Samantha Neyland co-directed and starred in the short film “When Strangers Touch Your Hair”, which was showcased at the Los Angeles FEEDBACK Film Festival in December 2016. The film received rave reviews from the audience. It was an honor to chat with her about the film and what’s next for the beautiful and talented artist:

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Samantha Neyland: I made this film as a way to work through the insecurities I had always lived with but until 2016 was too afraid to talk about.

MT: From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

SN: From start to finish, it only took six weeks. The initial idea was scary and I knew if I didn’t march forward at full speed it would never get done.

MT: How would you describe your short film…

 Robert Vassie’s short film “BURNT” played at the October 2016 best of HORROR FEEDBACK Short Film Festival.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Robert Vassie: I’d recently moved to London and had been itching to make a new film for a while. London is such a cinematic city, especially at night, so I thought it would make the perfect backdrop. I asked a fellow writer to put together a thriller script for me, as I’ve always been a fan of that genre and wanted to make a film which would keep the audience on the edge of their seat from start to finish.

MT: From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

RV: About four years in total – but it was spread very thinly across that time. At one point there was a gap of almost…

Yama Rauf’s film from Afghanistan “NO WOMAN” played to rave reviews at the November 2016 Under 5 Minute FEEDBACK Film Festival.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Yama Rauf: There was a women’s day film festival in my home town Mazar-i-Sharif, where I made this film for competition and it won best film prize. I am from a country where patriarchy is dominated the society, but I strongly believe in man and woman equality and I am fighting for it.

MT: From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

YR: It took around 2 weeks from idea to finished product. The most exciting part is when you see the results every single moment in post production.

MT: How would you describe your short film in two words!?

YR: Equal unequally

MT: What was the biggest obstacle…

Dave Lojek’s film from Austria (via Germany) “PROVERBIAL LUCK” played to rave reviews at the November 2016 Under 5 Minute FEEDBACK Film Festival.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Dave Lojek: Language and film can have nice effects on audiences. But less talk and more deeds are preferrable in most films. This one needs the voice-over. As a filmmaker and linguist I know that idioms are quite hard to translate. That was a good challenge for the subtitles. The “Amelie” tinge is intended.

The writer and co-director Steffi asked me to read the script, because she had seen some of my award-winning previous movies. I liked the idea but warned her that live animals are a risk factor in shorts. She told me that she had bought all the animals and also created all props, found locations. So we looked around in the film workshop Kino Cuntra…

Matthew Fletcher’s film from Puerto Rico “LUNCH” played to rave reviews at the November 2016 Under 5 Minute FEEDBACK Film Festival.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Matthew Fletcher: I saw a competition for films under 140 seconds “Everyday A Moment”, the Nikon European Film Festival 2016. We wanted to win the technical award for “best use of kit”, however we didn’t win. This is why you see a Nikon camera in one rotation.

MT: From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

MF: Around 3 months, (Nov 2015 -Jan 2016)

MT: How would you describe your short film in two words!?

MF: Spinning Cat.

MT: What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

MF: Every rotation of each scene and location had to be an exact length, the exact length and circumference…

Otavio Pacheco’s film from Puerto Rico “HORSE PARADE” played to rave reviews at the November 2016 Under 5 Minute FEEDBACK Film Festival.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Otavio Pacheco: This movie was made for a theater opening, that talks about controversial relationships. The chess inspired the characters as being war enemies and breaking the rules to be together.

MT: From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

OP: It was a quick production because it’s short. One week after getting the idea I was able to shot this, with the right chess table and the lights. It took about 5 hours of shooting, very tough because it needs a lot of concentration to make the right movements. After this I needed to put on the music and sound design, it took another week of work…

Patrick Cheung’s short film from Hong Kong “TIME” played to rave reviews at the November 2016 Under 5 Minute FEEDBACK Film Festival. It was the winner of “Best Music” at the festival.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Patrick Cheung: I love timelapse especially hyperlapse and I really wanted to make one film for Hong Kong with this shooting technique.

MT: From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

PC: I spent around 1 year from the idea to the finished product to make this film.

MT: How would you describe your short film in two words!?

PC: Patience and Shock.

MT: What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

PC: The most difficult part is day and night jumping because I needed to shoot in the exactly same spot every shot.

MT:…

Short Film “THE 3RD TRY” played to rave reviews at the June 2017 LGBT FEEDBACK Short Film Festival.

www.facebook.com/the3rdtry

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Alfonso M. Rodriguez: Shortly before I wrote the script, I read an article about gender inequality in film and television. The article discussed the ‘Bechdel Test’, which is a small test to determine whether there is an active presence of women in a fictional piece of media. This was probably the main motivating factor that pushed me to write it. This in combination with the fact that the LGBTQI community is also underrepresented. I figured I’d combine and represent the two under one roof; into one film.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?

– Overall, I would have to say 2 years. I used to be an NYPD police…

Short Film “HOW TO BE ALONE” played to rave reviews at the June 2017 LGBT FEEDBACK Short Film Festival.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Erez Eisenstein: “How to be Alone” was my final project as a film student in Tel Aviv University. When the time came for me to start working on my final project I decided that my script will be an adaptaion of a shorty story. The main reason I made this decision was a previous project of mine that I was very pleased with – a modern adaptaion of “Romeo and Juliet”, which acctualy was the project that got me in the film production program in the first place. And as it turned out, the actress I casted to play Juliet was also the lead in “How to be Alone”…

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take…

Short Film “SHAPING SCARS” played to rave reviews at the June 2017 LGBT FEEDBACK Short Film Festival.

 Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Zsolti Szabo: ‘Shaping Scars’ was inspired by a personal relationship I had in the past, as well as by the experiences of the Poet Fern Angel Beattie and Composer Christopher J. Ward, their past relationships equally influenced the spoken word and music they created for this film.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?

I first discussed the concept with the Poet Fern in Spring 2015 and the film premiered in an intimate setting of my 30th birthday party on 5th December 2016.

How would you describe your short film in two words!?

Dancing Pain

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

This film was my debut…