The MPI Original short Poisoned Skies will screen in Hollywood on Saturday, August 15, as an official selection of the Academy Award-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival, presented as part of the Alliance of Women Directors Showcase. If you’re in Los Angeles, don’t miss the opportunity to see the film on the big screen at one of the world’s premier short film festivals. Get your tickets here.

Written and directed by MPI filmmaker Caroline Friend and starring Julia Goldani Telles (The Affair, Bunheads), Poisoned Skies is set in 1954 and follows an ambitious scientist on the verge of presenting groundbreaking pollution research. As she prepares to share her findings, she becomes the target of a mining company linked to a deadly smog disaster, forcing her to confront a difficult moral choice. Inspired by true events, the film explores the tension between scientific discovery, corporate influence, and personal responsibility.

Learn more about the film here and watch the trailer below.