Experiencing Interruptions?

Every Other Animal

A small-time drug trafficker attempts to rescue a young girl who has been kidnapped by a zealous preacher while battling a manipulative Cicada-like entity that preys on the desperation of his impoverished Appalachian town.

  • Olia Oparina
    Director
    Snowbound, I Am Normal
  • Alexander Hernandez-Maxwell
    Writer
    Holo, Carol, Miles Ahead, Conditioned
  • Richard Avis
    Producer
    Mustang: Spirit of the West
  • Shane West
    Key Cast
    "Hoyt"
    A Walk To Remember, Salem, Nikkita
  • Christopher May
    Key Cast
    "Barns"
    West World
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Thriller, Horror
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes 12 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 30, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.66:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Midsummer Scream Halloween and Horror Convention
    Long Beach, California
    United States
    May 26, 2024
    Long Island Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Olia Oparina

Olia is an imaginative and passionate storyteller whose roots began in Siberia during the chaotic reign of the USSR. In the 90s - when political tension and uncertainty loomed overhead, Olia found salvation in fantasy as a way to escape the world around her. When her psychic grandmother introduced her to Slavic folklore at the age of eight, she instantly fell in love with the art of storytelling. She began to develop her own tales to satisfy her creativity. Inspired by Soviet Propaganda that brainwashed millions and Slavic fairy-tales that expose our deepest fears and beliefs, Olia has created impactful stories that provoked emotions and tapped into the human psyche.

Olia majored in Communication Studies, with a minor in Mandarin Chinese at KSTU in Russia. A year after graduation, Olia traveled westwards to Hollywood, where she enrolled in USC's MFA program with a focus in Film and TV Production. Olia later produced a feature film, "Baby Doll and directed a feature thriller "Snowbound" that was completed within 9 months and screened at the Marche Du Film during the 70th Annual Cannes Film Festival.

Olia also created several immersive theatrical shows which received recognition in the art community. Today she continues her journey as a filmmaker and content creator with a strong leadership mentality. She uses her childhood experiences, cultural knowledge, and insight into human psychology to create stories that will live on through the ages.

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Director Statement

Every Other Animal is a blend of midwestern crime thriller mixed with Paranormal Horror in a bad-meets-evil fight to survive. The story takes place in Fiketon, Ohio, where there is the perfect overlap of the bible belt, rust belt, and ground zero of the opioid crisis. This isn't a place for people with dreams. It's a place for people who chew off their arm to make it to tomorrow. It's a place that asks, what do you believe in - and how hard do you believe?

I can relate to the struggle because I'm from a small industrial town in Siberia with similar problems. Deprived of an art scene, everyone was mostly stuck at one of the five factories, with the only entertainment being gardening or drinking. When the Soviet Union collapsed, and the chaos spread throughout the country, my hometown reached a new low, and the mafia came to power. The factories stopped working, and people got desperate for money. Drugs, prostitution rings, and racketeering became our new reality. These weren't necessarily bad people, just desperate. There seemed like there were no good choices.

I remember it vividly as it lasted till my late teens, similar to Nora - one of our main characters. Nora - is a victim of a system where people have been given only bad choices for too long. She's a new generation, new hope that has been cut at its root. Will the community's faith in itself overrule the darkness coming from the unknown mythological entity or let it consume everything? The entity feeds on weakness and increasing desperation, making it almost impossible for our faulted heroes: a troubled teenage girl, a pregnant and inexperienced undersheriff, an overzealous preacher, and a two-bit drug trafficker to fight their way out.

The emotional and high-pressure storyline masterfully weaves the lives of complex and grounded characters in extraordinary circumstances and paints a complete picture of a Midwestern town with universal struggles. It makes us think about what we would do when our desperation sends us down a path of self-destruction. In a world that grinds us down, can we find hope in ourselves and each other when there seems to be no way forward? It might be hard to accept, but the characters of this story live in each one of us.

I believe in this project's global relevance. It will likely evoke change as we sidestep the old 'bootstrap' mentality to empathize with characters trying to survive in a collapsing system. It is a microcosm of society's failures and a call to action for a stronger sense of community which the world needs now.