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Fishmonger film image; house on cliff during lightning storm

Fishmonger

VIFF Short Forum

A pathetic fishmonger must survive a sex pact with an ancient fish creature in order to save his mother’s soul.

 

Supported by

    

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Dominic Burgess, Donnla Hughes, Penny O’Brien

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2024

Language

English

Film Contact
Links
18+
26 min
Action Award Winners Comedy Horror & Thriller Romance Shorts

Credits & Director

Producer

Valerie Steinberg, Jordan Willcox, Neil Ferron

Screenwriter

Neil Ferron, Alexandra Dennis-Renner

Cinematography

Jack McDonald

Editor

Augustine So

Production Design

Xiyu Lin

Original Music

John Graney

Neil Ferron headshot; Fishmonger director

Neil Ferron

Neil Ferron is an LA-based writer/director from Seattle. His first feature screenplay, Fishmonger (2024), a supernatural dark comedy about tentacle sex and vulnerability, won the Grand Prize of the Slamdance Screenplay Competition (2021). His AFI thesis, a short film version of Fishmonger, received a Cannes Lions Young Directors Award (2023) before its world premiere at Fantastic Fest and its European premiere at Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. Neil’s work has been described as “wonderfully surreal” (Sub Pop), “shocking, horrific, and funny” (Rolling Stone), and a “Ph.D testing of what ‘works’ on the human consciousness” (Seattle Weekly). Neil is a recent graduate of the AFI Conservatory. He holds a Masters in Theatre & Performance from Trinity College Dublin thanks to a George J. Mitchell Scholarship.

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