With the 2025 Oscars® season heating up, director Rachel Annette Helson, an alumni of the 2019 SHOOT New Directors Showcase, enters the race for Best Live Action Short Film with Good Daughter, a crime drama that stars Netflix alum Samantha Sloyan.
Good Daughter follows Rebecca (Sloyan), a woman who cons dementia patients by pretending to be their daughter – until the con catches up with her. The gripping narrative explores the rampant issue of financial exploitation of vulnerable seniors, and it’s personal for Helson.
“Both of my Grandmothers passed away from Alzheimer’s,” she shared. “My family spent lots of time in the memory care facilities with them, but not everyone was so lucky. I saw a lot of lonely, abandoned people who had few visitors and no one by their side as they were dying. Good Daughter grapples with complex moral questions as it looks at someone who gives time to patients in their last days – but takes valuables in return. And there’s a great reveal at the end that really brings it full circle.”
A huge part of the film’s success goes to lead actress Samantha Sloyan whose performance has been universally praised – and even won her the Best Actress award at Cindependent Film Festival as well as a Best Actress Nomination at Catalina Film Festival.
“Samantha brought the perfect blend of humanity, humor and nuance to the role,” said Helson. “Her performance will make you laugh and punch you in the gut. She’s truly a powerhouse.”
Sloyan has garnered accolades in recent years for playing characters that audiences love to hate. Most famously, she starred as Beverly Keane in the hit mini-series Midnight Mass, earning a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series by the Online Film & Television Association. She also starred as Tamerlane Usher in The Fall of the House of Usher which skyrocketed to the #1 most watched series spot on Netflix – garnering over 13 million views in the first two weeks.
After premiering at the prestigious Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles, CA, Good Daughter made waves on the festival circuit and can now be seen in the Academy Screening room where it is in consideration to advance to the prestigious Oscars® shortlist.
But regardless of the outcome, the Academy Awards® aren’t the end of the road for Good Daughter.
After the success of the short, Helson and writer Jesse Harris (Marvel’s Jessica Jones) have joined forces once more to develop the story into a full-length feature film that Helson hopes to have in production by Fall 2025.
“It was obvious to everyone involved with the production that there was more story to tell, and I’m excited about where we’ve taken the feature. Rebecca’s character is deepened and, along with her, the moral complications of the piece. It’s really a character-driven story about the lengths someone will go to for a person they love – from the perspective of a character who is fighting to keep their head above water and can’t catch a break.”
Good Daughter is produced by Josh Banks, a 2021 SHOOT New Directors Showcase Alumni, and Director Rachel Annette Helson through their production company JORA Creative. The general public can see the Oscar long-listed short film online as part of Omeleto’s (3.77 million subscribers) For Your Consideration Oscars® Playlist.
