Happy Tuesday, Creative Army!

Last week, I announced our 11th Annual Short Film Program at the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival, and I promised I'd come back and introduce you to the extraordinary filmmakers behind this year's six finalist films. So grab a coffee and settle in, because these are the people we're celebrating on August 13th, and once you know their stories, I think you'll want to be in that room as badly as I do.

First, in case you missed last week's announcement, here's everything you need to join us:

The 11th Annual Stage 32 Short Film Program Screening at HollyShorts

• Thursday, August 13th
• TCL Chinese Theatre, Hollywood
• 4:00 PM: Red Carpet, in the lobby of the TCL
• 5:00 PM: Screening, featuring the finalist films followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers

And because I want our community there to celebrate these filmmakers with us, Stage 32 members get an exclusive 25% off tickets and passes.

Click here to grab your tickets and use code Stage32HSFF2026 at checkout.

Now, let's meet the filmmakers. Let's start at the top.

Grand Prize Winner: TAINTED LOVE, directed by Lisa Steadman

Our 2026 Grand Prize Winner is TAINTED LOVE, and it's a film that does something I always admire: it takes a big, of-the-moment idea and finds the beating human heart inside it.

In a near-future Los Angeles where AI companions have become a luxury solution for loneliness, traditional matchmaker Stella hosts an elegant dinner party for friends and neighbors. Cocktails, flirtation, carefully curated charm, until a citywide blackout reveals that some of the guests at the table aren't human at all. As the embarrassment gives way to honesty, the humans left at the table have to confront the grief, insecurity, and longing they'd tried to outsource. It's darkly funny and quietly heartfelt, and it asks a question that's both futuristic and deeply old-fashioned: what happens when love becomes programmable, but loneliness remains stubbornly human?

Lisa Steadman is a Los Angeles-based writer, brand storyteller, and first-time director, a USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate and bestselling relationship author who has spent her whole career exploring how people connect, disconnect, reinvent themselves, and search for love. With TAINTED LOVE, she steps into the director's chair for the first time and brings that lifelong fascination with intimacy and emotional risk to the screen. She directed alongside Brian Thomas, a producer and director with more than 20 years of experience on projects for HBO, CBS, FX, and Universal Sports. In a story worthy of the film itself, Lisa and Brian first met back in 2007 when Lisa appeared on iVillage Live to promote her bestselling book It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown, with Brian producing behind the scenes. Nearly two decades later, they reunited as creative collaborators, and tAInted love is the first independent film they've directed together.

In Lisa's words: "In a world increasingly optimized for comfort and control, I wanted to explore the messy, irreplaceable pulse of imperfect human love." That's exactly the kind of vision this program exists to champion. Congratulations, Lisa and Brian.

Finalist: KITE, directed by Olivier Hero Dressen

International Drama, 15:00

A man stands at the edge of a cliff, staring at the void beneath him. With nothing left to live for, he crosses paths with a little stranger who gives him a reason to keep going. Kite is the story of an unlikely friendship between a middle-aged foreigner and a young Chinese girl, two lonely souls thrown together by destiny on a remote island, who each learn that life is worth living even when it feels like there's no way out. It's a film about second chances, and about keeping your hopes and dreams alive even in your darkest hours.

Olivier Hero Dressen is a highly acclaimed director with a portfolio spanning fashion, commercials, music videos, and film, known for his distinctive approach to character and storytelling, and for collaborations with major brands and celebrities.

As he puts it, "I wanted to create a film that touched people's hearts and reminded them of the importance of human connection, no matter how different we may seem."

Finalist: SELFLESS, directed by Jason Kim

A devoted mother, desperate to fulfill the American promise she and her husband made for their son, enacts a tragic plan to secure his future, forcing her family into an explosive confrontation with guilt, sacrifice, and betrayal. It's a taut, emotionally charged slice of life about an immigrant South Korean family in Queens.

Jason Hyun Kim is an award-winning writer, director, editor, and producer based in New York City. Gentle and mindful by nature, creative and ambitious by design, he has worked across commercial, documentary, and scripted spaces since 2014, including his film Trombone Magic, which earned two awards and a distribution offer. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Jason describes Selfless as deeply personal, a work born from the passing of his father and shaped into pure emotion. "Emotions connect us together," he says. "I hope this slice of life finds a connection with the fire of emotions that arises in my heart."

Finalist: VITAL, directed by Amir Zargara

A mother in Iran considers selling her organs to save her daughter. In the United States, a doctor faces an impossible ethical dilemma to save his own. Vital weaves these two stories together into a searing look at the human cost and moral complexity of the organ trade.

Amir Zargara is an award-winning Iranian-Canadian writer and director whose perspective is shaped by the cultural mosaic of Iran and Canada, by the resilience of an immigrant, and by his experience living with a stutter. An alumnus of prestigious programs at Berlinale, TIFF, Busan, Zurich, and Reykjavik, he's drawn to the moral complexities individuals face. His previous short, A Good Day Will Come, qualified for the Oscars and earned over 70 awards and mentions across more than 100 festivals worldwide, and his screenplays have been recognized by the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship, The Black List, Austin Film Festival, and Slamdance. Amir is a filmmaker very much on the rise, and Vital shows exactly why.

Finalist: THE INTERVIEW, directed by Kai Kim

Desperate to prove himself a reformed man, Tyson Babineaux can't outrun his history of violence, and it's sabotaging every chance he has at a normal job. With the threat of losing his family looming, Tyson takes an unconventional interview at a private security firm, where he's offered the fresh start he's been chasing. But there's a catch: to win the job, he has to kill the other candidates. It's a gripping, high-stakes piece of genre filmmaking, and at nearly 24 minutes, the most ambitious runtime in this year's program.

Kai Kim was born in Kailua, Hawaii, into a world of love, chaos, and survival. Originally conceived as a twin, he arrived alone into a household shaped by generational trauma, colorful personalities, and unconventional choices. Raised primarily by his single mother between Los Angeles, Ventura County, and Fremont, California, Kai grew up straddling extremes: the raw survival instincts of his family and the polished suburban life of his peers. Stories became his refuge and his compass. By eight, he was directing homemade films on a camcorder, blending ninjas, dinosaurs, and space adventures into intricate narratives that mirrored life’s unpredictability. Early experiences, witnessing death, navigating complex family dynamics, and confronting life’s raw edges, instilled a fascination with morally complex heroes and the courage it takes to survive unseen. Kai broke into the industry as a driver at Stan Winston Studios, where his ingenuity caught the attention of Stan Winston himself, leading to hands-on work in creature effects on Small Soldiers. His career evolved through prop building, animation, museum dinosaurs, and eventually camera operation on long-running series like General Hospital, The Bold & The Beautiful, and The Young and the Restless, where his dedication and vision transformed him from operator to director of 56 episodes of the latter series. Kai thrives on risk. His short film The Interview, a 24-minute, 21-page action story shot in two punishing days on a shoestring budget, epitomizes his relentless drive to push boundaries and tell bold stories. Influenced by Spielberg, Tony Gilroy, Ayn Rand, and Hunter S. Thompson, he crafts films that explore heroism, moral ambiguity, and the unsung courage in all of us. Kai Kim is a rebel with integrity, a craftsman with vision, and a storyteller whose life, from addiction to triumph, chaos to creativity, is a testament to the power of resilience, redemption, and unapologetic originality.

Finalist: TO BITE A DOG, directed by Vilmos Szász

A man's love life turns suddenly, wonderfully upside down when his seemingly perfect girlfriend discovers her inner beast. To Bite a Dog is a sharp, playful black comedy, and a genuine breakout moment for a young filmmaker.

Vilmos Szász studied directing at FAMU in Prague before completing his bachelor's degree in film directing at Budapest Metropolitan University. Along the way, he worked as a production assistant on international productions shot in Hungary, including FBI: International and Gran Turismo. To Bite a Dog is a student film he produced at university, and it's having its world premiere with us at the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. I love that. There is no better launchpad for a first film, and no better story of what this program is all about.

Come Give These Filmmakers Their Flowers

Here's something I want to say directly to our community.

Making a short film is hard. Finishing one is harder. And getting one selected to screen at an Oscar-qualifying festival, in front of a theater full of executives and peers, is a genuine achievement that most filmmakers spend years chasing. Every person on this list poured their time, their money, their talent, and a piece of themselves into the work you're going to see on that screen. They earned this moment.

So let's show up for them. One of the most powerful things about this community has always been the way we celebrate each other, and these six films are exactly the kind of work worth celebrating. Come to the screening. Cheer during the Q&A. Introduce yourself afterward. Tell these filmmakers you saw their work and it moved you. That kind of support means more than you know, especially at this stage of a career, and it's the reason this community is unlike anywhere else in the industry.

And if you're coming out on the 13th, or heading into a festival run of your own this year, our Writer Liaison, Pat Alexander, put together a field guide for getting the most out of a festival like this one. It's in last week's blog, and it's worth five minutes of your time before you walk in the door.

Click here to read it now!

Where This Road Can Lead

And make no mistake, this moment can be the start of something big. Over the last decade, our finalists and winners have gone on to be signed by agencies and managers including UTA, WME, Verve, Echo Lake, Gersh, and Paradigm, and to be financed and produced around the world.

Our 8th Annual winner, Lisa Cole, was shortlisted for an Oscar and signed with Oscar-winning sales company Ouat Media. Last year's Grand Prize winner, Robin Wang, saw his film released by Omeleto and signed with The Gersh Agency. Past finalist Steve Desmond landed a Warner Bros. bidding war for a spec that started with his short film. Past finalist Dinh Thai became a working television director on shows like WU-TANG: AN AMERICAN SAGA and THE GOOD DOCTOR. This is where a short film can take you, and it's why getting your work in front of the right people matters so much.

One Last Thing

I've said it before, careers in this industry are not built alone. They're built in rooms full of people who show up for each other, one introduction, one kind word, one shared victory at a time. That's what this community has always been, and it's what the screening on August 13th is really about. Yes, it's a celebration of six wonderful films. But it's also us doing the thing we do best, lifting each other up and reminding one another that the work matters and the dream is worth chasing.

So come be part of it. Come give these filmmakers their flowers, watch some phenomenal films, and be in the room where the next chapter of somebody's career begins.

Stage 32 members get an exclusive 25% off tickets and passes. Click here to grab your tickets and use code Stage32HSFF2026 at checkout.

I'll see you on the red carpet.

RB

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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