It has always been my mission to give our members unparalleled access and exposure so that their work could be seen by people who can make a difference in their careers. There is creative talent on every part of this planet and everyone deserves a shot no matter where they live in the world. United, a creative community like Stage 32 cannot be stopped!

When I met Elliot Grove, the founder of the amazing Raindance Film Festival, I knew he shared the same passion. I was instantly drawn to his desire to assist and shine a light on independent filmmakers. Elliot has spent over 2 decades of his life to nurturing and exposing talented filmmakers to the world. (If you don't know who Elliot is, you should! - click here to read more)

It is with great pride that Stage 32 has partnered with Raindance to bring a short film program to its already impressive lineup. Stage 32 members from 29 different countries submitted short films, proving once again the creativity is universal!

It is with our privilege and honor that we announce the finalists in consideration for the Stage 32 short program at Raindance in London, UK next month in September. The finalists below will move on to our final round of judging with our impressive lineup of judges, listed below. The winners will be announced in September!

STAGE 32 SHORT FILM CONTEST FINALISTS

ANXIOUS OSWALD GREENE, Marshall Axani

ARK, Greg Jonkajtys

BEYOND THE LINE, Emilio Boutros

CRUDE, Sina Bowyer

FEBRUARY 28, Diana Galimzyanova

I’LL EAT YOU ALIVE, Amara Cash

KILLER, Matt Kazman

LOW FI, Alejandro Montoya

LUCHADORA, River Finlay

MIRACLE, William Holden

MONICA, Gunnar Tornes

MY FATHER, Romain Girard

OLDE E, Xavier L. Neal-Burgin

PUSHED BELOW, Antonio James

SECLUSION, Vivian Tse

THE ART OF HUMAN SALVAGE, Dempsey Tillman

THE MAN WHO FLY, Robi Michael

THE VOICE IN THE HEAD, Cyrus Trafford

THIS MODERN MAN IS BEAT, David J Schroeder

TRENCH, Nathan Hunt

US AGAINST THE WORLD, Andrea Kuehnel

Congratulations to the finalists!

The Stage 32 Short Film Contest final round judges include:

• Jairo Alvarado (Manager at Circle of Confusion), is responsible for discovering Amsterdam-based filmmaker Mischa Rozema and developing his short film SUNDAYS. The short film sparked a multi-studio and agency bidding war and was eventually acquired by Warner Bros. for a 7 figure development deal.

• Stephanie Wilcox (VP of Development at Rumble Films) has co-produced the Oscar and Sundance winner WHIPLASH, written and directed by Damien Chazelle. Stephanie was part of the team that took WHIPLASH from a short film and developed it into a feature, which was released by Sony Pictures Classics, winning multiple awards.

• Andrew Beck (Production and Development Executive, The Weinstein Company) is a production and development executive at The Weinstein Company. Prior to TWC, he was an analyst in HBO’s Original Programming- Strategy, Planning & Operations department and a researcher at Columbia University’s Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy. Beck is a graduate of NYU and Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts

• Jennifer Breslow (VP Scripted Series at Lifetime), Jennifer was instrumental to finding short film SEQUIN RAZE at SXSW 2013 and later shepherding and developing it into the series UnREAL currently airing on Lifetime.

• Amanda Johnson Zetterstrom (Executive , Full Fathom Five) while at Animal Kingdom she co-produced Destin Daniel Cretton’s SHORT TERM 12 which started as a critically acclaimed short film that she helped develop into a feature indie darling, winning over 37 awards including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at SXSW and was released by Cinedigm in 2013.

• **Nate Matteson, (Producer & Manager, Gotham Group) has helped transition a dozen filmmaker’s short films into features (including HENLEY that was turned into THE BOY) that were set up at Paramount, Universal, Bold Films, FX, Lionsgate/Relativity and more.

• Elliot Grove – (Producer & Founder of Raindance) who has produced over 150 short films, and 5 feature films.

• Scott Stoops - (Manager, Benderspink) Scott recently sold a pilot to CBS and was instrumental in signing the comic book publisher Aspen Comics. Scott is passionate about looking for short films or scripts to develop into feature projects and enjoys working with emerging directors who have done shorts.

We wish all of the finalists the best of luck. The top 5-10 films will be announced in September!

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