Seventh House Premieres Haunting 1950s Short Film All Us Animals at LA Shorts International Film Festival

A B&W period drama-noir about desire, queer repression, and female autonomy makes its world premiere July 27 at Regal LA Live.

LOS ANGELES, CA – July 2025 — Writer-director David Hartstone and actress-producer Lexa Gluck are set to premiere their bold new short film All Us Animals at the 29th Annual LA Shorts International Film Festival on Sunday, July 27 at 10PM at Regal Cinemas LA Live.

Set on New Year’s Eve 1959, the film follows a simmering New Year’s Eve party in which the sudden return of a childhood friend threatens to unravel a marriage, reignite forbidden desires, and expose the cost of living a lie.

Shot in striking black-and-white, All Us Animals draws inspiration from classic noir and mid-century melodrama, blending period glamour with modern emotional grit.

"This is a story about the quiet terror of a life unlived," says Hartstone. "It’s about women trapped in the roles carved out for them, and what happens when desire cuts through the silence."

The film was developed with Gluck, who stars as the enigmatic June. A Harvard-trained actress (A.R.T. MFA), Gluck is best known for recurring on FX’s Legion and appearing in Fatale, Welcome to Chippendales, and Hulu’s Reboot.

"We imagined two women in the 1950s plotting their escape," says Gluck. "That scene cracked something open in me. It became a film about the dreams women are told to kill off quietly, and how the traumas of societal pressure keep us from our full potential."

Behind the scenes, the shoot faced its own surreal drama. During production, a hostile property manager threatened the crew, forcing an emergency midnight evacuation and cutting filming short during the climactic final scene.

"We thought it was over," says Hartstone. "But the team refused to quit. We relocated and finished shooting the next day. It felt like the Film Gods were testing us, but in working together and never giving up… we passed.”

Hartstone has since completed the film’s feature-length expansion, following these characters through three decades of love, loss, and reinvention.

SCREENING INFO – ALL US ANIMALS
LA Shorts International Film Festival
Sunday, July 27 @ 10:00 PM
Regal Cinemas LA Live – Program 66

For Tickets Visit: LA Shorts - ALL US ANIMALS