Stiletto
A sadistic client follows a young stripper home after work, only to find out she was more than he bargained for.
" I was absolutely white-knuckling it the whole time, had to pry my jaw open afterwards from clenching it so hard! Fantastic, fucking brutal, brilliant." -hyperreal film club
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Maclaine LoweryDirector
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June ShaukatDirector
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Maclaine LoweryWriter
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Maclaine LoweryProducer
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June ShaukatProducer
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Deanna NoriegaKey Cast"Bella"
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Peter YoungKey Cast"Dress Shoes"
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Hannah HoKey Cast"The Woman"
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Jason ReyesKey Cast"Skinny Bouncer "
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Kaia DanielDirector of Photography
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Omar VizcarraMusic
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Yessmeen Moharram1st Assistant Director
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Ben HardScript Supervisor
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Karla Armendariz1st Assistant Camera
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Wesley Willgrubs1st Assistant Camera
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Scotty Villhard2nd Assistant Camera
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Brandon PorterEditor
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Maclaine LoweryEditor
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Maclaine LoweryColorist
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Cristina PopProduction Designer
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Rohan MirchandaniCostume Designer
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Julia HolsteinMakeup Artist
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Katherine NelsonGaffer
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Camryn DavisProduction Assistant
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Bella MarcoProduction Assistant
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Cory MasonProduction Assistant
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Lydia FortunaProduction Sound Mixer
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Evan ShererBoom Operator
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June ShaukatSound Editor
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Richard HamiltonRerecording Sound Mixer
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Hannah DunningStill Photographer
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Project Type:Short, Student
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Runtime:11 minutes 39 seconds
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Completion Date:May 12, 2021
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Production Budget:2,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:1.90:1
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:Yes - University of Texas at Austin
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Slash and Bash Sci-Fi/Horror Film FestivalTopeka, Kansas
United States
Finalist -
Gorst Underground! An Exploitation Film and Punk Rock FestivalPort Orchard, Washington
United States
Official Selection -
Boobs and Blood International Film FestivalLos Angeles, California
United States
Best Student Short -
ATX Short Film ShowcaseAustin, Texas
United States
Official Selection -
Austin After Dark Film FestivalAustin, Texas
United States
October 26, 2021
Best Horror Film Award Finalist -
Hyperreal Film Club PresentsAustin, Texas
United States -
ATX Short Film Showcase Best of the Year Film FestivalAustin, TX
United States
Best Horror Film Finalist -
Nightmares Film FestivalColumbus, Ohio
United States
Best Lead Performance -
San Francisco Sex Worker Film & Arts FestivalSan Francisco, California
United States
Official Selection
Maclaine Lowery (she/they) is a movement artist, actor, and filmmaker based in New York City. Since graduating from UT Austin in 2021, Maclaine has produced, directed, edited, acted, danced, and designed for shorts, features, music videos, and herself. She is now in production for an experimental film series.
June Shaukat is radio-television-film/environmental biology graduate from UT, specializing in post-production. Her most recent film, "Female Dating Strategy," was recently accepted into the 2020 Austin Microfilm Festival and nominated for Best Dark Comedy!
Sex work is a world of duality. To be desired but stigmatized, emboldened yet victimized, glamourous and brutalized, is to endure amidst volatility. We live halfway in the spotlight as Venus, and halfway in the shadow as Medusa, because this profession can be gorgeous yet violent. To survive, we must play both parts, but the voyeur only looks one side in the eye.
Amongst the modern audience, victimization and its imminent threat in the sex work industry have no tolerance. Elect our cinema to rewrite mythical trauma; sanitize the gorgon out of comfort; replace her survival with a mythical peace; erase the symbol of her immeasurable strength because we don’t want to know how she earned it.
Nevertheless, the world of sex work remains indifferent.
Every day, they persist in controversial existence because they must. Should they hide their experiences that appear regressive against their will? Is it better to falsify the relationship between sex work and violence to preserve the safety of the cinema? Is it best for you that they exclude survival even though they need it?
STILETTO mercilessly answers no.
As a depiction of cathartic retribution, this film is about:
- duality given the freedom to unify
- survival rewarded the exhibition of justice
You’re invited to see what happens when we reject the exploitative gaze.