2026 Voices Heard Film: Sherman Park

Sherman Park by Paulina Lule Bugembe-Kuwahara
Wisconsin

Running Time: 11 minutes
Horror

September 

Avalon Atmospheric Theater

2473 S Kinnickinnic Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53207

A group of teens are hanging out in Sherman Park when they're confronted by a man who seems... off. Assuming he is an addict looking to score, they dismiss him; a misunderstanding that turns fatal. The teens fight to survive a grisly encounter with the Unwell. Later, a news report presents a twisted version of the events, hinting that this incident is only the beginning of something far more sinister.

Instagram

Press

Directors Bio:

Paulina Lule Bugembe-Kuwahara is an American actor and filmmaker based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A lover of genre films, they grew up on a steady diet of Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and Wes Craven, among many others. A graduate of the Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Paulina earned their MFA in Film Directing from Chapman University.

As an actor, Paulina most recently starred opposite Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker in Emperor of Ocean Park on MGM+. Additional credits include Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Good Place, and Marvelous and the Black Hole.

Their directorial work has screened at festivals such as the Austin Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, and Milwaukee Film Festival, and has earned awards from BronzeLens and Women in Film. Inspired by visionary filmmakers like Nikyatu Jusu, Jordan Peele, and Ryan Coogler, Paulina aims to craft genre films that are both thrilling and emotionally resonant with stories that explore the complexities of the human condition while entertaining audiences.

Director's Statement:

I wrote the feature film Sherman Park in 2016, when my late brother Christopher was being released after serving a five-year prison sentence. Re-entering society is never easy. No one wants to go back to prison. In fact, most people simply want to do the right thing and leave their past mistakes behind. As if starting over after incarceration weren’t difficult enough, I was increasingly worried about the turbulent social climate he was returning to: the 2016 presidential campaign had unearthed something that had long remained on the fringes of society. White nationalism was going mainstream, spreading like a virus as the Donald Trump campaign gained momentum.

Sherman Park is for every person trying to build a new life in a society that is hostile toward them at every turn. It is an allegory about what it’s like to come home from prison as a Black person in Milwaukee, where recidivism is extremely high, and is told through the lens of a zombie horror film.

This short film acts as a proof-of-concept for the feature in which we see a group of Black teenagers hanging out in Sherman Park proper, roasting each other and having a blast. They're soon approached by a disheveled white man who seems completely out of place in their neighborhood. In a fresh take on classic zombie horror, what begins as a misunderstanding quickly turns deadly.

The proof-of-concept is the cold open to the Sherman Park feature script juxtaposed with a news report from a later scene in the feature, reflecting the all-too-familiar media distortion of such events. This choice to splice the scenes together resulted in a ten-minute short film that offers a glimpse of the tone, horror, and subtext of the full feature while leaving audiences eager for more.

I had the distinct pleasure of making this film in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with an entirely local cast and crew of Milwaukee creatives. As a Milwaukee native, it was an honor to provide filmmakers in my hometown the opportunity to showcase their talents. Not only do I hope audiences watch the film and want to see more, but I’m also proud to share the incredible breadth of talent we have here in Milwaukee with audiences across the world and the rest of the filmmaking industry.