2019 ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition Quarterfinalists Announced
by ScreenCraft on January 8, 2020
Listed below are the quarterfinalists of the 2019 ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition, selected from roughly 1,200 submissions. We’re excited to be exploring these excellent stories and to have received a slate of compelling works.
This year's jury is comprised of editors from The Kenyon Review, The Hudson Review, Tin House Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Granta Magazine, as well as an O. Henry Award-winning novelist and short story writer.
Stay tuned for the upcoming announcement of the semifinalists, finalists and winners here and on our Twitter and Facebook pages within the next few weeks!
If you’d like to receive a notification when this contest re-opens for entries in 2020, you can subscribe for updates via Coverfly here.
Here are the quarterfinalists:
| 1984 | DC Diamondopolous |
| ...and through the woods | Gerald Bartell |
| 12.25.82 | Chris Haddox |
| A Black-White-Red Memory | Roselio Hernandez |
| A Brief History of Algorithmic Life: Introduction | Christopher Hooton |
| A Christmas Caroline | Laura Jenski |
| A Different Life | S.T. Ranscht |
| A Father's Handiwork | Roberta Gates |
| A Good, Moral Man | Erica Ruhe |
| A Homecoming | Kenneth Nordstrom |
| A Mother's Last Request | R.C. Goodwin |
| A Mother's Revenge and Mercy | Olivia Schmidt |
| A Seat at the Window | Herb Jordan |
| A Second Chance | Angela Goulene |
| A Striking Famly Resemblance | Charlotte Lewis |
| A Twinkle in Time | Rick M.Clausen |
| A.K.A. | Gerald Ryan |
| African Seasons | Cynthia Helen Beecher |
| After Tiffany's | Paul Regensburg |
| All Saints' Day | Jordan Hill |
| Alterd Plans | Constance Bullard |
| Amadillo One | Duncan Putney |
| And Justice For All... | James Falcone |
| Ange en Boîte (Boxed Angel) | Steve Vasquez |
| Appearances | Mike Tuohy |
| Arms, Legs, Heartbeats | Noelia Veras |
| At the Furrow's End | Tom Hutton |
| Balloon Boy | Tom Catalano |
| Benny the Fish Boxer | James Hannan |
| Bernard, His Wife, and the River | Jesper Andreasson |
| Better Late | Paul A. Mendelson |
| Between the Darkness and the Dawn | Paula Cappa |
| Between the Rows | Paul Skenazy |
| Beyond their time | Tristan Marajh |
| Bigfoot and the Trouble with Squirrels | Emily Ballain |
| Blessed Are The Hungry | Victor Fernando Ocampo |
| Blood & Rust | P.D. Platt |
| Bloodrush | Maisy Osbon |
| Buried Alive | Vin Morreale, Jr. |
| C-Elegans | Juliet Warren |
| Candy and Sorrow | Wayne Christensen |
| Catalina | Charles Duffie |
| Chalky White | Gregory Hall |
| Chasing Life | Stacy Baldwin |
| Christmas in Shadowrun, 1968 | Laura M. Johnson |
| Cinematic Short Story | Angelo DeCandia |
| Clean Conscience Cemetery | Alex Grey |
| Cold Storage | Terence Cady |
| Colma | Jennifer Dickinson |
| Come to Daddy | Rachele Bowman |
| Countdown | Jamie Liu |
| Dark Swans And Painted Faces | John Schalestock |
| Dead Men Don't Pay | Cory Williams |
| Death Broker | Lisa Pais |
| Delta | Dionne Irving |
| Demons | Tracy Schumer |
| Dinner for Two | Randall Fowler |
| Don't Go To Heaven Alone | Antony Buonomo |
| Doppelganger Dogs | D. Jane Hall |
| Down by the Bay | Rebecca Amiss |
| Dream On, Dancing Queen | Chloe Laube |
| Dream Warriors: Team Spirit | D.C. Lozar |
| Dried Figs or Dates | Siawosh K. Eskandari |
| El Ciego | AJ Olsen |
| Elbistan | Hardy Griffin |
| Enlightenment | Will Pei |
| Erasmus Book One: First of May | Julie Ann Slaby |
| Fairy Tales | Jian Huang |
| Family Entertainment | Sam Vary |
| Fantasy Cabinet | Mike Tuohy |
| Fat Tails | Daniel Degnan |
| Fetch | Jennifer Hudson |
| Finding David | Stevie Turner |
| Florence Nightingale and the Deer | Jeanne Lutz |
| Florida Lives | Dionne Irving |
| Frankie Ronquillo's Leg | George McFall |
| Freeze-Dried Love | Catherine O'Sullivan Shorr |
| Friendly Fire | Vance Cariaga |
| From Your Jerry | kevin sterne |
| Full Disclosure | Tina Tazekand |
| Giving Up | Vinoda Revannasiddaiah |
| Good Girls Don't | LInda R Thornburg |
| Grace's Mask | Carol Dines |
| Grandpa's Trunk | Wayne Page |
| Gray Cat | Meghen Kurtzig |
| GY1005364 | Chloe Grinstead |
| Hail Chaser | Aukai Arkus |
| Haunted | Ingrid St. John |
| Hearing From Leroy | Gene Mora |
| Hell City: Final Stop | Joanne Carlton |
| Hell Slowly Creeps | Raquel Levitt |
| Hitchhiker | Charlotte Wyatt |
| Homecoming | Roger Mannon |
| Homecoming | Victorio Korjhan |
| How to Fold Towels | Danielle Lee |
| I Knew You Then | Kelly Kirwan |
| Imaginary Children | Janet Stilson |
| Immersion | Caroline Mansour |
| In The Periphery | Erica Ruhe |
| Infrastructure | Miriam Kuznets |
| Interpreter | Jennifer Andrea |
| Into the Dustlight | Lisa Pais |
| It Takes a Big Man | Donald Ackermann |
| Jinx Colder The Edge of Space | Juliet Nicholls |
| Keeping Your Head | Suzy Stewart Dubot |
| Killer | Anthony Howcroft |
| Lady Luck | Jennifer Dickinson |
| Late Night Christmas | W. Colin McKay |
| Le Jazz Hot | Dana Oliver |
| Life with Angie | DC Diamondopolous |
| Like a Rolling Stone | Madeline Hertz |
| Like Me | Henry Mason |
| Looking For Hemingway | Tim Cooney |
| Lost Faith | Jon Miller |
| Love To Say Goodbye | Charles Jamison |
| Malta | Charles Duffie |
| MAYA | Gillian Royes |
| Maybe Someday | Maryann Miller |
| Melvin the Elf | Becca Dupuis |
| Mercy | John Salvage |
| Midnight | Jennifer Howe |
| Miracle Toothbrushes | Tom Di Roma |
| Mirage | Pamela Donison |
| Misfits | Karen Bacellar |
| Miss May | Eileen Shields |
| Missing in Rehoboth | James Gallahan |
| Mother of a Hanged Girl | Chad Broughman |
| mother of Pearl | Laura Sciortino |
| Motion | steven schlozman |
| Movies | Scott Lipanovich |
| Murder/Suicide | Marsha Scarbrough |
| Mustafa and the Hunchback | Mike H. Mizrahi |
| My Afternoon at Ebbets Field | Manuel Fernandez |
| My Deal With The You Know Who | Lawrence Martin |
| Nameless | Michelle Mellon |
| Near Miss | Carol Dines |
| Necessary Evil | Neil Flinchbaugh |
| Nests | Trish Jaggers |
| NIMBY | Hale Garrison |
| No Bend in the River | Gerald Ryan |
| Nothing but a Dog | Rachele Bowman |
| Nothing To See Here | Arthur Doweyko |
| Number 12 rue Sainte-Catherine | Roberta Gates |
| Nussia | Michele Berger |
| Oakland Mothers, Oakland Wives | Corey Quinlan Taylor |
| On Holy Ground | Gordon Neufeld |
| Once a Cellist | Will Pei |
| One Day They Landed | Jennifer Dickinson |
| One of Us | Andy Lewis |
| One Star | Timothy OLeary |
| One Week More | Madeline Hertz |
| Other People's Wives | Anthony Howcroft |
| Outcasts | Ren Bettencourt |
| Paddy's Tonsorial Emporium | Ronald Milburn |
| Passing | Thais Miller |
| Pink Baby | Erin MacNair |
| Post Script | Irene Squire |
| Professor Pepper's Ghost | Jon Miller |
| Proxy | Steven Kay |
| Puppet Boy | Michael McCoy |
| Puppet Man | Oliver Harrison |
| Puzzles | James Tichenor |
| Queen of the Night | Darren Joaquim Silva |
| Refuge | Caroline Bock |
| Rewind | Steven Kay |
| Ring Around The Dilly | Charles Jamison |
| River Kings | Penn Javdan |
| Rock Star at La Scala | DC Diamondopolous |
| Rufus | Carl B Clark |
| S.H.E. | Michael Mullin |
| Samsara | Michael Allen |
| Sanguine | J. R. Burnett |
| Sargasso Sea | Carol Dines |
| Seis Dedos, Six Toes | Amarilys Rassler |
| Self Made | Stuart Forrest |
| Shards | Adrienne Dellwo |
| Sharks | Susan Shepherd |
| Sick Robot | D.C. Lozar |
| Skin Deep | Erin Kelly |
| Snapshot: Khe Sanh | Len Forgues |
| Some Cold War Blues | Dan Flanigan |
| South of Smoke | Alan Adler |
| Spaceman | Mike Spry |
| Sparring Partner | George McFall |
| Spice on Hot Steel | Dana Paxson |
| Stainless Steel Ride | Darren Joaquim Silva |
| Starstruck | Ken Wetherington |
| Still Life With Cabin | Linde Liu |
| Strange Fire | Joel Burcat |
| Teenage Trouble | Jennifer Dickinson |
| Tendrils | Ben Howling |
| The 100-Year-Old Sheriff | Timothy OLeary |
| The Afterlife | Steph Beckner |
| The Aftermath | James Osborne |
| The Arabian Night Shift | Jorge Saralegui |
| The Art of Listening | Paul A. Mendelson |
| The Best Laid Plans | Roger Guffey |
| The Bloodwood Room | Julie Fison |
| The Caretaker(s) | Jonathan Christian |
| The Case of the Web of Death | Thomas Perrin |
| The Cave | Tricia Sankey |
| The Cherry Pipe | Taylor Sezen |
| The Child Electric | Christopher Rosales |
| The Elephant in the Room | Ryan Lobo |
| The Exchange | Toye Eskridge |
| The Flatlands | Edward Therese |
| The Fog | Thomas Barnes |
| The Gatekeeper | Nuno Travesso |
| The Golden Arowana | Will Pei |
| The Good Samaritan | Philip Arnold |
| The Homecoming | Randall Fowler |
| The Intruder | Eileen Shields |
| The Key Man | Sven Safarow |
| The King's Men Vigilantes | Anthony Howcroft |
| The Lizard Bride | Carolanne Sacry |
| The Macedonian Trapeze Artist | Lyle Deixler |
| The Makeover | Miriam Kuznets |
| The Man Who Played Pinochle with Dogs | Tom Hutton |
| The Memory Thief | Nuno Travesso |
| The Misery Man | Helen Wentland |
| The Museum of Lost Things | Dennis Pahl |
| The Narrows | John Jodzio |
| The Night Student | Franziska Raspa |
| The Offer | Bradford Tatum |
| The Old and Rare Books of Elijah King | James Chesky |
| The Past Makes Its Own Rules | Peter Gregg Slater |
| The Pastor, The Prince, and The Princess | Sumurye Awani |
| The Pastoralist | Mike Sheriff |
| The Pettifoggerys | Alan Adler |
| The Phantom Forger | Rich DiSilvio |
| The Purification | Timothy OLeary |
| The Pursuit of Esperanza | Alane Obeso |
| The Rapture | Eimi Ramirez |
| The Reckoning | Julie Ann Slaby |
| The Revivalists | Ken Wetherington |
| The Sandman | Kelsie Calderon |
| The Shadow King | D.C. Lozar |
| The Stolen Heart | Jack Mulcahy |
| The Story of Phillip Westover | Cheryl Murphy |
| The Strangers | Jennifer Dickinson |
| The Survivor's Guide to Winter Hiking | Bryan Farrow |
| The Things That Came Through With the Baby | TJ Berry |
| The Third Obituary of Anton Popov | Jessica Walker |
| The World Eater | Pim Manasakul |
| Them | Vin Morreale, Jr. |
| Theories of Simultaneous Love and Loss | Charles Duffie |
| This is not how it ends | Anthony Howcroft |
| This Is the Work of One Hundred Best Citizens | Julie Ann Slaby |
| Three Things I'll Never Do Before I Die | Christine Daigle |
| Time and Place | Drew Westcott |
| To The Nines | Elena Perez |
| Tokyo Violet | Merlin Goldman |
| Too Much Experience | Mike Tuohy |
| Tough Girl | Russell Bonasso |
| True Dead | Lauren Everdell |
| Turnquist's Woods | Dale Swanson |
| Two Graves | Zoe Kalo |
| Unplugged | Kristal Johnson |
| Up That Hill | Toni Ann Johnson |
| We Were at the Edge of a Gorge | G. L. Osborne |
| Weeping Willows | Daniel Tierney |
| West to Freedom | Joel Moore |
| What Love Does | Vijay Fitzgerald |
| What Moves the Dead | Travis Kennedy |
| What Strange Light the Setting Sun | Porter Huddleston |
| When Foxes Die Electric | Paola Ferrante |
| When Free Men Shall Stand | Michelle Grace Maiellaro |
| Where in the World | Dillon Horner |
| Windows to the Soul | David Blumkin |
| Within Arm's Reach | yacine kouhen |
| Without being impolite | Iris May |
| Witnesses | Jim Arnold |
| Wound | Justin Wilson |
| You Have Reached | Hannah Joyner |
| You'll Forget Me, Too | Silvija Padjen |
| Your Mandala | Michelle Flye |
| Zarina | Aamina Ahmad |
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