2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

To launch Netflix’s Paranormal, we created a simple, fun and relatable film. What happens when you finish watching something spooky? Well, there are consequences. Your familiar home suddenly becomes populated with ghouls. Shadows take on new meaning, every sound is intensified and if you have any hope of falling asleep, all the lights must come on. Not our proudest moments in life but we’ve all done this. In the film, a husband and wife who’ve just finished watching an episode of Paranormal are spooked out of their minds and go through their house switching on every available light. But is it enough to protect them from the monsters their minds have created?

Tell the jury anything relevant about the direction. Do not name the director.

Our film had to live within the genre of the show. Tone and atmosphere were important. There’s inherent humor in people behaving illogically but we can all relate to the primal fear of the dark. So our film needed to be both a little funny and a little scary. We did longer takes so we could build more tension and intercut with a lot of cinematic detail shots, and a couple of well-timed jump scares. We wanted to create bold and compelling visuals. Like the best examples in the genre, the camera needed to have a very specific language. Floating down corridors, filming from under a bed and using whip pans to reveal things. A film like this rests on the charm and relatability of its heroes. We cast a thirty-something Saudi couple who felt like a couple in real life, and let the camera/music do the heavy lifting.