A 13-year-old homeschool filmmaker’s short film “Scroll” earned him a spot at the All American High School Film Festival.
Thirteen-year-old Dylan Asher Logue and his family gathered around a screen to watch the livestream announcing this year’s official selections for the All American High School Film Festival. What he never expected was to hear his own name read aloud as a selection in the Middle School category.
“It was pretty crazy when they called my name,” Dylan said. “I was screaming, watching it with my family.”
The Plant City homeschool student’s short film, “Scroll,” made the cut for the 2026 festival lineup and will screen Oct. 16-18 at the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square. Dylan is also in the running for recognition at the Teen Indie Awards on Oct. 18 at The Kings Theater in Brooklyn, a long way from where he shot his very first movie.
Dylan made “Scroll” this spring in an audio-visual class at his homeschool co-op, HEAT, under teacher Tanci Mishler. The short film unfolds through a phone camera, a found-footage trick Dylan picked up from movies like Cloverfield and other movies he’d been watching with his family.
“I thought it would be cool to do it based on the perspective of a phone scrolling,” he said. His hope for anyone watching? “Just to inspire them to look up from their phones,” he said.
Dylan wrote, directed, filmed, edited and acted in “Scroll,” shooting the whole thing on his cellphone and editing it with CapCut. He filmed at two locations (his own house and a friend’s) to land the twist ending, in which an alien turns out to have been holding the phone the entire time. It’s the part he’s proudest of. “I edited in the alien head reflection when he’s holding it,” he said.
The film’s cast reads like a family and friends reunion: classmates Ben High and his sister Violet High, Dylan’s siblings Mason and Eden Logue and fellow student Jelena Garcia all pitched in.
This isn’t Dylan’s first movie, either. He’s been making films since he was about 8, starting with a two-minute Western called “The Sheriff” shot with his family. Directors Tim Burton and M. Night Shyamalan remain his biggest influences, drawn to their dark visual style and distinctive camera work.
When his teacher watched his film, she thought it was something special. “It was funny and incorporated a lot of what we see in social media and included the element of doom scrolling,” said Mishler. “I’m so incredibly happy and proud that Dylan submitted his film to the All American High School Film Festival, and I’m even more excited that it was chosen. It is clear that he is dedicated and committed to learning about and making films.”
Mishler was encouraging enough that he’s already deep into his next project, “The Bug,” a remake of a film he first made while his family lived in Africa. He’s holding auditions soon and has picked up new gear, including a shotgun microphone and a clapper board slate.
Asked whether he wants to pursue filmmaking as a career, Dylan didn’t hesitate.
“Definitely,” he said. “I kind of just like picturing everything in my mind and then seeing the finished product.”
A trip to New York wasn’t originally on the calendar, but the family bought tickets last week once they decided to make it work. “It’s an unplanned trip but we can’t wait to see his film on the big screen in a real movie theater in Times Square,” said Dylan’s mom.
You can catch more of Dylan’s work on his YouTube channel, DylanDeluxe808.
