Hi! My name is Stanley Turner! I'm junior Film production major at USC and the writer/director of Bicycle Thieves (2026), a short film adaptation of Vittorio De Sica's 1948 classic. Except that instead of post-war Italy, this film plants its roots in modern-day Los Angeles. South Central Los Angeles. My amazing team and I will be bringing this exciting project to life very soon, and we need your help to do it!

Bicycle Thieves follows Nano Rivera, a young delivery biker whose night spirals way out of control when his bike gets stolen... on frat row. If he can't find it, he risks losing EVERYTHING. His search and this film will be a thrilling, nail-biting journey at every turn. One crazy night with some pretty crazy stakes.

As far as inspiration, Bicycle Thieves will be taking pages out of the book of the social realist films that came before. It will value and highlight the wide establishing shot in order to bring us into the world of South Los Angeles, just like Fruitvale Station did with Oakland. The visuals will be gritty yet elevated, the sound musically chaotic, just like the work of Sean Baker (ex, Anora, Prince of Broadway, Take Out). This is a film world I want to feel real, and our cinematography and sound design will reflect just that.

So why this film? Why now? Glad you asked.

I wrote Bicycle Thieves because I wanted to shine a light on socio-economic disparity as it appears today, right in front of our faces. Every day I cherish the honor to attend a beautiful school like USC, but it is a bubble of sorts. And right outside that bubble is Historic South Central, a neighborhood without the luxuries of a cushy private school. A neighborhood of real people, with real struggles. And that's what this film is about. A real look outside the USC bubble. An invitation for you, the viewer, to take a real look outside of your own.

Let's bring this to life and do it the right way! Our film will be operating with a budget of $8,000. Here’s a breakdown of where all of those funds will be going.

Anything helps, from just five dollars (which will earn you an Instagram shoutout) to five hundred (which will get you an Executive Producer credit, just something to consider...)

Thank you for reading. My team and I look forward to sharing this crazy dream of ours with you!