Artistic Horror Short Film ‘BABYTEETH’ Explores Monsters in Our Heads and Homes

Screening at Dances With Films LA on June 24, 2025 LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, June 13, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The monstrous legacy of addiction and generational trauma through the eyes of a LatinX trans teen are explored in the art-horror short film, BABYTEETH. Written and directed by auteur-artist-musician Paul X. Sanchez IV and produced by award-winning filmmaker Jason A. White, the film will screen as part of the Dances With Films LA festival on June 24th at the famed TLC Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

A surreal nightmare, BABYTEETH begins as Toni is convinced there’s a monster under his bed — and after a disturbing interaction with his alcoholic mother, the shadows in their home feel more alive than ever. His best friend Marcus agrees to spend the night to help prove it’s all in his head. But when Marcus disappears, Toni is forced into a nightmarish descent through body horror, generational trauma, and the thin veil between fear and reality.

The film features all-practical effects and a cast of rising Black and Latinx talent. Behind the scenes, the team includes Grammy winning music producer Peter Katis as associate producer and proven experimental musician Joe Cardamone who crafted the score and soundtrack.

The film delivers a raw, atmospheric thriller about the monsters we grow up with — and the ones we become to survive them. Sanchez based it loosely on his own personal experience, “I wanted to make a film that feels like a trauma memory — surreal, terrifying, but true — from the perspective of a child like I was: a queer outsider of color left to face monsters alone. BABYTEETH is about what happens when the people meant to protect you disappear… and something darker takes their place.”

Thrust into homelessness at age 15 due to his mother’s alcoholism, Sanchez found refuge on the music scene in New York co-founding an all-ages club with pioneer Moby. He was accepted to NYU Tisch while unhoused, based on his stark, expressive photography of punk life and his self-portraiture. His work has been collected by MoMA. Sanchez earned his BFA from SUNY Purchase and an MFA in Directing from the AFI Conservatory, where he received the prestigious Tom Yoda Scholarship Award.

Today, Sanchez is a true multi-hyphenate continuing his mission to center marginalized voices. He directed music videos and films for Moby and R.E.M., served as cinematographer for Modulations (the first-ever electronic music documentary and a Sundance hit), and toured throughout the 1990s as Moby’s keyboardist., continuing his mission to center marginalized voices. His semi-autobiographical television pilot AV’82, about a mixed-race punk kid finding his identity and fighting to survive Reagan-era suburbia, was selected for the 2024 Sundance Episodic Lab.

White was inspired to produce BABYTEETH and credits his long-time cinephile friend Sanchez as instrumental in his own filmmaking journey. “While I write and direct comedic stories, I know an artist when I see one. Paul (Sanchez) is that artist. I'm very proud to be part of this collaboration and happy to help realize his vision,” explains White.

BABYTEETH at Dances With Films LA
Date/Time: Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 4:30pm
Location: TLC Chinese Theater, 6925 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028

Screening & Film Details visit: JawDropFilmsLLC.com/Babyteeth
Follow on Instagram: @babyteeth_the_short_film

Tammy Lynn
Spotlight PR Company
+1 310-867-1952
[email protected]

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