Undiscovered Talent Film Festival

WHO WE ARE

Disillusioned by the importance many film festivals place on selecting and awarding films with known actors who many filmmakers around the world never have access to, acclaimed filmmaker Andrew de Burgh (“The Bestowal”, ZEE5’s “The Twisted Doll”) founded the Undiscovered Talent Film Festival to find passionate indie cinematic voices from around the world who have put blood, sweat and tears into making their independent films.

We truly seek to discover and nurture undiscovered talent out there who haven’t had the big breaks or advantages many people in the entertainment industry are born into.

Coming from a prolific filmmaking background, de Burgh started his career in 2015 with the psychological thriller short film “Just One Drink” which starred scream queen Barbara Nedeljakova (“Hostel”) and scored a 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and was distributed as an Editor’s Pick by ShortsTV, the distributor behind the Academy Award nominated short films.

In 2018, he started the production company Sacred Ember Films and soon after wrote, produced and directed his first feature “The Bestowal” which premiered at MegaCon. It scored a 75% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and was distributed on Amazon Prime, Tubi, Google Play, YouTube Movies by Indie Rights. de Burgh also directed the psychological thriller mini-series “The Twisted Doll” streaming on ZEE5 as well as the horror features “The Seductress from Hell” and “The Demoness”.

Our festival organizer is Nicholas Sidley who was a producer on de Burgh’s films “Just One Drink”, “The Bestowal” and his upcoming film “The Demoness”.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

We are open to all genres of cinema and are seeking films that take a risk with a bold, independent style that showcases the unique voices of the people behind them. At the end of the day, quality and originality are the only criteria we look at.

OUR VENUE

The ideal place to screen independent films, the festival will run May 19th to 24rd at the historic Frida Theater in Santa Ana, Orange County, California which is Orange County’s only nonprofit arthouse cinema and has hosted numerous film festivals and special screenings. It is a movie lover's paradise.