On April 25, 2025, Decentralized Pictures (DCP), Arts3 Foundation, and filmmakers Jed Shepherd (Host) and Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project), announced that the films Dana Never Had a Brother and Festered are the recipients of the Horror Filmmaking Initiative. This initiative provides $25,000 in funding to produce a short film from selected screenplays.

The DCP community helped shortlist finalists through the platform’s decentralized voting system. The final selections were made by a panel of judges, including Sánchez, Shepherd, and DCP co-founders Roman Coppola and Leo Matchett.

Dana Never Had a Brother, directed by Destinee McCaster, tells the story of a woman visiting her girlfriend’s seemingly perfect suburban hometown, where she unravels disturbing truths about her partner’s childhood.

Festered, directed by Marc G. Ros, follows a young woman who inherits her estranged father’s apartment and sets out to clean and sell it, only to awaken a malicious presence that forces her to face buried trauma from her past.

In addition to the two main recipients, Breeder, directed by Sapphire Sandalo, was awarded $15,000 in recognition of its bold vision and psychological depth. Rooted in Filipino folklore, the film follows a successful woman trapped in a nightmarish loop by a monstrous Tikbalang.

The Horror Filmmaking Initiative was announced on Halloween of 2024 as part of DCP’s support for the next generation of filmmakers across genres via the Decentralized Pictures platform.

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