Canon U.S.A. and Hollywood filmmaker Ron Howard have selected eight winners of their Project Imagin8ion photography contest. The winning photos will be used to inspire a short film by Howard.

Launched on May 22, the project invited photographers of all skill levels to submit their most imaginative photographs based on a series of eight separate movie themes — setting, time, character, mood, relationship, goal, obstacle and the unknown — each one a core tenet of storytelling.

"Project Imagin8ion" will be the first Hollywood-funded film to be inspired by a user-generated photo contest. Production for the film is scheduled to begin in September and premiere later this year in New York.

The finalists, chosen from more than 96,000 submissions, range in age from 20 to 44 and are located in six different states across the country. For more information on the eight winning photographers, visit the Project Imagin8ion winners page.