Love Never

Stranded after a brutal encounter with her lover, a young woman falls under the spell of an enigmatic stranger, spiraling through hope, violence, cult induced fantasy, illusion, and manipulation until she is forced to confront the truth of her own freedom.

  • McKenna Matus
    Director
  • McKenna Matus
    Writer
  • JeaDa Lay
    Producer
  • McKenna Matus
    Producer
  • JeaDa Lay
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 52 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    800 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, Super 8
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - McKenna Matus

McKenna Matus is a 25 year old visual artist and writer from Pennsylvania, now living in Los Angeles. Her creative career spans across the fields of filmmaking, photography, editorial production, fashion styling, publicity, and journalism, having had her work featured in Vanity Fair and Glamour UK, Cultured Magazine, L’Officiel US, Harpers Bazaar Taiwan, Flaunt Magazine, and Pilot Magazine, and more. McKenna has a deep love and connection to nature and cities alike, drawing inspiration from her own mind’s hallucinatory wanderings and the artfulness of an oftentimes apocalyptic world.

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Director Statement

Love Never is an experimental exploration of the cyclical nature of love, violence, and self-reclamation, told through the fractured psychological journey of its protagonist, Jea. Moving between stark realism and surreal, dreamlike distortion, the film reflects how trauma reshapes perception, blurring the boundaries between desire, escape, and control. I was interested in portraying love not as a singular experience, but as a series of evolving states including romantic, destructive, communal, transactional, and ultimately self-defined, while centering a distinctly female perspective. Drawing from my background in photography, fashion, poetry, and editorial storytelling, I approached the film as an immersive visual and emotional landscape, using symbolism, repetition, and contrast to mirror Jea’s internal world. At its core, Love Never is about longing to be seen, the danger of that desire, and the quiet, complicated act of choosing oneself in the aftermath.