of her life … and perhaps to fight the patriarchy that denied her the life she wanted.
Director: Joe Atkinson
Runtime: 33 minutes 10 seconds
Documentaries
Bipolar Don’t Give A F***
Synopsis: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly of Bipolar.
Director: Amy Leigh McCorkle
Runtime: 15 minutes 22 seconds
Lynn Ruth and Me
Synopsis: A celebration of Jewish comedy – and the world’s oldest stand-up, who died last year aged 87 – by the only Orthodox Jew on the circuit.
Director: Louise Catherine Johnson
Runtime: 4 minutes 1 second
More Than a Disorder
Synopsis: Two young married adults with differing eating disorders share their experiences, insights, and stories with struggles, social expectations, misconceptions, and recovery.
Director: Mustafa Mian
Runtime: 9 minutes 21 seconds
The Red Creek Sessions
Synopsis: Red Creek is the elusive Class V+ whitewater gem flowing from the Dolly Sods Wilderness in the West Virginia highlands. Join Dr. Philip Prince, an expert in Appalachian geology, as he takes an in depth look at the rock structures of this region through the rare descent of Red Creek by a group of local whitewater kayakers on Cheatfest Weekend 2022. The film then explores the entire Cheat River Watershed, showcasing the world class whitewater offered in this area as a result of the unique geology of Northern West Virginia. The Red Creek Sessions is an educational documentary comparing the timeline of humanity with the timeline of geology, highlighting the rare opportunities presented to whitewater kayakers thanks to millions of years of geologic evolution.
The Red Creek Sessions is the winner of the Accomplished Film Award at the 2023 National Paddling Film Festival, the Viewer’s Choice Award at the 2023 NPFF, a featured program on West Virginia PBS, and the winner of countless film festival awards throughout the world.
Director: Justin Harris
Runtime: 30 minutes 20 seconds
Sloane: A Jazz Singer
Synopsis: Filmed days before her final live recording in New York City, jazz legend Carol Sloane reflects on her storied but largely unknown career involving everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to The Rolling Stones. In the 1960s, Sloane became an overnight sensation, hailed by Johnny Carson and later the Washington Post as “the greatest living jazz singer.” But when the British Invasion of rock swept the country, her rising star faded as quickly as it rose, paving the way for devastating financial and emotional setbacks. Through rare archival footage, intimate moments with Sloane, and enlightening commentary from industry notables, we learn of this singular artist’s adherence to her passion against great odds, and are invited to examine the meaning of success in a world where “art don’t pay.”
Director: Michael Lippert
Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes
The Story Behind the Story of Lee Pennington
Synopsis: This full-feature film is a sit-down interview documentary of the behind the scenes stories of the 23 published books, 9 plays and 26 documentaries of Lee Pennington. Lee is a three-time Pulitzer prize nominee, former Poet Laureate, and Senior Producer of Jole Productions.
Director: Laura G. Womack
Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes
Web Series
Illuminagents (Pilot Episode)
Synopsis: On her first day of field duty for the organization that secretly runs the world, Nara Mason must retrieve Flat Earth technology and becomes embroiled in “The Australia Scenario”
Director: Herman Wang
Runtime: 6 minutes 28 seconds
Recovery Unplugged featuring Cast from Letters to Daniel and Del Weston
Synopsis: Amy’s last interview with her mentor Del Weston before his passing. She pays homage as well as delving deep with the stars of Letters to Daniel.
Director: Amy Leigh McCorkle
Runtime: 57 minutes
Traveler
Synopsis: A time traveling witch seeks out her vampire soulmate.
Directors: Amy Leigh McCorkle, Melissa Goodman
Runtime: 4 minutes 11 seconds
Music Videos
Acrimonious
Synopsis: Acrimonious is a strange, solemn, mysterious montage of sound and images. Ambient and dark, driving and rhythmic, calm and unsettling. It paints a musical landscape dark and dreamy.
Director: Carl P Rust
Runtime: 3 minutes
Cemetery
Synopsis: A young woman visits a grave only to realize all is not what she believes.
Director: Amy Leigh McCorkle
Runtime: 3 minutes
Purified by Suffering
Synopsis: A detective investigates an old dingy basement, and discovers the horrors within. Poetry of the Dead lends their one of a kind musical style to this terrifying reimagining of the Passion story. Written by Front Man Jayson William Allen and Director Herschel Zahnd, this music video turns horror film will probe the depths of you soul and tear it out.
Director: Herschel H Zahnd
Runtime: 7 minutes 2 seconds
She Dreamt Alone
Synopsis: A short story expressed through the art of dance about a young outcast who
From childhood’s hour had not been
As others were- had not seen
As others saw- could not love
From a common spring
Could not awaken
Her heart to joy with the same tone
And all that she dreamt…
She Dreamt alone
Director: Nina McNeely
Runtime: 5 minutes 51 seconds
Tonight
Synopsis: Music Video for the song “Tonight” by the band Lost In Eden.
Director: Derrick Spruill
Runtime: 3 minutes 55 seconds
The Winters Rain
Synopsis: A lyric video by the Louisville Ky based Hard Rock band As Embers Burn
Director: Jon Mattingly
Runtime: 3 minutes 35 seconds
Screenplay Finalists
Long Format Category
Hope and Faith – An Obsession of the Heart Part Two by Adam Poulous
Homecoming to Murder by Carol Preflatish
Pretty Pete by Marshall S. Ferrin
Caesar of Richmond by Logan Harris
Westward Voyager by Silvio Wolf Busch
The Color of Love by Steve Farris
Songbird by Amy Leigh McCorkle and Melissa Goodman
Greenman by Don Stroud and Winter Mead
Avulsion by James Sabata
Echoes of the Garfield Multiverse by Aaron Pryka
Zayde and Becky by Andy Epstein
They Come at Night by Cheyenne Gordon and Shawn Burkett
Badger’s Alley by B.K. Bergman
Santa’s Dog by Barbara Giannini
Jupiterians by Veronica R. Tabares
The Shadow of a Friend by Maureen Sheehan
The Distance to Love by Quentil Pompey
Short Format Category
Red Bird by Sarah Taylor
Infinity by Elizabeth Donald
Traveler by Amy Leigh McCorkle and Melissa Goodman
Screenshots by Dwan L. Hearn
Left Turn by Devin Hylton
Enter the Room by Harry Waldman
Snitches from Heaven by Kevin Dobbs
Unknown Territory of Nador – Marta Jorgenson
Happy Medium by Becca Blackmore
A Lonely Stop by Kristy Strouse
Young Blues Brothers by Aeric Adams
Hungry Hearts by Ryan O’ Leary
The Haunt by Kyle Gibbs
The Weed by David Hatfield
Muted For Justice by Amy Philbert
The Wild Hunt by Francesca O’Hop
Family Tradition by Natalie Jenkins