After her film was named “Best of Hawaii” at the 2016 Hawaii International Short Film Festival and earning a Laurel of Excellence Award for attracting more than 1.3 million viewers on the Tampa Bay Arts &Education Network earlier this year, local filmmaker Cindy Iodice is taking “The Bridge” to Brooklyn, N.Y., and Beverly Hills, Calif., this week.

“The Bridge” is a fictional account rooted in Iodice’s childhood that tells the story of 7-year-old Pono, a rambunctious Hawaiian boy who lives in a treehouse deep in the back of Manoa Valley. When Pono encounters a group of night marchers — ghostly apparitions of ancient Hawaiian warriors — he must make a life-altering decision.

“Prior to moving to Hawaii when I was 18, my family suffered a tragedy, an untimely, unexpected death that devastated my family and altered the course of our lives,” said Iodice, who was born and raised in Connecticut and splits her time between Kalihi on Oahu and Waikoloa on Hawaii island. She declined to provide more details about the tragedy because it remains a sensitive subject.

“When I was considering this story, I wanted to explore the reconciliation of guilt and grief with a positive ending, unlike the ending we have in my family in terms of my mom’s inability to reconcile her guilt and grief over the loss prior to her own passing.”

Iodice, who graduated from the University of Hawaii’s Academy of Creative Media after a more-than-30-year career in the restaurant industry, said she worked with cultural adviser Hina Wong-Kalu to depict night marchers from Hawaiian legends and hopes her 22-minute film will provide a means for non-Hawaiians to learn more about island culture.

“I wanted to explore the legend and the mythology of the night marchers. … and I wanted audiences to interact with the film,” she said. “We showed it to audiences in Maryland, California and Connecticut, people who knew nothing about Hawaiian culture.

“As it turns out, our feedback was that audiences were split 50-50 on what happens in the movie. Was there an accidental death or was it a suicide? There’s no resolution.”

“The Bridge” screens today in New York as part of the 2016 New York Film and Television Festival. That showing will be followed by a three-night run at the historic Laemmle’s Music Hall 3 in Beverly Hills Dec. 9-11. Learn more about the film at facebook.com/thebridgeshortfilm.