Zoe Jordan, a former Creative Writer at the Osceola County School for the Arts, is a semi-finalist for The New York City Horror Film Festival (NYCHFF). While she didn’t make it to the finalists, semi-finalist is one of the official categories and Zoe described it as getting third place.

“I’m really ecstatic about it,” Jordan stated. “I haven’t submitted to any other film festival ever; this is my first one. I was overjoyed to even get selected let alone become a semi-finalist.”

The NYCHFF was founded by MooDude Films’ CEO Michael J. Hein in 2001. The festival is a four daylong event taking place every November at venues throughout New York City. The festival is very competitive, screening approximately 50-60 films each year. NYCHFF has grown to become a worldwide recognized event throughout its 20 years of existing, gaining industry and press attention from all around the globe. The Hein Family continues to keep the festival alive in memory of its founder.

Jordan’s short screen play entitled “Virtuoso” is about a serial killer cannibal who kidnaps his final victim to finish his killing spree. Only the person he kidnapped is now trying to seduce him to gain his freedom. “I made it in [my] freshman year of college, but it was a completely different script. I had to rewrite it a few times after some professors were like ‘no’.” Jordan said. “But I loved rewriting it again… to submit because it just needed to be better.”

Earning the tittle of semi-finalist allows Jordan to stamp her screen play with the NYCHFF logo. This will let potential producers know the script was recognized by the NYCHFF. Currently there is no way to watch the film as it has yet to be produced, but hopefully it will be in the future.

The horror genre has always been Jordan’s favorite. “In high school it was all I wrote,” she commented. She enjoys David Cronenberg films and anything to do with cannibalism. Some examples of films she likes is “Silence of the Lambs” and the 80’s movie “Possession.”

“If any of you are interested in pursuing screen writing you should sign up for FilmFreeway and keep up with all of the film festivals going around because there are so many at a time and a lot of them are cheap submissions.” Jorden suggested. “Just keep writing and keep submitting. Keep revising your work and getting second opinions.”