‘Opting In’ hits Beverly Hills and Napa film fests after buzzy premieres

There’s a familiar exhaustion baked into modern dating—apps, algorithms, and the quiet suspicion that everyone is performing. OPTING IN, the new rom-com thriller from filmmaker Susan Dynner, takes that fatigue and sharpens it into something far more unsettling. What begins as a charming love story quickly mutates into a psychological slow-burn about control, data, and the illusion of intimacy.

Following early momentum at the DC Independent Film Festival and Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival, the film continues its run with upcoming screenings at the Beverly Hills Film Festival on April 14 and the Napa Valley Streamfest on April 24. It’s a tight 13-minute proof-of-concept—but it lands like something much bigger.

Building a psychological love story

At the center is Amelia, played by Shauna Grace, a woman burned out by the mechanical churn of dating culture. When she meets Jake, everything clicks too easily. He’s attentive, intuitive, almost perfectly aligned. The kind of connection that feels rare—until it feels engineered.

Dynner structures the film to pull the audience into that same emotional arc. Attraction first, doubt later. “I wanted the audience to fall in love at the same pace as Amelia,” she explains, “and then slowly realize something about that love doesn’t feel earned.” It’s a precise manipulation—and that’s the point.

Where romance meets surveillance

Because OPTING IN isn’t really about romance. It’s about data.

Jake doesn’t just understand Amelia—he predicts her. Anticipates her. Knows her in ways that feel less like chemistry and more like surveillance. The film leans into a question most people avoid asking: if someone knows everything about you, is that intimacy—or is it control?

Grace, who also produced the film, plays Amelia with a careful balance of openness and suspicion. “Emotional openness is a choice that requires ongoing effort,” she notes. “Playing Amelia meant exploring how vulnerability can function as strength.” That tension—between wanting connection and fearing its cost—drives every scene.

The result is a genre hybrid that actually earns the label. It moves like a rom-com, then quietly destabilizes itself. Charm becomes unease. Chemistry becomes calculation.

A filmmaker in full control

Produced under Dynner’s Aberration Films banner, OPTING IN is positioned as a proof-of-concept for a larger feature or series. That makes sense—the premise has runway. Dating as a system. Love as something optimized. Choice as something that might not be yours anymore.

Screening details:

OPTING IN is a true auteur piece, with Susan Dynner directing, writing, and producing under her Los Angeles-based banner Aberration Films. The multi-hyphenate control shows—tight tone, precise pacing, and a clear thematic throughline about agency, intimacy, and control in the digital age.

With a creative team that includes cinematographer Matthias Schubert and music by Jeff Russo, the film is polished, controlled, and intentional in its tone. Nothing feels accidental.

Which is exactly what makes it unsettling.

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