Local indie filmmaker Carter Cerretani receives positive response from first short film, ‘Love Can Be Poison’

John Cassavetes, Gus Van Sant, Jim Jarmusch, Barry Jenkins and Ava DuVernay. These are just a few independent filmmakers who have made their mark on the movie industry throughout the past few decades.

Carter Cerretani of Clarks Summit may soon add his name to that list.

The 2020 Abington Heights High School graduate has been showing his first short film, “Love Can Be Poison,” around the film festival circuit. The response has already been positive. The film was an official selection of the Northeast Pennsylvania and Brightside Tavern film festivals this year, and was awarded runner-up for the latter festival in the Best Concept category.

The film’s story clocks in at 15 minutes and centers on a warrior princess, Princess Captivus, who returns to her home planet to participate in an arranged marriage. When she shows resistance to the pending nuptials and argues with her fiancee, he takes matters into his own hands and subjugates her with a love potion.

The idea for the story came from a novel he began writing during his freshman year at Marywood University.

“I never finished the novel,” Cerretani said. “But I could see the opening scene so clearly in my head, so I fleshed it out into a script.”

Thus, “Love Can Be Poison” was born.

In late 2024, he reached out to Scranton Films and, with the help of founder Luz Cabrales, creator of the 2025 horror film “Shadows of the Past,” was able to bring his script to life. The entire process took about eight months.

“Everything worked out at the best possible time,” he said. “I finished the script about the same time I started to look to see what was around in the area. I found an indie film meet-up and they gave fliers out, so I decided to contact (Scranton Film) and said ‘Let’s see what happens.’”

Much like now-famous filmmakers Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez and M. Night Shyamalan, Cerretani funded the entire project himself, working during the summer while going to school and saving what he could. He credits Cabrales with offering tons of help throughout the process, from producing to connecting him with actors for the film’s roles.

“She was an incredible help,” he said.

Cerretani said he first became interested in writing scripts while at Abington Heights.

“We had this yearly festival called the Playwrights’ Festival where students would write and act in short, one-act plays,” Cerretani said. “I did one every year until senior year. … which didn’t happen because of COVID.”

After that, Cerretani broadened his interests in behind-the-scenes and the filmmaking process. While a senior at Marywood University, he completed a student film called “Memory Lane” in which his protagonist, who is graduating from college himself, looks back on his college experience.

Cerretani is the son of Karen Mirabelli, Clarks Summit, co-owner of Floor Excellence with her husband, and Kris Cerretani of Jermyn. He is a 2024 graduate of Marywood University, where he earned a bachelor of arts in multimedia communications and was the arts and entertainment editor for the university newspaper, the Wood Word.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Cerretani already has plans for more projects in the works. One, currently titled “All You Need,” will be a personal commentary on the rising presence of artificial intelligence in everyday life.

“It’s about someone who finds every element of his life consumed by AI.” Cerretani said. “Every time he tries to get away from it, the AI responds ‘We’re all you need.’”

“Love Can Be Poison” stars Sammie Gashi as Princess Captivus and Nicolai Kabana as Prince Venuum, along with Josh Bidwell and Eileen Rosen. The film is a collaboration between Scranton Films and Fun Pants Film Co. It will be available to view on Youtube once Cerretani ends his film festival circuit.

For information about the short film, visit the Facebook or Instagram pages @lovecanbepoisonofficial. To contact Cerretani about working with him, email ccerretani022@gmail.com.