Vandon Gibbs
Vandon Gibbs
MY LIFE STORY

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

2024

  • Academy Nicholl Fellowship – Semifinalist (“The Forever Winter”)

 

2023

  • PAGE Awards – Finalist (“The Forever Winter”)
  • Academy Nicholl Fellowship – Quarterfinalist (“The Forever Winter”)
  • Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Contest – Second Round (“CrisisGo”)
  • Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Contest – Second Round (“The Divided States of America”)

2022

  • LA Shorts International Film Festival – Official Selection (Maternal)
  • Cobb International Film Festival – Official Selection (Maternal)
  • Cinequest Screenwriting Competition – Finalist (The Divided States of America)
  • Final Draft’s Big Break Contest – Semifinalist (The Divided States of America)
  • PAGE Awards – Quarterfinalist (The Forever Winter)
  • Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Contest – Second Round (“The Forever Winter”)
  • ISA – TOP 25 SCREENWRITERS TO WATCH

2021

  • ISA Fast Track Fellowship – *WINNER* (“The Divided States of America”)
  • Academy Nicholl Fellowship – Quarterfinalist (“In Blood”)
  • Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Contest – Second Round (“The Divided States of America”)
  • Cobb International Film Festival – Official Selection (“You Called”)
  • Global Monthly Online Film Competition – Official Selection (“You Called”)

2020

  • Academy Nicholl Fellowship – Quarterfinalist (“The Billings LP”)
  • Final Draft’s Big Break Contest – Quarterfinalist (“The Divided States of America”)
  • ISA Fast Track Fellowship – Top 50 Semifinalist (“One Nighter”)
  • Script Pipeline – Semifinalist (“One Nighter”)
  • PAGE Awards -Quarterfinalist (“Maternal”)

2019

  • Launch Pad Pilots Competition – Top 50 Finalist (“The Divided States of America”)
  • Script Pipeline – Semifinalist (“The Divided States of America”)
  • Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Contest – Second Round (“The Divided States of America”)
  • BlueCat Screenplay Competition – Quarterfinalist (“The Divided States of America”)
  • Script Pipeline – Quarterfinalist (“In Blood”)
  • Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition – Quarterfinalist (“The Billings LP”)

2018

  • Script Pipeline – Finalist (“The Billings LP”)
  • Final Draft’s Big Break Contest – Quarterfinalist (“The Billings LP”)
  • Final Draft’s Big Break Contest – Quarterfinalist (“One Nighter”)
  • Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Contest – Second Round (“In Blood”)
  • PAGE Awards – Quarterfinalist (“In Blood”)
  • One-Reeler Short Film Competition – Award of Merit (“The Hunt”)
  • BlueCat Screenplay Competition – Quarterfinalist (“One Nighter”)
  • Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition – Quarterfinalist (“One Nighter”)
  • Emerging Screenwriters Shoot Your Sizzle Top 100 (“The Billings LP”)

2017

  • Final Draft’s Big Break Contest – Semifinalist (“In Blood”)
  • Shore Scripts Competition – Quarterfinalist (“One Nighter”)
  • Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition – Quarterfinalist (“In Blood”)

2016

  • Academy Nicholl Fellowship – Quarterfinalist (“In Blood”)
  • PAGE Awards – Quarterfinalist (“In Blood”)
  • Final Draft’s Big Break Screenwriting Contest – Quarterfinalist (“In Blood”)
  • Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Contest – Second Round (“In Blood”)
  • ScreenCraft Horror – Quarterfinalist (“In Blood”)
  • Extreme Screenplay Contest – Semifinalist (“In Blood”)

2015

  • StoryPros Screenwriting Contest – 2nd Place/Action (“The Pick-Up Guy”)
  • Creative World Awards – Finalist (“The Pick-Up Guy)
  • Table Read My Screenplay -Semifinalist (“The Pick-Up Guy)
  • PAGE Awards – Quarterfinalist (“The Pick-Up Guy)
  • Cinequest Screenwriting Competition – Top 100 (“The Pick-Up Guy”)
  • Emerging Screenwriters – Top 100 (“The Pick-Up Guy”)
  • Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition – Quarterfinalist (“The Pick-Up Guy”)
  • ScreenCraft Action/Thriller Contest – Quarterfinalist (“The Pick-Up Guy”)
  • Creative World Awards – Finalist (“The Stereogram Gallery”)
  • Cinequest Screenwriting Competition – Top 100 (“The Stereogram Gallery”)

2014

  • SCAD aTVfest– Official Selection (“Moments”)

2013

  • Cinequest Film Festival – *WINNER* Best Feature Drama (“Solace”)
  • Atlanta Film Festival – Official Selection (“Solace”)
  • New Orleans Film Festival – Official Selection (“Solace”)
  • Black Harvest Film Festival – Official Selection (“Solace”)
  • Bronze Lens Film Festival – Official Selection (“Solace”)

2011

  • Creative World Awards – Semifinalist (“Return of the Yellow Dragon”)

2010

  • Atlanta Underground Film Festival – Official Selection (“Pario”)

2009

  • BlueCat Competition – Quarterfinalist (“The Stereogram Gallery”)
  • BlueCat Competition – Quarterfinalist (“Three of a Kind”)
  • Creative World Awards – Top 50 Drama Quarterfinalist (“Three of a Kind”)
  • Austin Film Festival – Top 10% (“The Stereogram Gallery”)
  • Script Shark – Top 100 (“The Stereogram Gallery”)
  • Atlanta Film Festival – Top 24/Honorable Mention (“Three of a Kind”)

2008

  • Sundance Writers Lab – Second Round (“Three of a Kind”)
  • American Black Film Festival – Official Selection (“Complexion”)
  • American Diaspora Film Festival – Official Selection (“Complexion”)
  • Black Harvest Film Festival – Official Selection (“Complexion”)

Vandon Gibbs is an award-winning writer and director who enjoys recounting intimate stories with big themes. He proved his love for visual arts at an early age by placing in numerous art competitions throughout high school. His passion for drawing was only matched by his love of movies. As a child, his favorite Saturday morning show wasn’t a cartoon, it was Siskel and Ebert.  This, combined with Vandon’s affection for cinema, storytelling, and drawing, led him to conclude that he wanted to be either a comic book illustrator or a Hollywood concept artist.

In 2007, Vandon produced his first feature film, Complexion, which premiered in Los Angeles as an official selection of the American Black Film Festival. His second film, the taut thriller Solace, premiered to rave reviews at the Cinequest Film Festival and won its Jury Award for Best Dramatic Feature.

Throughout the years, Vandon has been prolific, both as a writer and director. In 2020, he completed a pilot script, The Divided States of America, which focuses on American racism as seen through the lens of college football in the South. In 2021, Divided States won the ISA Fast Track Fellowship award. In 2022, ISA named Vandon one of the top 25 screenwriters to watch. In addition to those accolades, Vandon has had numerous screenplays place in prestigious contests such as the Nicholl Fellowship, Final Draft’s Big Break, the PAGE Awards, and the Austin Film Festival. His coming-of-age drama, The Billings LP, was a Script Pipeline Finalist and his action feature, The Forever Winter, was a PAGE Awards Finalist.

He currently resides in Atlanta with his wife and their two children.

TIMELINE
2017
The Hunt

Lost and alone in the woods, a woman finds herself being tracked by a relentless hunter.

2013
Solace

The marriage of socialite Kathryn (Rhoda Griffis, The Blind Side) and her politician husband (Ric Reitz, Safe Haven) is falling apart. They each struggle to keep their secret second lives concealed, while trying to restore their once love-filled relationship. A lawyer (Robert Pralgo, The Vampire Diaries) battles wits with a streetwise hustler (Dupree Lewis Jr.), risking everything to save his credibility. Construction worker Ridley (Russell Comegys, The Lucky One and The Punisher) pushes Sofia (Dixie Light) to her physical and mental limits. Fate brought them together; a secret will tear them apart.

2013
Moments

Two strangers discuss love, life and relationships after having a one night stand.

2010
Pario

Dr. Faircloth and his assistant Eve reach the critical stage of their project only to discover it hasn’t gone as predicted. With the fate of humanity hanging in the balance, Eve chooses to challenge her superior and embrace her destiny in order to save the project and the future of humanity.

2010
Three of a Kind

Three people. Two plans. One problem.

2008
Complexion

Derek meets the intriguing Tracee, and the two immediately form a special bond. All seems perfect in their relationship except the one thing that’s keeping Derek from truly falling in love with Tracee – her skin complexion. Even though they’re both black, his preference is to be with women of a lighter skin complexion.