"Magan's Fare," a short film co-directed by two Á½ÐÔÉ«ÎçÒ¹ University faculty members, was just listed on as one of seven short films from Scott Feinberg's predictions for the Oscars for Best Live Action Short.
Dana White, associate professor in the School of Media and Journalism, and Christopher Knoblock, associate lecturer in the school, co-directed "Magan's Fare."
"Scott Feinberg's predictions are one of the biggest in Hollywood," White said in response to the article.
The film was previously eligible for submission to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for award consideration after winning Best Live Action Short Film at the Oscar-qualifying St. Louis Film Festival.
In early 2026, the film was featured at the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) and received the Programmer's Choice Award as the Best Short Film, as chosen by all CIFF programmers.
The film follows a rideshare driver confronted with a moral dilemma after being left responsible for a vulnerable passenger with nowhere to go. The story draws on a real and troubling practice known as patient dumping — the discharge of individuals from care facilities without a safe destination.
For White and Knoblock, who are married and have built their filmmaking careers around difficult questions of human experience, that kind of real-world resonance is exactly what drives their work.
"I tend to write into what terrifies me because I don't understand it," White said in an interview with WKYC-TV. "And if I don't understand it, I have to make something about it."
That philosophy shapes not only their films, but also how they approach their craft. The couple, who previously lived and worked on the East and West coasts, now call Northeast Ohio home and have embraced the region as both a filming location and a creative community. Multiple projects have been shot across the area, with local support playing a significant role in making their productions possible.
