Tess Tarses would like to consider herself a work in progress, embracing every endeavor as an opportunity for growth.
She has fallen in love with creating worlds that enable others to fully immerse themselves in the story being told. She adores any design project that entails building an environment for others to connect. She enjoys how different and unpredictable each set, stage, or event can be. She especially loves solving problems during production and firmly believes that collaboration betters the product.
When designing, recycling, and using materials on hand is a daily practice. This pushes her to find the priorities of the projects, and what is worth creating or buying new.
She loves learning from friends or others with different interests and believes that set design can be inspired by anything, from the mundane to the extraordinary. The world constantly provides her with new inspiration, and she is always on the hunt!
Email: tess.tarses@gmail.com
Phone: (910)-899-8666
Awards/Recognition
No Acorns For A Blind Hog (2025) Dir. Jackson Cropper
-2025 Rhode Island Internation Film Festival Semi-Finalist
2025 Bare Bones International Film and Music Festival Official Selection
2025 Red Dirt Film Festival Official Selection
Straw Lady (2025) Dir. Liam Arnold
2025 Desert Scape Internation Film Festival Official Selection
The Next Bells (2024-2025) Dir. Joey LaFrance
-2025 California Music Video and Film Awards Finalist
2025 Norwalk Film Festival Official Selection2025 Bogota Music Video Festival Official Selection
2024 Bridgeport Film Fest Official Selection
-2024 Winner Best Student Film
-2024 Nominee Achievement in Directing (Narrative)
2024 Experimental Dance and Music Film Festival Official Selection
-2024 Winner Best Student Film
Ten Minutes To Showtime (2024) Dir. Logan Keefe
2024 The Vermont Film Festival Official Selection
The Brothers Grimm (2024) Dir. Joey Carrier
2024 Highland Horrorfest Official Selection
-2024 Winner Best Makeup Practical FX
-2024 Winner Best Actress
-2024 Winner Best Director
2024 Buried Alive Film Fest Official Selection
-2024 Best Production Design In A Short Film Award Winner
-2024 Lil Spooky Fest Semi-Finalist
2024 Krampus Film Festival Official Selection
2024 Mad Monster Film Festival Official Selection
Spooky Society(2023) Dir. Bryson Lima
2024 Atlanta Horror Film Fest Official Selection
2024 Spooky Empire Film Fest Official Selection
2024 NYC Haloween Film Fest Offical Selection
Specter (2023) Dir. Karlos Kuan
Los Angeles Cinematography AWARDS Selection (LACA)
-2023 Winner November Award Best Student Film
New York Tri-State International Film Festival Official Selection
-2023 Winner Best Actress Award
Tokyo International Short Film Festival Official Selection
Great Fortune (2022) Dir. Sabia Faden
Independent Shorts Awards Official Selection
-2023 Winner Gold Award Best Children Short
-2023 Winner Gold Award Best Student Director (Female)
-2023 Winner Silver Award Best Student Short
-2023 Winner Honorable Mention Best Original Story
Indie Short Fest Official Selection
-2023 Winner December Award Best Children Short
-2023 Nominee December Award Best Original Screenplay
-2023 Winner December Award Best Student Director (Female)
IndieX Film Festival Official Selection
-2023 Winner Best Children Short Best Student Children Short
-2023 Winner Best Student Director (Female)
-2023 Nominee Best Original Screenplay
New York International Film Awards
-2023 Winner November Monthly Edition Best Student Film
-2023 Winner November Monthly Edition Best Original Story
-2023 Nominee November Monthly Edition Best Student Director
2023 Cal Film Festival Official Selection
-2023 Winner Outstanding Achievement Award Student Short Film
-2023 Nominee Best Children Short
2019 NCTC STATES Barbizon Lighting Award for Excellence in Set Design for ‘Dress Rehearsal’- Greensboro College, Greensboro, NC
2019 NCTC Regional Winning Production- ‘Dress Rehearsal: A Catharsis in Two Acts’
2019 NCTC Barbizon Lighting Award for Excellence in Set Design for ‘Dress Rehearsal’- Catawba College, Salisbury, NC
2018 NCTC Barbizon Lighting Award for Outstanding Achievement in Set Design for ‘Arms and the Man’ - Jack Britt High School, Fayetteville, NC
2017 NCTC Regional Winning Production ‘Disaster - The Musical’
2016 NCTC Regional Winning Production ‘A Point of Order’