After a painful breakup leaves her feeling lost and disconnected from herself, Maggie uses a time-travel device to return to the night she met her ex-boyfriend, Parker, determined to stop their relationship before it ever begins. But when she arrives, she discovers Parker is there too, with plans of his own. Forced to confront each other in the place where everything started, they relive the moments that brought them together and the truths that pulled them apart. As old feelings resurface, Maggie is faced with an impossible choice: protect herself from the heartbreak she knows is coming, or preserve the love that once meant everything to her. In the end, she realizes that even if love doesn’t last forever, it can still shape who we become. Strangers is a story about heartbreak, acceptance, and finding the strength to let go while honoring what once was.

Director Biography - Ethan Webber

Hey everyone! I’m Ethan Webber, the writer, director, and editor of the short film STRANGERS. I started developing this Sci-Fi Romantic Dramedy after life threw me a curveball in the Summer of 2025. Since then, the entire team STRANGERS has worked effortlessly to bring the story of Maggie and Parker to life. I started my career in film at the age of seventeen, and since then have worked on over 25 short films and a feature film! I’ve been honored to have so many amazing opportunities so far, and I am beyond excited to end my SCAD career with this film!

Director Statement

Love is complicated.

It is one of the most special gifts of life, while being the source of the deepest pain. We crave it, we hold it, we fear it, we hate it. We instinctively love “love” itself. But what happens when we regret love? When someone looks back at memories and regrets the days, hours, and minutes spent with someone. What happens when the moments that used to be the most special in your life become ghosts in the closet? Some may ignore it. Some may bury it. Some may accept it. But others might want to change it.

This film explores the desire to rewrite one's past in hopes of covering up heartbreak and the idea of one's fate. STRANGERS will be a lesson for today’s youth, while serving as a sweet-and-sour reminder for adults about the complicated experiences of young love.

STRANGERS is in no way just a simple romance story. It is not another breakup story either. If anything, this film is meant to share the idea of closure and what it truly means to accept the past. I want this film to heal those who are hurting, guide those who are lost, warm those who are cold, and help us find a way to love those we used to love.

Most of all, this is meant to inspire people not fear love, and all that entails, but to embrace the journey two people can go on together.