Ex Memoria (2025)
20 min | English | Horror/Drama
After returning to her childhood home following her parents' death, Isabelle grapples with haunting hallucinations that uncover a history of sexual abuse at the hands of her father. Despite her desperate attempts to suppress the past, she ultimately loses grasp on reality and becomes entrapped by her traumatic memories.
Unit Stills: Vinh Pham
Unit Stills: Vinh Pham
Unit Stills: Vinh Pham
Unit Stills: Vinh Pham
Meet The Team
Rose Jackson-Smith
as Isabelle
Rose Jackson-Smith is a New York-based actor and creative. Originally from a small town in Utah, Rose attended the London Academy for Music and Dramatic Arts finding her way as one of the youngest students in their flagship BA program. Since migrating to New York City, Rose has found her niche as a versatile artist, navigating roles in directing, producing, and delivering captivating performances across stage and screen. Her work spans from intimate indie projects to mainstream successes, including memorable appearances on Amazon Prime’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” HBO’s “White House Plumbers,” and Paramount Plus’ “Evil." You can currently catch her in the recurring role of Annie Greene on HBO Max’s hit new show “The Girls on the Bus.”
Manoé Richardier
as Léa
Manoé Richardier, a bilingual French actress, transitioned from ballet to acting at 13 where she began her training at Cannes Theatre Conservatory. She honed her skills at La Scène sur Saône in Lyon for 3 years, then attended The Australian Film and Television Academy in Melbourne. Now back in France, she’s worked on several short films and appeared in the French TV shows ‘Mental’ (Netflix) and ‘Anthracite’ (Netflix) as well as the docufiction ‘Landru’. Currently, she’s refining her singing and dancing, including Lindy Hop and Charleston, and is set to return to the stage at Avignon’s Festival with a play by Musset.
Shayn Herndon
as Luke
Shayn Herndon, originally from Nashville, TN, grew up in Colorado where his artistic journey was ignited by his father’s ardor for the classic Western genre. His formal training took root at CU Boulder’s BFA program and was refined through the Meisner method at the Chris Thatcher Actor Studio. Shayn’s professional journey began with a lead role opposite Michael Madsen in “The Just,” soon followed by the lead in the indie feature “She Was the Deputy’s Wife” on Amazon Prime. His talent continued to shine through in projects that garnered accolades at the LA Black Film Festival and Dances With Films. Shayn’s artistry is grounded and gritty, rooted in authenticity, and infused with a diverse background that includes athletics, expert marksmanship, and equestrian prowess.
Justin Powell
as Mr. Whitbury
Justin Powell is an award winning actor and director who feels both lucky and humbled to be a part of the Ex Memoria team. Recent credits include leads in the upcoming features Rolling, and Big Rage as well as performing in Not Another Midsummer which was nominated for Best Play at the prestigious Broadway World's Los Angeles Theater Awards. TV credits include co-star roles in Bosch: Legacy (Amazon), and Wild West Chronicles, (NBC/Peacock). Studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Upright Citizens Brigade and has trained with Lesly Kahn, Anthony Meindl and John Markland.
Athena Elling
as Young Isabelle
Athena Elling is a second-degree black belt in taekwondo and the youngest graduate to earn an Associate's Degree from Irvine Valley College, where she took classes in everything from Computer Science to Contemporary Literature and Abnormal Psychology. It was there, through her film courses, that Athena first fell in love with movies and began enrolling in acting classes.
These days, Athena continues to take college courses in Philosophy, Calculus and US History as she pursues dancing, martial arts and acting on a more full-time basis.
In her spare time, Athena takes care of her two rescue chinchillas, seven chickens and has worked as model, in commercials and sometimes, as a math tutor.
Devany Greenwood
Writer/Director
Devany Greenwood is an acclaimed French-American writer and director, based in Los Angeles. Her work is rooted primarily in poetics, exploring the feminine, and unraveling the many layers of trauma. Through the female gaze, she brings an inimitable tenderness and vulnerability to visual narratives across a range of genres, flourishing in the minutiae of silences and negative space. In 2021, she founded Cosmica Productions, with a deep focus on amplifying and empowering marginalized voices.
Her feature script, Into the Thicket, is a unique blend of magical realism and coming-of-age drama, forging a visionary journey into female empowerment and a fearlessly nuanced exploration of sexuality. It has gained significant acclaim, scoring 9/10 on The Black List, and placing as Semifinalist in WeScreenplay’s Feature Screenwriting Competition (2022), and Quarterfinalist in Outstanding Screenplays Feature Competition (2021).
In 2023, she completed a proof of concept for her feature (of the same name) which premiered at Oscar® and BAFTA-qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival, in addition to garnering multiple accolades at IndieX Film Festival, and Waco Independent Film Festival.
Naomi Amarger
Cinematographer
Naomi Amarger is a French cinematographer living between Paris and New York, represented by the Apicorp Agency. After starting out as an actress, Naomi studied cinematography at the Louis-Lumiere National Film School in Paris, and developed her skills working at Panavision in New-York and being a camera assistant to cinematographers she admires.
Her first narrative feature, Divertimento, directed by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, won the Jury Special Award at the Cinémania Film Festival in Montréal, and the Audience Award for Best Feature at the Washington DC International Film Festival. Her first documentary feature, The Disappearance of Shere Hite, premiered at Sundance International Film Festival in the US Documentary Competition and was nominated for 3 Critics Choice Documentary Awards. Recently, Naomi received the Award for Best Cinematography at the CINEF Film Festival in Kinshasa, Congo, for her work on Ativio. Naomi is a member of the ICFC and the French collective Femmes à la Caméra, and was selected for the American Society of Cinematographer’s Vision Mentorship Program 2022.
Stephanie Anne Jöens
Production Designer
A Los Angeles native, Stephanie Jöens has always been obsessed with film and the art of the movie-making process. She had begun her journey with jumping right into production design and set dressing. Her skills stem from an affinity for vintage aesthetics and anything horror, sci-fi, and/or fantasy based. She is the former co-proprietor of Mystic Museum in Burbank, CA, where things going bump in the night was the norm. One of her primary goals is to work with profound queer or femme horror-based productions & collectives. Whether it’s curating dark art conventions, art galleries, or creating events and a sense of community has always come naturally to this witchy woman. It has been a driving force to create a safe space for artists to move through by using her expertise. In recent years, she worked in set dressing on short film "Grummy" and was the production designer on Greenwood’s last film, "Into the Thicket," as well as several St. Vincent music videos.
Elise Greene
Producer
Elise Greene is a producer and SAG actor. As a UCLA Producing Program alumnus, Elise mentors filmmakers in navigating and understanding the entertainment business as a working producer of feature films, short films, and independent cinema. Her projects have been featured on Amazon, HBO, and multiple top tier film festivals including Hollyshorts.
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Her most recent acting credits include Shameless (Showtime), Chicago PD (NBCU), Nobody Wants This (Netflix), The Mysterious Benedict Society (Disney+), A California Christmas: City Lights (Netflix), Incantation (Shudder), The Sound (Lucas Films), & One And The Same (Gravitas Ventures).
Elise has dedicated her career to uplifting the work of female filmmakers and is a member of Women in Film.
Maria Magalhães
Executive Producer
Maria Magalhães is a Brazilian actress and producer. She holds a B.F.A in Theatre from the Federal University of Minas Gerais and pursued further acting studies at New York Film Academy. She toured all over Brazil for six years with theatre company Casa Laboratório, performing and producing shows.
Ioannis Argiris
Executive Producer
CatPalm Productions is an American indie film company founded by director and writer Ioannis Argiris. CatPalm's projects focus on short horror and speculative films, alongside zines weaving offbeat tech, mental health, and working-class narratives. In 2023, they released the short film Blends, which has won multiple awards and has been selected in over a dozen global film festivals. Learn more by visiting CatPalmProductions.com
Jessica Bishop
Trauma Trained Somatic Practitioner
Jessica Bishop is an actress, writer, producer, and trauma trained somatic practitioner/teacher based in Los Angeles. As an actress, she is known for Full Circle (HBO Max), The Best Man: The Final Chapters (Peacock), and The Willowbrook (Gravitas Ventures.)
Jess began her teaching career in 2010 when she received her Masters in Teaching from the University of Pittsburgh. She taught in a classroom setting for three years through the Teach for America program; it was during this time that she became deeply interested in how trauma affected her students’ learning and lives.
For the past decade, Jess has balanced a career in entertainment with a career in healing trauma through a nervous system based approach. Her somatic work promotes healing for stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, and complex PTSD. She particularly loves working with actors and others in the entertainment field to recover their resilience, balance, joy, and peace.
Hailey Mashburn
Intimacy Coordinator
Hailey Mashburn is a Los Angeles based Intimacy Coordinator & Choreographer who is passionate about storytelling and supporting artists, and has been a collaborator on a number of shorts, features, and stage plays. As an artist and human, Hailey leads with openness and curiosity. Hailey is a Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts BA (Hons) Acting graduate and is an Arts Council England endorsed Global Talent as a theatrical creative.
Emanuele Bonomi
Editor
Emanuele Bonomi is an editor and director raised in the Italian alps. His work as Editor includes over 30 short films, music videos, documentaries, commercials and montage/art concept work. He undertook a Certificate of High Specialisation in Editing at the NUCT Academy of Cinecittà (Rome, Italy) with teachers such us Walter Fasano (Editor of 'Suspiria' and 'Call Me by Your Name') and Consuelo Catucci (Editor of 'Perfect Strangers' and 'Angel of Evil'). He then graduated with Distinction from the London Film School. Most recently, he worked on animated short “The Meatseller,” produced by Luca Guadagnino, which had its world premiere at Venice Film Festival. In 2024, he was selected as a Berlinale Talent. Currently, he is in post-production working on a feature length documentary about Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei.
Joanna Karselis
Composer
Joanna Karselis is an award-wining composer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter. She has scored numerous short and feature films and is a full member of BAFTA and served on the BAFTA TV awards jury for best score in 2023. Her music has been mixed in major UK facilities such as Warner Brother’s De Lane Lea and Twickenham Film Studios and she also work for music libraries such as West One. She is a mentee on the prestigious Alliance Of Women Film Composer’s mentoring programme and recently won Best Original Score at White Deer Film and VBSIFF Festival. In 2023, short film Realness with a Twist scored by Jo screened at the BFI Southbank and was later broadcast on Channel 4. Jo can also be found lecturing in music for moving image and composition at King’s College London.