About this submission

A year or so before my grandfather died, I would have dreams where we were walking underwater, beneath the waves, following a stone path that went deeper into the ocean. He would walk ahead of me and disappear. Still Blue stemmed from my attempt to reconcile those dreams with an image long stuck in my head: a lighthouse, spinning eternally, around and around. Both gave expression to a feeling that had been nagging at my subconscious, a subtle awareness of the inevitable change in my family's future — the loss of a loved one.

Will Benzian

Creator

WILL BENZIAN is a writer and director based in Los Angeles. Endlessly fascinated with the human capacity to both love and hurt one another, Will makes films that attempt to reconcile that contradiction, always asking questions, never once seeking an answer. At the center of each of their projects is an impulse to create the feeling of wonder, and explore its capacity to move viewers and transform worlds. A recent graduate of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, their work has been supported by mentorship programs at SBIFF and Panavision’s New Filmmaker Program. They are an alum of the 2025 Paolo Sorrentino Lab.