Screenplay · Semi-finalist
Flickers’ Rhode Island
International Film Festival
Still advancing · Further results pending
OPENTHE SKULL
“The violence-as-sacrament concept and the elevated, fable-like world recall the stranger end of A24 and Neon's catalogues, and with some development this energetic, singular piece would be a strong fit for either, or for a specialty label like Annapurna willing to back an auteur swing.”
A Nightmare Comedy:
A South Texas Boxing Story.
Feature film · In developmentA film by Caleb Short
01 / The film
About the film
Years after blinding his rival in the ring, a boxing prodigy haunted by his own capacity for violence is lured back by that same man: now a messianic small-town mayor with restored sight.
Open the Skull follows Jonny Foden in Sandsville, South Texas, where his failing family gym draws him back toward boxing and his preacher-grandfather’s doctrine of surrender. His bond with Ricky Santana, the rival he blinded, is at the center of a story about guilt, faith, and transformation.
Written & directed byCaleb Short
FormatFeature film
StageIn development
02 / Recognition
Screenplay recognition
Flickers’ Rhode Island
Screenplay · Semi-finalist
Outstanding
Screenplays
Feature Competition
Screenplay competition recognition. Status as of October 10, 2026. Slamdance screenplay competition: awaiting submission results.
03 / The response
Outstanding Screenplays · Reader coverage
“An auteur swing.”
9/10Concept
9/10Originality
9/10Style
Selected excerpts from screenplay feedback. Selected category scores from one reader report, not an overall or aggregate rating. The company comparisons are the reader’s assessment and do not imply involvement or endorsement by those companies.
“Eloquently styled, the violence is beautiful, strange, and meticulously choreographed, never gratuitous so much as liturgical, each blow part of a larger rite.”
“The visual storytelling is confident and the Writer has a strong voice that comes through on nearly every page.”
“The voice of the writer demonstrates an ability to craft complex male characters who are compelling to follow.”
Slamdance · Submission feedback
“a striking way to make its ideas about surrender physical”
On the screenplay’s intercut ritual and surgery sequence.
04 / The filmmaker
Writer & director
Caleb Short
Caleb Short is a writer, director, and actor based in New York City. Raised in Austin, Texas, he studied philosophy and film at Bard College, and screenwriting and philosophy of mind at Oxford University.
He has written and directed five short films, with multiple best-short awards across the international festival circuit. His work, in both writing and performance, gravitates toward the hyper-filmic and the grounded at once: surreal, ritualistic, and physically lived-in.
As writer, director, editor, and producer, Caleb won the Shorty Award for Through The Lens Of, a series of narrative films for SERHANT. Studios. The series won the Real Estate category at the 16th Annual Shorty Awards in 2024.
He currently works as a director, producer, and editor at Bald Agency, creating commercials. He is also the co-founder of Causation Films, a production company where he creates commercial and music video work.
Open the Skull is his first feature screenplay, now in development as a feature film.
“How do we confront the split within ourselves — light and shadow, violence and tenderness, ego and soul?”
05 / Inquiries
Production · Financing · Collaboration
Project inquiries
For project inquiries and screenplay requests,
get in touch with writer and director Caleb Short.