A Lake Success filmmaker, Scott Aharoni, got his red carpet experience last Friday after his third short film premiered at the Dolby Theatre in New York City.

Aharoni said the audience’s reaction to the film’s first screening exceeded what he and his co-director, Dennis Latos, expected.

“It was just really awesome,” he said. “We had people crying in the audience and people gasping during the film.”

Aharoni and Latos, of Glen Cove, have a “director partnership” that has seen them complete three short films.

Citing the influence of popular movies like “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Little Miss Sunshine,” which both were filmed with two directors, he said he and Latos noticed their similar styles and thought they should start working together.

The duo wrapped up filming for “Bardo” in November, after a week of filming in Astoria, and have spent the past few months in the post-production stage.

Aharoni said both of them were extremely satisfied with the final product, which showed in the number of people that attended the premier.

He said they expected around 150 to attend the premiere, enough to hold two screenings at the 88-seat theater.

But that number doubled and 300 people attended, Aharoni said, which led to the theater screening the short film two additional times.

“We had so many people come out; friends, family, people in the industry,” he said. “It became an incredible event that everyone was blown away by.”

Initially a senior thesis project at Hofstra University, “Bardo” grew into a short film that would be submitted to various film festivals, Aharoni said.

“Bardo” is about the interaction between a New York City taxi driver and an elderly woman seeking a ride home.

“We feel that Bardo provides an emotional journey that our audience can take when watching our film. The film offers a relationship between two characters that is gripping and unique,” Aharoni said. “We like to explain ‘Bardo’ as a journey that is full of imagination, requires interpretation, and has a lot of meaning that is worth analyzing.”

He said the film’s cinematographer and writer, Petros Georgiadis, met Leila Goldoni, the film’s lead actress and two-time British Academy of Film and Television award nominee, on a train.

Aharoni said screening their film at the Dolby Theater was a big accomplishment for the duo.

“The theater screens all of the Academy Award-nominated films and holds pre-screenings for critics,” he said. “It’s a very prestigious theater and the only one in New York City of its kind.”

“A lot of famous people have been there and it’s a beautiful venue,” Aharoni added.

He said that he and Latos are looking to continue enhancing their reputation as a director partnership in the movie industry, with the goal of producing feature films.

“Some of the producers we’re talking to now are looking for feature films,” Aharoni said. “Because we are independent, we stick to short films because of money.”

He said that the duo would continue making short films for the time being, as “Bardo” has helped them in developing a name for themselves in the film industry.

“Short films allow us to get into festivals and have our name known, then have a producer be confident to back us up with a budget,” Aharoni said. “By making ‘Bardo,’ we’re getting our feet in the door because there were producers taken aback by the film and want to work with us.”

With the success they have seen in their relatively young career as a director partnership, he said he sees them continuing to work together for a long time with their production company, Spider Monkey Productions.

“We direct, we edit and we produce everything together,” Aharoni said. “Me and Dennis are a lifelong partnership.”