2016 Horrible Imaginings Film Festival

2016 Coney Island Film Festival

2016 Ax Wound Film Festival

2017 Macabre Faire Film Festival *Nominated Best Lead Actress in a Short

2016 Portland Femme Popup Series

Writer, Director, Producer:
Christina Raia

Cinematographer
Peter Westervelt

AD, Editor
Matt Gershowitz

Hair & Makeup
Rashida Bolden

Composer
Alexandra Kalinowski

(Spoilers) For two years, I was an Instructor for a mobile film workshop, which meant spending one week out of every month in a hotel room. I was always very aware of how alone I was despite being surrounded by strangers in other rooms. I was never personally lonely, but there's a certain loneliness to hotel rooms that you can just kind of feel. People pass through, never settling in, never making it a home. I often found myself thinking about all the stories that passed through; all the strange, unsettling, hopefully sometimes wonderful memories made there, and the potential 'ghosts' that lingered. This combined with my tendency to wonder about my room possibly being haunted led to the inspiration for "Hello."

One night after a long day at the workshop, when I couldn't sleep and found myself paying very close attention to the silence, the almost eerie silence of the room, I started freaking myself out with the possibility of not being so alone after all. In an attempt to appease my growing trepidation, I started pondering about ghosts; what would make them linger, what they could really want from a living person. I started entertaining myself with the notion of a ghost simply being lonely & bored -- especially having to watch all the people pass through the room they may haunt, and just wishing to make a connection with someone. As a huge horror film fan, I thought of all the cliche things that often happen as signs of a haunting and tried to find a funny, sweet or mundane explanation for them on the part of a ghost. Soon I was writing the script; and though I didn't get any sleep that night, I started the next morning very excited about this new script I had just written. I shot the film on no budget two months later and am very pleased with the final product, thanks to my small but mighty team of talented collaborators.

• WHEN SUPERNATURAL AND SWEET STORYTELLING MEETS THAT PIXAR FEEL IN THE SHORT FLM “HELLO” [The Blood Shed]

• Hello – Review [atomic age renegades]

• Christina Discusses “Hello” [Horror Happens Radio]

• Daily Horror Film Fest: “Hello” [The Department of Tangents]