Imaginarium 2025
- Dwan L. Hearn
- Jul 26
- 5 min read
It's that time again! That time where I share my experience at Imaginarium 2025 and boy, was it a big one for me!
Despite sitting here with my notes, I still don't know where to begin. A lot happened and even as I was retelling the events of the weekend, I forgot about a couple of parts.
reviews notes
Yep, I still left things out!
Let's just start with a discussion on panels. Of course, panels are one of the primary parts of Imaginarium. They are the discussions that teach and encourage the attending creatives to move forward in their creative space. This year, not only was I a panelist, but of the three panels I was apart of, two I moderated (meaning that I came up with the questions and led the discussion) and one of those was MY PANEL - Writing and Wrestling II: Everything Comes Back To Wrestling!
My first panel was "Using AI Ethically" - a very interesting panel where the conversation boiled down to "AI is a fine tool, but should never be used to replace the Soul of Art". I was thankful to be on that panel with friends and to be apart of the ongoing discussion about the usage of LLMs in Creative Arts.
Writing and Wrestling was going to go the way it was going to go. The ROH/AEW Wrestler BEEF wasn't there but we had a wonderful discussion showing how creative pro-wrestling actually is and what can be observed in a wrestling program and applied to your work. Maybe be hearing from some of those panelist in future Moon=Wrestling episodes.
My real concern was the "Creating Culturally Diverse Characters" panel. I was trusted by the event directors Holly and Stephen to lead this discussion and I want to say thank you for trusting me with such a serious topic to led as my FIRST EVER PANEL AS A MODERATOR!!! (What the hell, guys!??!)
That's okay, because I killed it! People commended the panel and the discussion all weekend long and I was truly humbled by all the kind words. I also want to thank everyone who was on that panel for being apart of a fantastic conversation!
i didn't attend too many panels outside of my own, but I did attend Barbara V. Evers workshop about Public Speaking only to find myself as a part of the presentation. This was in reference to the Chair Throwing incident from a couple years back - this will be my legacy!
I was also able to preview Devin Hylton and Tim Miller's new audio drama "The Rapture at Silver Coin". The preview showcased Part 1 and 2 of the 6-Part Western Audio Drama. Afterwards, there was a Q&A with Devin, Tim, and the two lead voice actors. I enjoyed the piece, but I felt some of the part without dialogue went JUST too long (but if I'm being fair, that was probably by design. Something about a ongoing quiet holds your attention as you await for the next word to be spoken so... what do I know?!)
As always, there was lots of entertainment including Jayson William Allen's "Poetry of the Dead", a performance by Herschel Zahnd, and TWO belly dancing performances - one by my "Sako and the Moon" co-host Sako Tumi, and one with Sako, Beth Gallagher, and Jennifer Norad. These were ALL wonderful performances and I was blessed to see them all and call them all my friends. (Admittedly, I was pulled into an author reading during the Poetry of the Dead set. I was there, outside, going back and forth. Chairs were thrown. It's truly a thing now)
Of all the things I did during this weekend, I think "Tea Dueling" was the weirdest but also the most fun. Hosted by Jennifer Norad, Beth Gallagher, and Geoffrey Mandragora, Tea Dueling works like this: Two people go head-to-head with a Chessmen cookie and hot tea (at least 65 degrees) and the two dunk the cookie in the tea for about 5 seconds and then hold the cookie upright to see who will be the last one to eat the cookie - last one wins. The challenge is that the cookie is wet and is slowly falling apart. If it falls, you're out. If both cookies fall, you go again. You get 3 attempts. Somehow, despite not being the match of the finals (that finalist was named Hallie), the rematch that I keep hearing people wanting to see is myself vs the eventual winner, Imaginarium's Tea Dueling Champion, Wayne Pedersen. If this is the case, I'm down for the rematch!
Oh shit! I made the joke at the beginning of this post and nearly forgot again!! Hallowed Hill's first true movie premiere happened at Imaginarium!! The film room was packed for our film and it got a lot of positive feedback. While we'll always find "ways to improve" the movie, it was a wonderful experience. Thank you to everyone that came to support us!
And now we address the thumbnail.
This year was pretty good as far as the film festival was concerned. "The Companion" was an Official Selection on the film side and in the short form Screenplay category, I had TWO entries! Out of the 15 finalists, I was TWO OF THEM!!! Dope, right?! In the end, I won runner-up for "Zombie Moon" that was co-written by my now 9-year-old son (today is his birthday! Happy Birthday, Jameson!) so now he is ALSO an award-winning screenwriter! How cool is that!?!?!?! Not only that, but the two other runner-ups in my category are writers I have the highest respect for, James Sabata and Herschel Zahnd. I can't believe that I'm even mentioned in the same space as those two. (I can't get past the feelings that to them, being in the category with me is a insult, but that's just bad thoughts talking...right?!) Anyway, the honor of being a two-time award winning screenwriter (nope, still feels weird) and being able to share this honor with my son - there aren't words for this feeling! Oh, and congrats to the winner of the category, Craig Urquhart.
Not bad for someone who has only been in the space for four years, right?
There was SO much to discuss from Imaginarium 2025, but these were the highlights! Should you attend next year? Absolutely! Trust me - there will be so many more stories to tell and chairs to throw!
-The Moon
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