Utah filmmaker among finalists in Canon short competition

A Utah-made short film is in lofty company, one of 20 picked as finalists in a national competition whose final judges are filmmaker Ron Howard and his daughter, actress-filmmaker Bryce Dallas Howard.

The short, a post-apocalyptic drama called "Dominus," is a finalist in Canon's Project Imaginat10n, a user-generated contest in which filmmakers were tasked with creating a short film inspired by a group of photographs.

The film, shot in part on the Bonneville Salt Flats, was the work of 24-year-old filmmaker Arrius Sorbonne.

It was a family affair. Sorbonne's sister, Ellesse Sorbonne Balli, wrote the film. Ellesse's husband, Nathan Balli, was the cinematographer, editor and handled the visual effects. Other family members did production design and filled most of the cast.

And the whole thing was shot in three days.

"Dominus" and the other 19 finalists will now be screened by the Howards, who will pick five to premiere at Canon's Project Imaginat10n Film Festival this fall. Those five will be paired with five films directed by celebrities: Actress Eva Longoria, actor Jamie Foxx, fashion designer Georgina Chapman, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, and rock musician James Murphy (frontman of the defunct LCD Soundsystem).