The Girl Trapped On Mars
Short Film
Non Union
Somewhere on Mars, there is a girl who cannot get home. Eight-year-old Malik has been looking for her across the red plains of an imaginary planet, guided by his AI companion Lavender and the one rule that has never failed him — always forward, never backward. He doesn't know yet that she has been in his house the whole time. At home, Malik's world is fracturing in ways he cannot name. His mother Vanessa moves through their days like someone waiting for something she hopes won't come. His father Derrick fills the house with gestures of normalcy — dinners, surprises, plans — that never quite land the way he intends them to. And Malik, caught between two people who love him and cannot reach each other, retreats deeper into the only place that makes sense: his spaceship, his mission, his Mars. But imagination has its limits. As the world inside the Waters home grows more dangerous, the world Malik has built begins to mirror it — the monsters getting closer, the stakes getting higher, the distance between fantasy and reality collapsing until there is nothing left between them. What Malik does next will define him. And it will cost him something he can never get back. The Girl Trapped on Mars is a short film about the children who see everything and say nothing — and what happens when seeing is no longer enough.
Roles For This Project
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Submissions Due:
06/12/2026
We are seeking a female performer aged 35–55, open ethnicity, for the supporting role of Ms. Green in The Girl Trapped on Mars. Ms. Green is Malik's teacher — the one adult outside the home who has been paying close attention and is willing to act on what she sees. She appears in one of the film's m... [See More]
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Submissions Due:
06/12/2026
We are seeking an African American male performer aged 32–45 for the lead role of Derrick in The Girl Trapped on Mars. Derrick is the most complex role in the script — a man who is genuinely warm and trying to hold his family together while being the source of its unraveling. The role requires a per... [See More]
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Submissions Due:
06/12/2026
We are seeking a quiet, emotionally present child performer aged 7–10 to carry the lead role in a short film. Malik/Malika is the heart of the story — a boy or girl who processes a difficult home life through imagination and inner strength. The ideal performer brings natural instincts, stillness on ... [See More]
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Submissions Due:
06/12/2026
We are seeking an African American female performer aged 32–42 for the lead role of Vanessa in The Girl Trapped on Mars. Vanessa is the emotional core of the film — a woman quietly carrying grief and navigating an increasingly dangerous marriage while trying to remain present for her young son. The ... [See More]
More Roles For This Project
-
Submissions Due:
06/12/2026
We are seeking a female performer aged 35–55, open ethnicity, for the supporting role of Ms. Green in The Girl Trapped on Mars. Ms. Green is Malik's teacher — the one adult outside the home who has been paying close attention and is willing to act on what she sees. She appears in one of the film's m... [See More]
-
Submissions Due:
06/12/2026
We are seeking an African American male performer aged 32–45 for the lead role of Derrick in The Girl Trapped on Mars. Derrick is the most complex role in the script — a man who is genuinely warm and trying to hold his family together while being the source of its unraveling. The role requires a per... [See More]
-
Submissions Due:
06/12/2026
We are seeking a quiet, emotionally present child performer aged 7–10 to carry the lead role in a short film. Malik/Malika is the heart of the story — a boy or girl who processes a difficult home life through imagination and inner strength. The ideal performer brings natural instincts, stillness on ... [See More]
-
Submissions Due:
06/12/2026
We are seeking an African American female performer aged 32–42 for the lead role of Vanessa in The Girl Trapped on Mars. Vanessa is the emotional core of the film — a woman quietly carrying grief and navigating an increasingly dangerous marriage while trying to remain present for her young son. The ... [See More]
