THE LETTER, 6min., USA
Directed by Ruben Rodas
A daughter comes to terms with the loss of her father with a heartfelt farewell letter …

http://skyframepictures.com/

https://www.instagram.com/irene_stepanenko/

Get to know writer/actor Irene Stepanenko:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
My motivation to create this film stemmed from a deep desire to honor my father for the immense love, care, and unwavering support he provided me throughout my life.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
The idea for the film came to me two months after my father’s passing on May 26, 2021. I wrote the script as a monologue on July 27, 2021—our shared birthday. That day, alone in a Dallas hotel, I began writing a heartfelt letter to him, which later became the script. I held onto the monologue for a couple of years. When I shared it with my dear friend Ruben, a talented producer and videographer, he immediately connected with my vision. Our collaborative efforts led us to shoot the film at a beautiful location by the end of last summer. Overall, the journey from concept to completion took about two years.

3. How would you describe your film in two words?
Souls connection.

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Honestly, since meeting Ruben, I felt confident that we would create this film together, and everything proceeded very smoothly.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
My eyes teared up within the first ten seconds of listening to the feedback. I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude and contentment.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
My passion for acting and movies began in childhood. I performed in theater from an early age and continued to nurture my love for acting through courses and various projects even as I pursued other professional paths. I had written monologues before, but this one was special—it was a tribute to my father and I knew it needed to be brought to the screen.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Growing up in Russia, I watched many dramas. Since moving to the US eight years ago, I’ve explored a wide range of films. However, the movie “I Origins” is one I’ve watched more times than any other.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
I would love to see organized, in-person premieres of films. The most valuable part of the festival experience for me is witnessing the genuine reactions of the audience and engaging in dialogues with them. Cinematography has the power to amplify voices, change perspectives, and foster connections and unity.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experience been working on the festival platform site?
My experience with FilmFreeway was smooth, especially since it was my first time using the platform. One challenge I encountered was distinguishing between legitimate festivals and identifying those with in-person screenings, which I preferred.

10. What is your favorite meal?
Anything my grandmother cooks, especially her cabbage vareniki and syrniki.

11. What is next for you? A new film?
I have several ideas for future projects. My goal is to create beautiful and meaningful films that touch the hearts of others, fill the world with love, and embrace both light and dark moments.

Submit a short story that is only 1 page long (maximum 400 words) and have it performed at the Writing Festival by a professional actor.

Submit HERE: https://novelwritingfestival.com/onepage/

Submit for only $20. Most of the stories will be accepted and performed. If there is a beginning/middle/end, and the grammar is sound, we will perform it.

A great way to get your words out there, use this example writing to obtain the Agent you’re looking for or just get your story seen by more people. If you win, your story will be seen by 1000s of people when it’s made into a video using a top professional actor. It’s a rush you’ll never experience in your life seeing it come to life that way.

SCREAMING SILENCE, 17min., UK
Directed by Kalyn Elizabeth Wood, Hal Waghorn
In the hauntingly enigmatic and dialogue-free short film, ‘Screaming Silence’, Elizabeth, a young woman in the aftermath of a traumatic event, navigates her world through a haunting soundscape of everyday noises, which ‘peoples’ her world and forces her to face her reality of circumstances and her fear of reaching out for help. As the audience intimately experiences her journey, Elizabeth’s silence becomes a bittersweet force, echoing the profound emotional depth that empowers her to move forward in an altruistic twist of an ending.

https://www.screamingsilencefilm.com/

Get to know filmmaker Kalyn Elizabeth Wood:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

This film first started out as my dissertation project for my masters program in London. I was the only one in my class who was doing a digital piece. I knew when beginning to write my piece that I wanted to examine women’s relationships, mainly womens relationship to trauma, sexual assault, loss, isolation and also to dive a little into the mother-daughter relationship dynamic. The film’s first iteration was completely different from its final iteration that it is today and to be quite honest I am glad I went the route that the film is now rather than what it was ‘supposed’ to be. It challenged me and pushed me to places I had never been before as a performer intrinsically, technically, and emotionally. What started out as a quest to fulfill or rather rewrite my story as a gift to my mom and it then became something in singularity. From women, to women. A singular and multifaceted relationship with trauma, the aftermath, loss, isolation and more importantly silence. I investigated the notion of: the power of female silence in films through the lens of trauma. I want anyone who watches this film to feel as though they are allowed in Elizabeth’s world to experience and observe her life in that present moment. I want people to be inspired by the lack of Elizabeth’s voice to find their own voice. To open up and out and maybe even scream.

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

From start to finish the film took about 2 months. Because of circumstances out of our control we had to shoot the entire film in two days. The editing took about 3 days.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?

Powerful. Liberating.

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

I think the biggest obstacle we had was the time constraint we were on when it came to filming. Due to our schedules and circumstances out of our control we only have a two day time frame to film everything.

When it came to editing we were able to take our time, which was nice because we were able to really focus on what we wanted to do with the film in terms of editing and the effect it would have on the film overall.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

I mean you never know what people are going to think about a film that is so close to your heart, and you have to remind yourself that most people don’t know you or understand your heart behind the project. So in watching and hearing the feedback my heart was overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. Each individual had their own way of connecting with the film and understanding where they fit in, in their own understanding and circumstances within the film. It was a joy to see male individuals feel that the film also speaks to them and their own understandings and dealings with mental health. The feedback was everything and more than I could imagine and I am so thankful.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

Well don’t think I ever had a realization that I wanted to make films. I always knew I wanted to be in them. The way this project started was simply for my dissertation for my Masters degree. I knew the story that I wanted to tell and I well I had to do the project in order to graduate, but I knew how films worked and how to act so I took a deep dive, head first and plunged myself into the unknown… and I am so thankful that I did. During this entire process I have fallen deeper in love with my craft of acting and filmmaking.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

I think the film I have seen the most in my life is ‘Titanic’ probably because I had a massive obsession and crush on Leonardo Di Caprio.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?

One of my favorite things about this festival is the feedback element. It allows for me as the filmmaker and my producer the ability to get different perspectives and reinforce our confidence in the film we have made. Fostering artists and allowing up and coming actors to have a place to shine and also connect with other industry professionals is paramount in someone’s young career. Fostering new relationships and mentorships is something that I think should be implemented more in the festival circuit because when one of us wins, we all win!

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?

Fantastic!

10. What is your favorite meal?

Ohh that’s a tough one. Being originally from New Orleans, I’m a girl who loves her food. I have a top three.
-Jambalaya
-Steak from Musso & Franks in Hollywood
-In n Out Burger

11. What is next for you? A new film?

I have a film coming out this year called ‘Molar’ directed by Jonatahn Rose at Foam Soda Productions. We will continue to show ‘Screaming Silence’ at festivals across the US, UK and Europe

MELIORA, 20min,. Estonia
Directed by Kristin Hildebrand
Emma is a perfectionistic painter with a rich husband and great style. But it soon becomes clear that her perfect life is merely an illusion. Emma is forced to navigate self-doubt, jealousy and to face the darkest parts of herself. Her repressed emotions come to life in the form of a Monster, who shows no mercy to those who have wronged her. In the end, Emma must choose between staying in her gilded cage or facing the Monster.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32384134/

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

This film began as something completely personal, a result of spiraling mental health and feeling unable to express myself artistically. I was trying to capture a certain emotion and then built a plot and message around it. As the themes became more clear I became more motivated to see the project through; when I discussed the idea with people, especially other women, I realized that I wasn’t alone in many of the things I felt. I met with several female painters to learn more about the struggles they’ve faced in their careers and it was uncanny how similar their stories were to what I had written, down to a similarly abusive relationship. It made me feel like I was on the right track, that it wasn’t just a selfish ego project but something that could resonate with audiences and make people feel heard.

I researched a lot about emotional abuse and the effects it has on victims. The common denominator is that they get isolated, cut off from loved ones and dependent on their abuser, in Emma’s case both emotionally and financially. When your self-worth becomes so tied to another person’s opinion of you, the smallest look or word can cut deep and drive you insane, yet leaving the relationship feels impossible. I think there is a certain power in art and especially film language to communicate things that we might not otherwise be able to put into words. We worked hard with my cinematographer Luisa

Valgiste and sound designer Venla Rummukainen to put viewers in Emma’s headspace.

20 minutes is a very short time to dive deep into something but I hope that if nothing else we managed to capture that feeling of being trapped.

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

Meliora was my bachelor’s thesis film, but I started developing the idea already in my second year of university. Back then it was just a vague idea of a painting coming to life and doing the things that the protagonist was unable to do. At first I shelved it as an idea for a novel, as it seemed too ambitious for a film school budget. If you’ve ever been to Estonia you know that what you see in the film is not how it generally looks like in terms of architecture and aesthetic, so finding suitable locations was a huge challenge. Getting the film produced in my second year would have been too difficult but I was advised by professors to keep it as a thesis idea. The extra time really benefited the project and I was able to get a passionate crew around me who made it all possible. In total, it took about 1.5 years to get from initial thought to finished film.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?

Beautifully horrific

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

The biggest obstacle was that this was my first time directing — I had directed two short documentaries as part of the curriculum before, but I quickly realized that narrative films are something else entirely.

It was a struggle to find my footing and there were times I felt I’d bitten off more than I could chew. I was 20 when I started working on the film and it’s difficult to take yourself seriously at this age, much less to find the confidence to lead a crew and make all the decisions that you have to make as a director. Somehow we got it made though and I’m thankful to all the people who helped me along the way from professors, crew, crowdfunding donors and friends who lent a shoulder to cry on.

It’s strange looking back on the experience now, everything feels so distant. But yeah, I think I speed-ran through some character development because of this film. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and all that.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

I used to be terrified of showing my art to anyone, as a child I’d always cover my drawings so no one would see them, but the more I share the more I grow to like it. I think a film really needs that final stage of actually being screened and discussed. Hearing everyone’s thoughts gives me a better understanding of my own work and sometimes viewers have such apt remarks that it makes me realize all the choices I made subconsciously. It was lovely seeing the feedback video and I’m glad people seemed to connect with the film.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

It’s hard to say because I’ve always loved films but I didn’t see myself as someone who could fit the job. When you think of a director, the stereotypical image is a confident middle-aged man with a loud voice and commanding aura, which as much as I admire it, is not something I could relate to as a young girl. But I loved making silly home videos with my friends and experimenting on iMovie. In high school I joined a film club and when it was time to apply to universities I ended up applying only to one – Baltic Film, Media and Arts School. My idea of what a director is and should be has developed since, and I now think there is space for people like me to also get their ideas on the screen.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

I’m a huge Lady Gaga fan (like to an unhealthy degree), so when A Star is Born (2018) came out I must have seen it in cinemas at least 10 times and many times at home since. I also really love Damien Chazelle’s directorial style and keep coming back to his films, La La Land and Whiplash have altered my brain chemistry at this point.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?

The whole experience has been great and I have no real recommendations, just a hearty thanks!

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?

FilmFreeway has been a joy. It was intimidating at first because I didn’t know much about the process of submitting to festivals, but once my producer and I put our heads together, we were able to come up with a strategy and fill out all the necessary information. After that everything has been easy to navigate.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Pasta Carbonara.

11. What is next for you? A new film?

Well, after Meliora I told everyone that I would never make another film… but I’ve had a year of rest and relaxation and I think I’m ready to get back in the saddle now. My head is buzzing with different ideas and currently I’m developing a new short, something completely different from Meliora. It’s exciting to work on a creative project again.

JACK, 5min., USA
Directed by Julian Curi
An art connoisseur finds himself on the run after he steals a priceless item from a ruthless man in this fun twist on a classic tale.

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
I’ve always loved adventure films, and this concept had been floating around it in my head for some time when 2020 hit. My co-producer Adam Lau said we should use our time as wisely as possible and start writing. Jack was one of the scripts that came out of that time. I’ve always loved movies that were untouchable by time. As this one is set in the early 1940s with our style, we thought it could be enjoyable for quite some time. And I also wanted to tell a story that was fast and engaging while also being easily digestible.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
All told, from writing to final product, this took about four years to make. A good chunk of that time was postproduction as we were trading a lot of favors to put the film together. But as long as it took, it has been so fun seeing the final product out there in the world.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Fantastical Adventure

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
There were two big obstacles for our team. The first was location. For the outdoor scenes, we had to find a place away from the city that took us into this fantastic world while also being close enough to film in a day. We visited a number of locations around Los Angeles and hiked many trails. We found our ideal spot, and then got the price tag. With production dates already set we had to adjust our thinking and try new places. Eventually, we wound up at a state park and our production down to fit the rules for a low budget shoot.

The second hurdle was our post production. We were plagued by technical issues as well as the fact that our team also had day jobs to fulfill. That pushed our ability to work back further and further. And for a time I was worried, Jack would never make it out, but everyone’s persistence brought the film to life .

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
Honestly, I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face. The comparisons we received from fellow filmmakers and enthusiasts was inspiring. I felt like I had done it!

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
I realized I wanted to be an actor at a young age. I had grown up watching movies and loving them, dancing around to Singing In The Rain and other colorful fun. In high school I found that a lot of the intro Star Wars pursuing were because I had seen it in TV or movies, and I realized that I could just go into TV and movies and do all those things. From there, I focused on acting and getting myself out to LA, and more recently I found that if I wanted to, be in the projects that excited me, I might just have to make them myself. This began my producing and writing journey.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
There are a couple of movies that could fall into this answer. The first is Home Alone, which I’ve watched just about every Thanksgiving since I was a kid. It’s funny, adventurous, and was filmed not far from where I grew up. The next one is Indiana Jones and the last Crusade. As much as Raiders of the Lost Ark is a perfect movie, there’s just something about The Last Crusade that I love and can watch at any moment. The third movie is The A-Team. I don’t know that it got as much love as it should’ve, but it is something that I can put on and know that I’m gonna have a good time.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
I wish more festivals engaged like this one. I think the ability to have creatives’ voices heard is great, and the feedback from the community is so valuable.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
I’ve enjoyed working with FestivalFreeway. It’s helped me engage with festivals around the world which has been amazing. The only thing that might be smoothed out a little bit, there is their search function, as I found I didn’t necessarily fit the bill for every festival that popped up from a specific search, but that just goes to show how many festivals they provide.

10. What is your favorite meal?
Homemade chicken paprikash and dumplings. My grandma used to make it and my mom learned her recipe. One of the moments I knew my wife truly loved me when we were dating was when she made it as well, because it is no easy task. There’s just something about that meal that makes me think of home, and it’s one of the few meals that I will eat until I can’t eat anymore.

11. What is next for you? A new film?
Personally, I’ve been doing a lot of writing. My co-producer Adam Lau and I are working on developing a number of series, as well as fleshing out concepts into feature films. I’ve also had the joy of working with another company, Digital Wizards, writing short form animation and a feature film, so we’ll see what gets put into production first!

DEJA VU, 14min., Canada
Directed by Jean Frenette
John is convinced he’s been on this planet for longer than his lifetime. This feeling of knowing more than what meets the eye troubles him deeply.

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
JF: I had this idea mind for many years and always wanted to bring it to the big screen; I love telling stories.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
JF: 8 months

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
JF: Mind bugling!

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
JF: time

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
JF: very excited as people understood my vision and saw exactly where I am going with this concept.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
JF: since I was a teenager, I always wanted to tell story via moving images.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
JF: many, Enter the dragon, Matrix, Enemy of the state, 7 samourai, Yojimbo, Operation Condor, Good fellas, so many more.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
JF: more exposure within the entertainment industry.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
JF: Everything went very smoothly, the platform is very well structured and easy to comprehend.

10. What is your favorite meal?
JF: Japanese food

11. What is next for you? A new film?
JF: I have wrote and developed 3 more film project, so 1 of theme is up next !