“Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting,” the fantasy short film that has been amassing awards and buzz since it premiered in Sundance earlier this year, has got the backing of two seasoned genre filmmakers.
Under their Spooky Pictures label, Roy Lee (“Weapons,” “Barbarian,” “It”) and Steven Schneider (“The Long Walk,” “Strange Darling,” “Late Night with the Devil”) have come on board the short as executive producers.
Written and directed by Alexander Thompson, “Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting” is set in an alternate 1930s depression-era America and stars Pollyanna McIntosh (“The Walking Dead”) and Tony Award-winner Milly Shapiro (“Hereditary”), as a mother-daughter duo who clash during a sacred rite-of-passage hunt involving mythical beasts.
The film has received significant industry praise for its unique visual style and tone. The filmmakers spent four years in post-production as Thompson directly oversaw a small, hand-picked team of international visual effects artists to help bring the film’s titular creatures to life. Since Sundance, it has subsequently played nearly fifty festivals and garnered two-dozen awards to date, most recently best director at the 2025 FilmQuest Festival.
“Across our shared time in the biz, we’ve never seen anything quite like ‘Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting,’” said Lee and Schneider. “Thompson has drawn together unexpected sources of disparate inspiration to create a film that feels wholly original and singular in its vision, a rare feat for most features, never mind an 18-minute short. The craftsmanship and world-building specificity is phenomenal — we’re thrilled to help give the film the boost it deserves moving into awards seasons. We expect big things from Thompson and his team moving forward, and we’re glad we were able to be there where the journey began for this visionary writer/director.”
Added Thompson: “The whole team is incredibly excited and grateful for Roy and Steven’s support. ‘Em & Selma’ was a half-decade obsession that taught me so many wonderful and painful lessons, and introduced me to a number of indispensable new collaborators I can’t wait to continue growing alongside. I’m humbled that Roy and Steven are now part of a small cadre of daring souls who have helped bring our strange little mother/daughter fable to a wider audience.”
“Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting” is produced by Roger M. Mayer of Brooklyn Reptyle Productions, alongside executive producers Russell Sanzgiri & Zeus Kontoyannis of Zeus Pictures and Pierce Csurgo & Joseph Zentil of Strange Customs. Thompson is represented by IAG, Redshift Management and Myman Greenspan.
variety.com
#Roy #Lee #Steven #Schneider #Board #Short #Selma #Griffin #Hunting
