Fractured
About the Film
In the stillness of an ordinary morning, a grieving couple confronts the unbearable absence left by the loss of their young daughter. As tea steeps and coffee cools across a quiet kitchen table, Mia and Jack struggle to reconcile memory, guilt, and the fear of moving forward without forgetting. Through restrained conversation and shared silence, long-buried emotions surface, revealing how differently each carries grief. Fractured is an intimate, character-driven drama about love after loss, the weight of memory, and the fragile hope that healing may begin with simply choosing to face tomorrow together.
Director: John Santiago
Producers: John Santiago and Sasha Go
United States // 2025 // Drama // LOLA Award Nominee - Los Shorts
6 minutes
About the Filmmaker
John Santiago is a writer-director and filmmaker whose work bridges intimate drama and cinematic genre storytelling. As founder of Santi J Productions, he develops character-driven films that explore grief, survival, and identity through emotionally grounded performances and visually intentional filmmaking.
Drawn to stories shaped by personal transformation, John’s work examines how individuals confront loss, fear, and moral consequence when life fractures beneath them. His dramatic storytelling favors restraint and authenticity, allowing silence and atmosphere to reveal emotional truth, while his genre work leans into psychological tension and grounded realism. Across horror and action narratives, he focuses on character perspective, using suspense and physical stakes as extensions of internal conflict rather than spectacle alone.
His short film Fractured continues his exploration of vulnerability and resilience through an intimate portrait of grief and connection, while additional projects in development expand his slate into psychological horror and character-driven action. Whether working behind or in front of the camera, John approaches filmmaking as a collaborative process rooted in performance, tone, and cinematic intention.
He is currently developing multiple narrative projects across short-form and feature storytelling.
