Sarah Winshall

Production

Sarah Winshall

Sarah Winshall is an independent producer championing personal films with unique worldviews. In 2016 she co-founded Smudge Films with writer/director Bridey Elliott. Since then, Smudge Films has produced films that have screened at Sundance, SXSW, Rotterdam, and AFI Fest.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

I Saw the TV Glow poster
6.2

In late-90s suburbia, a lonely teenager meets a girl at school who introduces him to a mysterious late-night T.V. show — a vision of a supernatural world pulsing beneath their own. As time goes on, however, questions begin to arise about why the show sometimes seems more real than their own lives. In the pale glow of the television, their view of reality begins to crack.

I Saw the TV Glow

2024

Strawberry Mansion poster
6.7

In the not-too-distant future, an all-seeing surveillance state conducts “dream audits” to collect taxes on the unconscious lives of the populace. Mild-mannered government agent James Preble travels to a remote farmhouse to audit the dreams of Arabella “Bella” Isadora, an eccentric, aging artist. Entering Bella’s vast VHS archive, which contains a lifetime of dreams, Preble stumbles upon a secret that offers him a chance at love—and hope for escape.

Strawberry Mansion

2021

Joybubbles poster
1.0

Joybubbles discovers he can manipulate the telephone system by whistling a magic tone. Born blind and yearning for connection, his early obsession unwittingly lays the groundwork for a subculture that shapes the future of hacking and technology.

Joybubbles

2026

By Design poster
5.9

A woman swaps bodies with a chair, and everyone likes her better as a chair.

By Design

2026

We're All Going to the World's Fair poster
5.5

Reality and fantasy begin to blur when a teenager, alone in her attic bedroom, immerses herself in a role-playing horror game online.

We're All Going to the World's Fair

2022

Sour Minnows poster
NR

Two friends stumble upon an unusual sight: six men sensually licking the pavement on an empty L.A. street. For Ricky, this moment ruptures something. As reality grows porous and memory begins to slip, a delirious new logic takes hold.

Sour Minnows

2026

¡Las Sandinistas! poster
7.1

¡Las Sandinistas! uncovers the disappearing stories of women who shattered barriers to lead combat and social reform during Nicaragua’s 1979 Sandinista Revolution, and who continue to lead Nicaragua’s current struggle for democracy and equality.

¡Las Sandinistas!

2018

The Starr Sisters poster
NR

Patte and Randa Starr are fun specialists. After growing up in an abusive household set above their father's candy store, they spent their lives fighting to find joy and freedom. Now in their 70s, these sisters do exactly as they please: they live together near the beach, they always have a movie on, and the candy drawer is fully stocked.

The Starr Sisters

2019

Call Your Father poster
4.5

Usually a reserved guy, Greg struggles to keep up with young, unpredictable Josh on their first date. But as the night continues, things spiral out of control and the two men must confront the generational divide in this cutting and insightful comedy about what it means to be gay in contemporary America.

Call Your Father

2017

The Feeling poster
NR

Brandi and Alex are sibling realtors at the top of their game...until they meet their biggest fan and everything they care about is put in jeopardy.

The Feeling

2020

Clara's Ghost poster
4.9

Set over the course of a single evening at the Reynolds’ family home in Connecticut, Clara, fed up with the constant ribbing from her self-absorbed showbiz family, finds solace in and guidance from the supernatural force she believes is haunting her.

Clara's Ghost

2018

Ladies poster
1.0

On an idyllic girls trip, Ruby has what seems like a sex dream about her best friend and can't tell if it actually happened or not.

Ladies

2024

No artwork available
NR

Seems Nice follows Calvin, a persistent and delusional “Nice Guy” with a fertile imagination, who will go to unbelievable lengths to win the heart of his dream girl. But Jess, a very real woman with problems of her own, is definitely not the dream girl Calvin thinks she is. Their realities clash, inciting mind games, bloodshed, and worst of all, hurt feelings.

Seems Nice

No artwork available
NR

Thrill ride through the mind of an insecure and indecisive artist.

Funny Pages

No artwork available
NR

It's the Midwest,1973, and Holocaust survivor Lena works as a hosiery shopgirl in an attempt at an ordinary American life, but her past trauma drives her to hysteria in this absurd, hallucinatory nightmare.

Traum

Men Don't Whisper poster
4.6

After being emasculated at a sales conference, gay couple Reese and Peyton decide the only way to regain their confidence and prove their masculinity is to sleep with some women. When they meet fellow conference attendees and pleasure seekers Beth and Dominique, it seems like a perfect match. Unfortunately sealing the deal is easier said than done.

Men Don't Whisper

2017

The Follower poster
5.0

Fueled by the hope of escaping her dreary suburban life, a misunderstood teen entertains the increasingly sinister advances of an Internet friend in a riff on the 1966 Joyce Carol Oates story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

The Follower

2019

No artwork available
NR

In the Virgin Islands in the 1970s an aimless receptionist falls into an interspecies romance with a dolphin while conducting research for a scientist who’s lost his grip on reality.

Dolphin

Whiskey Fist poster
1.0

A branding intern loses the life he once had after an encounter with a mysterious blonde and her whiskey bottle... but gains something very special in return.

Whiskey Fist

2017

Give Me Pity! poster
8.0

Sissy St. Claire graces the small screen for her first ever television special, an evening full of music and laughter, glamour and entertainment! But Sissy's live event quickly begins to curdle into a psychedelic nightmare of vanity, insecurity and delusional ambition, provoked by the glowering presence of a mysterious masked man.

Give Me Pity!

2023

No artwork available
NR

A mockumentary about a small-town man who is abducted by aliens, meets a group of fellow abductees, leads a daring escape back to Earth, and in the process finds purpose, community, and love.

Time and Space

Affections poster
5.5

A comedy about isolation and loneliness, Affections follows a young woman, adrift, seeking intimacy in the most unlikely places.

Affections

2016