SOUTH PORTLAND — Wilton native Aidan Underwood is busy wrapping up production of a short film for the Maine Mayhem Film Festival.

In 2018, Underwood graduated from the digital media program at Foster Career and Technical Education Center in Farmington. He is currently studying communications and new media at Southern Maine Community College.

He hopes to use his education and experience to find a career as a camera operator, preferably on a film set. He is well on his way to making those dreams a reality.

A short film he is producing has been accepted in the Maine Mayhem Film Festival. “The Final Rays of Crimson”, along with five other student-produced films, will premiere this spring at Nickelodeon Cinema.

“One of my classes is a two-semester class,” he said. “The first part of the year, students spend writing short film scripts. The ideas are pitched to a panel of professionals. Out of the submissions from 18 to 20 students, six get the green light for production and entry into the film festival.”

They spend the second half of the year focusing on filming and producing the film.

“It is a pretty intense class,” he said. “The film takes up most of my life at the moment.”

“The Final Rays of Crimson” is a blend of adventure drama and psychological thriller.

The film is about two young urban explorers named Adelyn and Josh, who travel to northern Maine to explore an abandoned mill. While exploring, there is a mishap and they fall off the edge of a mezzanine.

Josh is unresponsive and Adelyn is trapped under a pile of rubble. Freezing, bleeding and scared, she is forced to find a way to free herself and get both of them out of the mill safely.

To make matters worse, a man stands in the corner of the room watching the scene unfold. He doesn’t offer assistance and hardly utters a word beyond asking, “Are you okay?”

“Think ‘127 Hours’ meets ‘Gerald’s Game’,” Underwood said.

The film is set in a mill in Madison, now owned by Eagle Creek Renewable Energy. The former Madison Paper Industries mill was the perfect location to set the film, he said.

“Eagle Creek has been very accommodating and helpful,” he said.

Underwood recently wrapped up a fundraising campaign to help offset location fees and travel expenses.

“I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours on this project,” he said. “But, everything is all going to plan.”

After the premiere, the festival will tour the state and the films will be shown in locations yet to be determined.