SARA

Short Film

Project Type: Short Film
Project Status: Pre-Production
Writer, Director, Co-Editor, Score: Tex Gresham
Producer: Travis Lee Ratcliff
Producer and Cinematographer: Brody Carmichael
Production Designer and Co-Editor: Erin Kelly Smith
Lead Actor (“Brian”): Tinus Seaux

LOGLINE

A short horror film about a man in a life-or-death, cat-and-mouse game with his new stepdaughter––a 10-year-old American Psycho.

SYNOPSIS

Brian is a man in trouble. He loves his new wife dearly... But he's totally convinced his stepdaughter, SARA, wants to kill him. Jobless and injured, Brian is stuck alone at home with SARA while his wife, Lizzie, works to support the family.

And things are getting worse.

Brian must do something about SARA.

MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT

SARA is a bleakly humorous psychological horror story about domestic paranoia, fractured perception, and the instability of trust inside a blended family under emotional and economic strain. It follows a man recovering from injury who is now out of work and who becomes increasingly convinced his teenage stepdaughter is planning to kill him.

Thematically, the film explores quiet adversarial tensions that can exist inside domestic life—particularly within blended families where attachment, authority, and belonging are not fully resolved. It also operates as a metaphor for an encroaching apathy and the ever-growing distrust of one’s neighbor. We’re witnessing various levels of fascist-adjacent behavior at every turn, both online and in real life. And SARA operates as a means to converse with that extreme behavior.

The story is informed by my actual lived proximity to these types of dynamics, love and conflict occupying the same space without resolution. Rather than treating this like an autobiography, the film transforms my experience into an absurdist psychological nightmare: how misperceptions form, how roles become flipped, and how a home can shift from a place of safety into a warzone.

UPDATE:

We would like to welcome MOVEMENT HOUSE to SARA. They will be providing endless support on the film as producers. Travis Lee Ratcliff will serve as Producer and Brody Carmichael will function as both Producer and Cinematographer. Movement House is an invaluable addition to the project and are incredible creatives passionate about each project they bring to life. Here is some information about Movement House:

Movement House is an Austin-based collective of filmmakers, editors, photographers, and creatives. Our work has taken us around the world, profiling artists, craftsmen, and telling stories about the power of creativity. We specialize in documentary storytelling, commercials, and music videos. Featured by Tribeca, Short of the Week, Vimeo Staff Picks, Criterion, Nowness, and Sight & Sound Magazine. Grounded by our deep roots in Texas we believe passionately in elevating the emerging wave of independent Texan voices that make up the new generation of filmmakers from our home state.

Thanks to Movement House, SARA will go into production in early December and will shoot in Austin, Texas.

The film is fully storyboarded. The crew is ready. The actors are locked in.

All we need is some funds to help bring it to life.

You can help make it happen.

DONATE TO THIS PROJECT

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Meet The Filmmakers

Tex Gresham

Writer, Director, Co-Editor, Score

Tex Gresham is the author of Get Gone, Violent Candy, Sunflower, and POP!. His work has been widely published both online and in print. Tex wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the micro-budget feature film MUSTARD, an absurdist horror-adjacent exploration of identity and collapse in the age of infection and isolation. He was also a co-writer on The Callisto Protocol: Helix Station, a narrative audio series based on the AAA video game. The series won the 2023 Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Fiction Series. In 2020, Tex received the Humanitas David and Lynn Angell Comedy Fellowship for his screenplay, Fix Daddy. His screenplays have been recognized by prestigious competitions and fellowships, including the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, Script Pipeline, Screencraft, and Cinestory. He currently lives in Los Angeles.
Tinus Seaux

Lead Actor (“Brian”)
Tinus Seaux is a multidisciplinary artist with a background in improvisation, stand-up, and theater. He has showcased his versatility across national commercials and award-winning cinema. He produced and starred as the lead in the feature film John Valley’s The Pizzagate Massacre, portraying a high-strung conspiracy theorist-a stark contrast to his grounded performance as Paul in Act of God, which won the Audience Award at SXSW 2022.
Erin Kelly Smith

Production Designer and Co-Editor
Erin made her directorial debut with her short horror film Thank You You’re Welcome (watch the whole thing here). Erin’s script Thin! was a Killer Shorts 2021 Semifinalist and a Filmmatic Horror Season 6 Quarterfinalist. In addition to her own work, Erin edited director Maddie Downes’ short A Home Invasion, which won Best Comedy Short at 2022 Atlanta Shortsfest. Erin has also worked as an assistant/associate editor on documentary features and series for Netflix, YouTube Originals, PBS, ESPN, Red Bull, Oxygen, and Quibi. Remember Quibi?!
Travis Lee Ratcliff

Producer
Travis Lee Ratcliff is an Austin-based producer, and editor whose work has been featured by Tribeca, NOWNESS, Short of the Week, and earned four Vimeo Staff Picks. His film Dynasty and Destiny premiered at the Tribeca Festival and received the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival. He is a founder and director of Movement House, an Austin-based commercial and documentary production company.
Brody Carmichael

Producer and Cinematographer
Brody Carmichael is an Austin-based cinematographer, photographer, and producer. His work has been featured in dozens of film festivals, including two premieres at the Tribeca Festival. Brody is a founder of Movement House. Through Movement House, Brody has produced works for emerging Austin luminaries such as Bita Ghassemi, Chinwe Okorie, Joey Hunt, Emily Basma, and Michael Zumaya.