Filmmakers Vie for up to $48K in the AT&T Entertainment Project Short Film Finals

We challenged filmmakers across the nation to share their imaginative short films, and the results are in.

The 2017 AT&T Entertainment Project seeks undiscovered short films from the next generation of storytellers. The contest, open to emerging indie and student filmmakers across the U.S., attracted our limit of 1,000 submissions.

We’re excited to announce the top three finalists in the Emerging Indie Filmmaker and Student Filmmaker categories for the AT&T Entertainment Project at AT&T SHAPE. Finalists are competing for more than $48,000 in cash prizes and a chance to have their original stories air on the AT&T AUDIENCE Network.

We’ll vote on a winner during a live panel hosted by Patty Jenkins, American film director of the hit blockbuster WONDER WOMAN and director/screenwriter of the Academy Award winning MONSTER, and David Christopher, chief marketing officer AT&T Entertainment Group at the AT&T SHAPE Tech and Entertainment Expo July 14-15.

AT&T SHAPE is an expo for developers, creators, professionals and tech and entertainment enthusiasts. Attendees will hear from luminary speakers, explore engaging exhibits and tour Warner Bros. Studios’ outdoor sets and soundstages.

More info about the expo is available at shape.att.com.

Emerging Indie Filmmaker Award - Finalists

COIN OPERATED

Seventy years pass in the life of one naïve explorer.

Director: Nicholas Arioli, San Francisco, CA

LUCIA

In the rural mountains of Galicia, Spain a particular group of people practices a magnificent ancient tradition dating back to the 1600s. As the tradition goes, the men of the village wrestle and tame wild mountain horses with their bare hands in order to trim the horses' mane and tail.

But a young courageous girl named Lucia decides that this man-vs-beast tradition is no longer just for men!

Director: Emil Kahr, New York, NY

TWEEN

A preteen is lured into a race baiting game at a slumber party.

Director: Raven Johnson, Brooklyn, NY

Student Filmmaker Award - Finalists

RED FOLDER

High school student Joseph sets out to find his teacher's red folder. During a single class period, he is passed from one classroom to the next by faculty and staff, until another student forces him to confront the implications of an increasingly elusive search.

Director: Ben Kallam, Los Angeles, CA