CIFF horror short "Hide" asks: What if the rich ate their own?

• "Hide" screens on April 16 and 17 at the Cleveland International Film Festival.

What they're saying: Kohlas drew inspiration for "Hide" from an article about a cannibalism website he read in The Guardian.

• "The further I researched it, I came across real-life cases where people actually acted this out," says Kohlas, who attended Ohio University. "It was one of the craziest stories I'd ever heard."

State of play: Kohlas framed the script within the hot horror trend seen in films like "Ready or Not" and "The Menu."

• "You have highly elite, uber-rich people with too much time and money on their hands," he says.

What's next: Kohlas is already working on turning "Hide," which premiered at Screamfest in Los Angeles last October, into a feature film.

• "I've always wanted to get into CIFF," says Kohlas, who lives in Los Angeles. "I have friends and family in Northeast Ohio who finally get to see what I've been doing all these years."