Experiencing Interruptions?

HAUNTED

After a traumatic past resurfaces, a young queer Black person is haunted by a presence that blurs the line between memory and malevolence. As their reality begins to fracture, they must confront long-buried truths, or risk being consumed by them... HAUNTED is a psychological horror short about grief, identity, and the terrifying weight of what we try to forget.

  • Kamaria Williams
    Producer
  • Kamaria Williams
    Writer
    "You Can Call Me Cookie" (Finalist, Imagine This Women's Festival), "Hypnagogic" (Finalist - Horror Screenplay Competition
  • Kamaria Williams
    Director
    Restless, Soul Sisters
  • Shemeka Wright
    Director
    Lifetime Network, BET+, American Black Film Festival etc.
  • Alex Correa
    Cinematographer/DP
  • Kamaria Williams
    Editor
    Restless
  • María Agostina Scrinzi
    Editor
  • Kamaria Williams
    Key Cast
    "Malanie"
    Rutherford Falls (NBCUniversal/Peacock), Khoj (Cannes Film Festival) For the Love of Jason, Land of the Free (LA Short Int'l Fest), Quarter (Arnon Manor/Brooke Shields)
  • Zoe Bowers
    Key Cast
    "Jess"
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Psychological Horror, Experimental, Dark-Themed, Suspense, Drama, Black Horror
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 9 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 21, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    2,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom, United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    RED Digital Camera
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • The Artists Forum Festival of the Moving Image

    Best Dark Themed Short & Best Actress
Director Biography - Kamaria Williams, Shemeka Wright

Kamaria Williams is a queer, Black, multidisciplinary storyteller, actor, and filmmaker from New York City. A graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and USC Gould School of Law, Kamaria brings a unique blend of creative and legal insight to their work, exploring identity, power, and trauma through genre, particularly horror, thriller, and supernatural drama.

Their work centers marginalized voices with depth, humanity, and unflinching honesty. As an actor, Kamaria has appeared in numerous film and television projects in both the U.S. and the U.K., and as a writer-director, their storytelling blends emotional realism with unsettling tension and metaphorical horror.

Their latest short film, HAUNTED is a psychological horror story that examines the quiet terror of suppressed truth and the ghosts we carry within.

They are a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and Equity, based in Los Angeles, with New York City and London still among the places they call home.

Shemeka Wright (she/her) is a fearless multi-hyphenate: actress, writer, director, producer, and CEO of Wright Positive Films. With over 20 years in the entertainment industry and more than 30 film and television credits across platforms like Lifetime, BET+, Hulu, and Netflix-style networks, she is celebrated for crafting emotionally rich stories that highlight resilience, power, and transformation.

As a performer, Shemeka’s work has been featured at the American Black Film Festival and on Lifetime. Behind the camera, she brings a grounded, emotionally resonant voice that explores identity, healing, and human evolution. Through Wright Positive Films, she continues to champion bold, character-driven narratives that center women and authentic lived experiences.

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Director Statement

HAUNTED was born from the kind of fear that lingers, not just under the bed or in the closet, but in the body, the mind, and memory. As a young, queer, Black artist, I’ve often found that the scariest parts of life aren’t monsters, but silence. Rumination. Repression.

Trauma that lies underneath until triggered. The ghosts of who we used to be...or who we tried not to become.

This film explores what happens when a long-buried truth claws its way back into the present. I wanted to tell a horror story rooted not in gore, but in grief. Not in external threats, but in internal reckoning.

HAUNTED is intentionally intimate: a short with a single voice and a single space, yet an emotional terrain that runs deep.

I wrote and created HAUNTED with minimalism in mind. Subsequently, each frame, sound, and movement is deliberate. It’s a meditation on shame and self-confrontation, wrapped in the eerie language of supernatural horror, but grounded with moments of quiet humanity. I believe horror is one of the few genres that allows us to confront truth through metaphor, and in that confrontation, find release.

I hope that HAUNTED offers viewers a glimpse into the quiet terror of holding something in for too long… and what happens when it finally breaks free.

— Kamaria Williams