Genre
Synopsis
LITTLE LYING WILD blends horror and magical realism in a murder mystery.
This story is told through the lens of our untrustworthy narrator—13 year old Carmen Cabral.
Carmen’s obsession with myths and folktales—and her habit of making up stories about terrible monsters and brave warriors—has given her a reputation as a daydreamer, a troublemaker, and a liar.
Alone one night, Carmen finds the body of a young girl that’s been killed by a monster from a story Carmen made up. When Carmen sees other parts of her story come true and appearance of magical clues—she starts to question what’s real.
After being shunned for telling everyone what they think is just another lie, Carmen turns to her story and sets out to prove her truth and stop the rest of the tale from coming true before someone else gets hurt.
Bio
Samantha Aldana is an award-winning Belizean-American director/writer based in Los Angeles. She is inspired by stories that use genre elements to explore the human condition and is heavily influenced by the storytelling traditions of her multicultural upbringing in South Mississippi and the Caribbean. Her debut feature film, SHAPELESS, was selected as a 2020 fellow of The Gotham Narrative Lab and premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. The film is distributed by XYZ Films. Most recently, Samantha directed a short film titled ANGELS for 20th Digital that is currently streaming on Hulu as a part of Bite Size Halloween. Samantha is the recipient of the Belize Film Commissioner’s Emerging Storyteller Feature Film Award for her in-development horror feature LITTLE LYING WILD. This film was also selected to participate in the Tribeca Film Institute Network, Breaking Through the Lens, and the Emerging Voices Program. Samantha is an alum of the NBC/Universal Diversity TV Director Program and had the opportunity to shadow director Salli Richardson-Whitfield on an episode of SYFY's, THE MAGICIANS, as well as an episode of Marvel's AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Samantha holds a BA in Film Directing from Columbia College Chicago and is a member of Film Fatales, Free the Work, WIFT and NALIP.
Awards History
Berlinale 2024 - Berlinale Talents
NALIP Media Accelerator 2024
Sitges Film Festival 2023 - Winner WomeninFan Pitch Contest
Tribeca Film Institute 2021 - Writing in Unreal Lab Belize Film
Belize Film Commissioner's Emerging Storyteller 2018 - Feature Film Award
Credits
Cinematographer - Natalie Kingston
Producer - Valerie Steinberg
Producer - Kenny Reynolds