Letters for Sarah, Ernest Dempsey’s screenplay, won the award for Best Mystery/Thriller at the 2023 Spotlight Film Festival, held in Jacksonville, Florida at the end of July.
Logline
Two teenagers find some old letters that tell the stories of abused runaway sisters. In trying to find whom the letters were addressed to, they unknowingly open the way for bringing to justice the murderer of one of the sisters.
Creative History
Letters for Sarah was completed in late 2022 and registered in early 2023 is an unofficial sequel to the 2006 epistolary novel For Sarah by Annie Harmon. The novel tells the story of seven sisters who struggle with their traumatic lives at their abusive home. Harmon and Dempsey have teamed up previously on short film projects of Stinger Scott and Nellie’s Voices.
Journey
The Spotlight Film Festival trophy for Letters for Sarah has since traveled a bit and has been on planes trains and automobiles. It’s been to Houston, Galveston, Tampa, and its journey continues.
