ARO’S WORLD

The film: ARO’S WORLD

The Genre:: Horror

Synopsis: This story is about two brothers whose relationship is tested when the younger brother becomes inexplicably obsessed with a haunted sock puppet. He is convinced that it is real and can help with the brother's current predicament. But in reality, the sock puppet wants to replace the older brother and tries to tear their relationship apart.

ARO'S WORLD is a scary ride with a heart that aims to show us the power of family. Despite their differences, these two brothers must face terror together and not let ARO break their bond.

THESIS TEAM

Our thesis team comprises six principal team members representing disciplines from AFI MFA program (Producing, Directing, Production Design, Editor, and Cinematography) who i am excited to work with on this project.

Screenwriters: Austin Williams & Vibha Kulkarni

Producers: Austin Williams & Yuqin Hong

Director: Vibha Kulkarni

Cinematographer: Maryn McGaw

Production Designer: Suneha Balsubramanya

Editor: Praboo Arivanthan

Thesis mentor: Amedeo D’Amano

Editing Mentor: Faroukh Virani

My Journey

As you know, I am pursuing my MFA in producing at the American Film Institute. It is currently ranked as the top American film school due to its strong curriculum, alum network, and ability to help establish graduating students in Hollywood.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/best-american-film-schools-ranked-2022-1235190992/

AFI has been a life-changing experience for me. I have had the opportunity to intern for an company that produces one of my favorite horror shows and recently I have just accepted an internship with a production company that produces content using international IP which has been a dream of my to learn about producing work based in other countries. I produced nearly 10 films in the past year which helped me grow a ton.

THESIS PROCESS

Earlier this year, I wrote a horror short film screenplay titled ARO’S WORLD, which was one of the 30 submissions approved from 65 submissions by the AFI thesis committee. The script submissions are reviewed based on the quality of storytelling, originality of voice, creative approach, and production viability. This is validating to have something I wrote get approved and have the opportunity to be showcased at film festivals.

HOW IT WORKS

AFI provides us with 13K to start. Still, we will need to fundraise more to pay our production crew and other costs to make a film that qualifies at academy-qualifying film festivals. If you can donate at this time. The suggested donation is $200, but please give much as you can.

About The AFI Conservatory is a non-profit, 501 c3 organization with a mandate to champion the moving image as an art form. The AFI Conservatory has a less than 1% acceptance rate and is considered one of the best film schools in the world. The AFI thesis film is the culmination of each filmmaker’s work at the conservatory. In addition, AFI thesis films often plant the seed for more expansive projects, leading to further development to feature movies or television series.

Thank you, everyone, for supporting me on this journey.