Francis (7:12)
IMDb; Short of the Week; shortfil.ms; YouTube

This was originally a story written by Dave Eggers for the radio program "This American Life," in 2011. I think the short film itself was made in 2013, and I first discovered it, completely by accident, in 2014. I'm not really familiar with Eggers's work at all, though I've at least heard of one book he wrote, which I'd like to read someday, probably. And I'm not really familiar with the radio program, though I suppose I've heard of it. And um... I don't know what else to say about any of that.

So, the story is narrated... by some guy talking about a camping spot by a lake, which he says he'll never go to again because of something that happened there, though not to him. The story he tells sounds like a kind of urban legend (minus the "urban"). Or actually... it's a campfire story, I guess. It's about a 17-year-old girl named Francis. She rows out to the deepest part of the lake one night, to be alone, look at the stars, and write in her journal. And then... the story gets really creepy, but I don't want to spoil anything about it. I'll just say I liked it pretty well.