Santa Fe
An aimless young man, eager to escape his imploding relationship, returns to Santa Fe on the anniversary of his estranged father’s death in hopes of finding closure over their tumultuous relationship but discovers the mystery of his father is connected to a horror beyond our world.
I’m an LGBTQ screenwriter and filmmaker from Los Angeles and a Graphics Reporter for National Geographic Magazine. I’m currently developing a half-hour horror/comedy with Hazy Mills and have directed several shorts that have won awards on the festival circuit. My latest film, 29 Palms (with Chikako Fukuyama of Terrace House and Juror #2), premiered in Japan and played at the Academy Qualifying St. Louis International Film Festival in 2024.
I love horror not just for the scares, but for what it reveals. Horror has this unmatched ability to expose what we’re really afraid of – failure, mortality, shame. With Santa Fe, I wanted to funnel all of that through a lens we rarely see in the genre: a modern queer love story.
I’ve never seen a gay open relationship explored like this in horror, and I believe stories like this matter now more than ever. But more than that, Santa Fe is a grass-is-greener cautionary tale, rooted in the quiet fears of loss and longing. And while there’s definitely murder, blood, and some sci-fi parasitism, it’s a deeply personal story about the terror of turning into our parents. Who can’t relate to that?
Tonally, Santa Fe is folk horror meets queer drama. Visually, it’s a Georgia O’Keeffe fever dream – warm, desolate, and a little too quiet. The horror here leans on emotional tension blended with sci-fi components – especially the fungal element – which are rooted in real research I did with National Geographic.
Santa Fe is for anyone who’s ever looked at their life and asked, “Could I be happier? Did I miss the boat? Am I doomed to become my parents?” And if the answer to all three is “yes,” at least the sunsets here are nice.
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