cyn

A Film by David Bartlett

A Mixed Doubles Films Production

Meet Cyn

A former child star whose career was shattered by bullying and harassment returns home as a celebrated painter, only to find that the trauma she tried to escape has taken on a life of its own.

CYN key art showing a stylized portrait of Cyn behind fractured reflective forms

The Story

A dark, stylized tableau of Cyn surrounded by masked figures

Blending psychological thriller tension with surreal horror, CYN traces Cyn's return home as memory, shame, and something darker begin closing in. Oregon forests, an art-world unveiling, masked figures, and hallucinations that feel almost sentient draw her into an ordeal she must survive.

David Bartlett

David Bartlett on set

David Bartlett is the director of CYN and has worked on more than 200 productions, including Pulp Fiction, Speed, and Total Recall. An Emmy-nominated producer and sound designer, as well as a director and writer, he has earned 93 film festival awards. His career has placed him alongside master directors of psychological suspense and horror, including William Friedkin, Tobe Hooper, and Brian De Palma. He is a member of the Television Academy and the Editors Guild.

Preview the World of CYN

The Wound

"She sees what you did."

CYN is a film about what survives. Cindy became Cyn — not as escape, but as transformation. The bullying she endured didn't break her. It made her into something her tormentors couldn't predict.

The psychological horror at the heart of this film is inseparable from a social reality: the long, invisible damage of sustained cruelty. CYN puts that cost on screen with unflinching clarity — and positions the survivor not as a victim, but as a force of nature.

In a cultural moment defined by conversations about mental health, online harassment, and the lasting shadow of adolescent cruelty, CYN speaks directly to an audience that has lived this. The film's social dimension opens doors: educational partnerships, awareness campaigns, festival programmers, distributors who understand that psychological thrillers can hold a mirror up to the human heart.

The Vision

RITA (CONT'D) (to herself) Thank God. (in the mic) Everyone, can I have your attention? Welcome, and thank you all for coming! The big surprise is finally here. She turns to take hold of a red sash cord. RITA (CONT'D) Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the revealing of our featured piece. I give you, Alien Man Walks Into A Bar. Ms. Beanster videos herself. MS. BEANSTER Oh my God. Here it is! She turns the camera to the red drape. Rita gestures with her hand, the drape drops and reveals a very large and striking painting of three large Easter Island-like heads in a futuristic setting in neon blue and orange colors. Everyone is stunned and gasps. Including Smoky and Angel. BOBBY Oh my!

Even on the page, CYN had already begun to resonate.

WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival 2026 — Winner, Feature Screenplay
WorldFest-Houston Winner Feature Screenplay
Golden State Film Festival 2026 — Best Supernatural Thriller Feature Screenplay, CYN by David Bartlett
Golden State Best Supernatural Thriller Feature Screenplay
Indie Vegas Film Festival 2026 — Official Selection, Psychological Thriller Screenplay
Indie Vegas Official Selection Psychological Thriller Screenplay
LA Crime and Horror Film Festival 2026 — Finalist, Horror Feature Screenplay
LA Crime & Horror Finalist Horror Feature Screenplay

A Note from David Bartlett

David Bartlett on set

I did not set out to make a story about a woman on the edge. I set out to confront what refuses to stay buried.

CYN is a film about emotional ghosts: guilt, identity, harassment, memory, and the private damage that keeps speaking long after the world believes it has passed.

On the surface, the terror in this film may appear supernatural. But I am more interested in psychological truth than easy explanation. Cyn runs because silence has become unbearable. She paints because words fail her. The images, the unstable perspective, and the fractured rhythms of the film are all designed to place the audience inside that unraveling.

My years as an editor and Emmy-nominated sound designer taught me that dread lives in texture, breath, interference, and the spaces between words. With CYN, I want to create a film that feels intimate, unsettling, and emotionally volatile, where art, trauma, and truth collide.

TEAM CYN

Team Cyn is taking shape across Oregon, Los Angeles, and Palm Beach, Florida, as CYN moves through pre-production toward an intense 23-day shoot in October 2026.

How We Met

David Bartlett and Michele D'Acosta together in an art gallery beside vivid original artwork

David Bartlett and Michele D'Acosta — the producing duo behind Team Cyn — were two kids from the wrongish side of the tracks who somehow found each other on a film set in Hollywood. Where else?

David's ancestors crossed America westward by covered wagon. Michele's ancestors are a mystery to her. An orphan of African descent, she was adopted by a white British couple and raised in a seaside village in southern England.

Different histories. Different weather. Different accents.

What brought them together was a shared obsession with filmmaking, and a belief in bold, uncompromising work that stands the test of time. Michele went on to become an award-winning producer, screenwriter, artist, and animator, with work spanning BBC Television in London and HBO Documentary Films in New York and Los Angeles. Her artwork is held in private collections internationally. She created the visual artwork woven throughout this site, including the pieces seen in the photograph above.

Together, she and David built Team Cyn as a home for bold, uncompromising work shaped by lived experience, artistic risk, and stories that stand the test of time.

Vivid original Team Cyn artwork featuring a surreal painted face framed by neon color and fluid abstract forms
cyn

Contact

For production, creative, and financing inquiries, please contact David Bartlett or Michele D'Acosta directly.