When Idyllwild Cinema-Fest Chairman Phil Calderone added a new “Amateur” submission category, he did not expect it to yield one of this season’s major festival surprises — a probing and provocative feature with script values usually not found in amateur films.

Samantha Dunn, the next presenter in Eduardo Santiago’s Idyllwild Author Series, grew up with horses in rural hardscrabble New Mexico. Riding, dance, growing up poor in parched Southwest landscapes, her mother’s brilliance and alcoholism, and Dunn’s journey to redefine herself as a grown woman are key themes in her writing. “At the age of 3…