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Born
December 6, 1994 · Los Angeles, California, USA
Birth name
Molly June Gordon
Her parents are director Bryan Gordon and writer Jessie Nelson.
She is of Russian Jewish and Lithuanian Jewish descent.
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QUOTES:
I have an amazing spouse; we’re a team. He works, and I work, and we sort of do this dance with each other so that we can be present to our kids. But I think the whole ‘balance’ thing is an illusion; we just embrace the imbalance.
I have a sweet tooth. I love dessert, and if somebody makes me one, I’m going to have it.
My husband is from Finland, so every so often I’ll throw a Scandinavian-themed party.
When I’m not at work, I put deep conditioner in my hair and wear a baseball cap. I’ll just roll around on the off-days with goop in my hair, and then just rinse it out.
I am a huge theatre geek.
What you learn from studying acting is that you have to have the courage to just make strong choices.
I honestly think I’ve gotten taller since I started doing Pilates. And my posture is totally different – no more slouching!
DARK CIRCLES, 4min., USA
Directed by Suswana Chowdhury
“Dark Circles” is a surrealist short poetry film directed and produced by Suswana Chowdhury, and written by Jean-Sebastien Surena.
Get to know the writer Jean-Sebastien Surena & director Suswana Chowdhury:
1. What motivated you to make this film?
Jean: Sometimes I write poems that I feel beg to be consumed in a different medium. This is a piece I’ve very seldom read out loud, and have never published anywhere. The moment it was written, I knew I wanted to visualize it in some way. I sat on it for a long time, as I don’t like to rush into projects that extend to mediums I’m not as well versed in. But once I started collaborating with Suswana on other projects, and saw the care with which she handles my work, I knew it was only a matter of time until I’d finally be able to bring this work onto the screen.
Suswana: After Jean and I made our first poetry film together, “Unbroken,” we were ready to make more. I’ve always been interested in creating interdisciplinary art as I grew up creating in all these separate mediums – theater, film, poetry, dance, photography – and I wanted to explore where and how these forms can intersect. “Dark Circles” was an opportunity to translate Jean’s beautiful poetic language into cinematic language and push the visual and sonic artistry further than we did with our first project.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
Suswana: “Dark Circles” is part of a series of poems that from beginning to end take viewers on a journey through the protagonist’s battle with himself. Jean wrote this series in 2019, we did script breakdowns and started discussing visual language in 2021, filmed “Dark Circles” in 2022, and after taking a hiatus on the project, edited the film in 2024.
3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Jean: Intimate, Illuminating
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Suswana: Because we took a bit of a break between when we shot the film and when we started editing, coming back to it after almost two years, I had these new ideas of what I wanted to do but was limited to the footage we shot. We didn’t have funding to film anything additional so I really had to go back and forth with our editor a few times before we figured out how to achieve my vision and really bring out the emotions I was going for.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
Jean: My first thought upon hearing the feedback was “they get it.” Which was so important to me, because I know my words will always make more sense in my head than on paper. One of the challenges of a poet is conveying at least some of what you’re thinking to a reader/listener. And I’m grateful to have had an audience that gets it, and was moved by not just the words, but the entirety of our presentation.
Suswana: To be completely honest, I started tearing up after hearing the first person speak about the film. To know that the intentions of the project really came through and resonated with the audience made me feel like okay, I’m not crazy. Well, I am crazy, but it’s good crazy.
6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
Jean: I discovered a love for acting in my senior year of high school. Up until then, I was very set on a life of working in technology, but I took 12th grade Drama with Mr. Clarke, and it honestly radicalized me. My love of poetry came a couple years later, and at some point I made the decision that I wanted to prioritize that over all other creative endeavors. But I didn’t want to give up my love of theater, film, and other arts, so I decided I would experience it all through poetry. Creating “Unbroken” with Suswana was the first time I realized this aspiration wasn’t just a foolish dream, and “Dark Circles” has cemented for me that these art forms belong together, and that I can play a real role in that reality.
Suswana: I’ve always been a bookworm, still am a bookworm. Growing up, I tried my hand multiple times at writing short stories. But it was a peculiar thing, I actually kept writing screenplays and kept forming ideas through the lens of a camera. I was creating soundtracks to my daily life. It still wasn’t until my senior year of high school that it finally all clicked and I realized, oh wait, I can pursue filmmaking – and I did.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Jean: I’m not usually one for watching films more than once. The most recent exception was “Oppenheimer”, the only film I’ve gone to see twice while in theaters. When I was younger though, my sister and I would watch movies together every Saturday morning, and I’m sure I would be appalled if we were to go back and count the amount of times we made our way through “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” and “Cheetah Girls 2.” To be clear, I think my sister and I were both equally eager for all of those re-watches, so I cannot pin the blame on her alone.
Suswana: To continue the theme Jean started, my most watched movies are probably High School Musical, The Cheetah Girls (first one), Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, and The Mighty Ducks.
8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
Jean: I think something I’ve appreciated seeing from certain festivals is an emphasis on building a community between current and past filmmakers that have gone through the festival’s doors.
9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
Suswana: I love FilmFreeway. I’ve used FilmFreeway since I made my first short film. The submission process is always easy and it’s been a great platform to discover new festivals too.
10. What is your favorite meal?
Jean: Oxtail, rice and peas, and baked macaroni.
Suswana: Wings.
11. What is next for you? A new film?
Jean: Filmwise, looking to get “Dark Circles” before more eyes, and to raise funding for the larger project. Beyond that, I’m looking to really focus on writing more as the winter kicks off. I like giving myself intentional breaks from performances and projects to get back in tune with my pen, so that’s top of mind.
Suswana: Jean and I are hoping to continue screening “Dark Circles” at more festivals and at private screenings to raise funding interest in producing the full series. I am also working on some other episodic projects including a docuseries and an animated series, along with developing my first feature film.
HANDS, 7min., Portugal
Directed by Filipe Piteira
Hands are the connection and the path between the body and soul. The mode of search and self-knowledge, which is intuitive and sensorial, with them, discovering and transcending themselves. It is the receptive and restless mind that transforms hands into instruments of grace.
Get to know the filmmaker:
1. What motivated you to make this film?
I’ve always found hands to be a beautiful part of our body. Moreover, they are more than mere physicality.
From a metaphysical perspective, they are symbols of the human potential to transcend the limits of matter and access the sublime. They connect the physical and spiritual worlds, shape the invisible and express the eternal through the ephemeral. So I wanted to illustrate the hands as a metaphysical component and how this invites us to reflect on the very nature of the human being as a meeting point between the tangible and the transcendent.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
in Portugal make films is always very difficult and a huge challenge. Fortunately, I managed to bring together a group of professionals who saw potential in the project and who made it possible to set up all the production stages in a way that was viable in terms of costs, thus managing to create this film in a few months.
3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
delicate and contemplative .
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
We had many hours of footage and it was difficult, but also challenging, to find the shots that best described the story
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
I liked the idea, it’s dynamic and genuine. It’s always good to receive criticism, good or bad, it helps us to evolve.
6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
I’d say it was a gradual process over time, from when I was a child I just liked to watch, to starting to write and then wanting to put something on screen that came from my imagination.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
maybe – 8 1/2 by Federico Fellini
8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
It could be good to be a mediator between filmmakers and production companies, so that they can have more opportunities and visibility in the film industry
9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
It’s been very satisfactory. It’s a very complete and easy-to-understand platform that ends up being used not only by independent filmmakers but also by production companies.
It allows us to find the best options for each film and to follow the entire distribution process.
10. What is your favorite meal?
I love American food such as grilled cheese or crispy chicken
11. What is next for you? A new film?
The future is always uncertain but I would be happy if I could continue to explore transcendental narratives that simultaneously illustrate the anguish and vulnerability of human beings and their existence
TRUE ROMANCE, 29min., Canada
Directed by Katherine Costal
A lovesick teenager tries to rekindle her relationship with a past boyfriend by inviting him to a surprise party, only to discover the harsh truth behind their romance and the love lives of the guests.
https://www.instagram.com/kat_costal/
Get to know the filmmaker:
1. What motivated you to make this film?
I got the idea for it after watching other people’s love lives, and seeing all the emotionally immature and unaffectionate behaviours they encountered. I noticed that a lot of people fall into these kinds of relationships but it happens most commonly to the younger crowd. I wanted to depict some of those dynamics from an outside perspective and show what observing the dating culture can look like. I think that when you’re in your teens and early twenties, love and romance can be too serious of a thing for you to know how to navigate, so your early relationships will likely end badly. For that reason I think it can be difficult to find love in the world when you’re a hopeless romantic. At the same time, there’s societal pressure to begin dating at a young age, and that pressure’s just not necessary when it’s perfectly okay to be single and use that time to understand yourself. I wanted to tell people that they shouldn’t be disheartened by the hurtful or incompatible behaviour they may experience, and that they should wait for the person that satisfies the idea of romance they have.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
In total it was about fifteen months. I first had the idea to make a film like this in February 2023 but it was completely different at the time. I originally tried to write another story but I couldn’t finish it and I was submitting it through a grant at the time. In May they got back to me and were like “Sorry but it’s not for us” so I had to find a different approach to making it. I completely rewrote the script to what it is now over the summer of 2023 and we shot it through October and November of that year. Then after a lengthy post-production period with various people switching in and out of the process, we were able to finish it in May 2024.
3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Melancholically Funny
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Definitely the process of getting it made. I started out this project by myself just brainstorming and writing over the summer trying to perfect the comedy and the story I was trying to tell. I wasn’t sure how I was going to produce it after losing the grant but thankfully I was able to fund it myself after I finished the script. Casting actors required a lot of coordination and patience because we sourced volunteers and some people’s availability didn’t line up so we had to keep pushing the filming dates back. There were some cast, crew, and locations that left the project or kept needing to reschedule because something came up or they were busy doing paid projects. It felt like when one role was filled up another would fall through and there was always something I had to scramble to patch up. And with the way things lined up we had limited time and resources to work with, so the entire indoor party sequence had to be shot in six hours for example. The same happened with post-production where the person helping me with all the post stuff kept backing out because they weren’t able to complete the work and it felt like a long time before I found the people who were able to do it. Luckily it all worked out in the end and I’m so glad I went to all those lengths.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
I enjoyed hearing the audience’s thoughts and what they each took away from the film. I especially appreciated how a lot of them identified the types of relationships I was depicting and I hope that they understood the satirical nature of this film. It was fun to see them react to the conflicts and listen to how they perceived the surrealistic way the characters talked and behaved. I had speculated before what viewers would think of the semi-surrealism that I put into it so the feedback video is very helpful to me in gauging that. I really liked how each of them seemed to have their own favourite thing about the film and it’s nice to hear their opinions.
6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
When I was about nine I started recording little movies and music videos with my toys that I had seen other people do. I fell in love with the way people would design their own miniature sets and bring their scripts to life on the camera. I had known before that I wanted to be a writer and it felt like what I wrote branched out into these colourful, modern story ideas that you have to film and watch. Then when I got older I began thinking of making those with real people but hadn’t fully thought of it as making films yet. I always loved comedy and was fascinated with photography as well as drawings which inspired a specific style I felt like I wanted to create. By the time I was seventeen I decided to officially merge the two and make comedy films that told important stories to me and also gave me the thrill that I had gotten so many times from watching exciting media.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
I don’t remember this super clearly but I believe it was Barbie: Mermaidia when I was five or six years old. My family had DVDs of a few children’s movies so I would rewatch those continuously. When I was little I loved the Barbie animated movies and we had the Mermaidia one on DVD so I remember asking my parents to play that for me almost everyday for a while.
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 say maybe referrals to theatres that allow independent live screenings. I know quite a few indie cinemas that host screenings but it can be difficult to attract a crowd when you’re not a big name yet. I think it would be nice for those festivals to connect their network and audience with independent screenings that are happening on their own time, but have been watched by the festival. That way filmmakers can get a chance to have their film viewed by other passionate filmgoers and important people in the business even if they are not being directly hosted by the festival.
9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
I think it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The submission process is quite smooth and easy, so I very much like that. Some festivals set their notification date very far ahead from their submission deadline so it can be months before you hear back. Some festivals also require premiere status so it’s a bit tricky to decide which festivals to submit to. If your first choice is months later than the one you feel your film doesn’t have as much of a chance at, but the notification date of your second choice closes way before the first one, you may feel compelled to submit to both anyway because if you don’t make it into the top festival, at least you’ll have a backup. But they both might end up rejecting you in the end especially due to the competitive number of acceptances so it’s a bit of a gamble choosing where to spend your money submitting.
10. What is your favorite meal?
It would have to be a sushi platter, with an assortment of sashimi.
11. What is next for you? A new film?
I have my second film planned. I’m currently in the process of writing it and just doing a lot of brainstorming, so it’s still in the early stages. It’s going to be another melancholic comedy so if you liked True Romance, this one’s definitely for you. I can’t say too much about it yet, but I’m hoping to be able to put it out soon.Directed by Katherine Costal
A lovesick teenager tries to rekindle her relationship with a past boyfriend by inviting him to a surprise party, only to discover the harsh truth behind their romance and the love lives of the guests.
https://www.instagram.com/kat_costal/
Terrance needs to convince his fiancé, family and friends he does not have a drinking problem. But can he convince himself?
Review by Andie Karvelis:
In this short film we get to meet Terrance. Terrance has a lovely fiancee, nice friends and family who care about him and one big problem. A problem that everyone else can see except Terrance. Addiction. 18.7 million people suffer from alcohol addiction or alcohol use disorder. I’m not certain which is the politically correct term so I wanted to let you decide. Now, I know what you’re thinking ‘Oh, not another heavy, depressing film about the dangers of substance abuse’. Nope, this is not that film. Don’t get me wrong, substance abuse is a serious matter but this film handles it in such a way where you still take it seriously but have some lighthearted moments.
Written by Josh James, who also plays Terrance – this dramedy is part love story, part comedy and part cautionary tale. All without hitting you over the head with the message. I love and appreciate that. There is a nice on screen chemistry between Josh and Elizabeth Renyolds who portrays Terrance’s fiancee, Elsie. They both had some wonderfully funny as well as endearing moments.
Producer/Director Eric A. Eisenstein did a wonderful job finding that balance between humor and seriousness with the actors. Director of Photography Anh Nguyen did some amazing work making each shot look beautiful. The lighting and camera angles were just perfect and it had a very intimate feel without being invasive. I also need to commend everyone on the musical choices throughout the film, it fit the sections perfectly and let you know the more lighthearted segments. All in all, Blueberries leaves you with a great moral to the story and a yearning to receive a wedding invite from Terrance and Elsie.
Dystopian stories are a type of speculative fiction that explore the darker aspects of human nature and the human mind. They often serve as a warning about what could happen to modern society if certain aspects grow out of control.
Accept only stories that fit into the DYSTOPIAN genre.
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Festival designed to expose and promote films and screenplays that work outside the system and break the boundaries in the horror genre. To bring a voice to the talented independent filmmakers & writers living in a world saturated with commercial entertainment.
Submit your HORROR screenplays today to the festival.
submit to the festival here: https://festivalforhorror.com/
Our mission is to promote screenplays, films and videos that dissent radically in form, technique, or content, and challenge and transcend commercial and audience expectations using the audience FEEDBACK festival format that the flagship festivals uses.
Screenplay Festivals occur once a month. We perform the winners in a studio using professional Canadian actors and post them online for the entire world to see.
NOTE: Accepted works also get the opportunity to do two interviews: A blog interview and an ITunes Film Festival podcast interview.
WATCH Winning Horror Screenplay and Story Readings:
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Submit your ROMANCE Novel HERE: https://festivalforromance.com/romance-novel-festival-3rd-options-to-submit-deadline-dec-5th/
SUBMIT your novel now (full novel accepted) To be eligible for our Writing Festival Events. Submissions take 3-5 weeks for evaluation
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A great way to get your words out there, 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 100,000s of people when it’s read online using a top professional actor. It’s a rush you’ll never experience in your life seeing it come to life that way.
STRING HEAD, 7min., USA
Directed by Matthew Vargas
A man in bed, after failing to fall asleep, is forcefully kept awake by String Head – an entity made of string that psychologically tortures him by wrapping him in a cocoon made from the deepest, darkest thoughts of his mind.
Conversation with director Matthew Vargas & Cinematographer Ryan Wilson Subscribe to the podcas
Get to know Matthew Vargas
What motivated you to make this film?
One night at 3:00 AM I had a vision of String Head walking into my room. A thread of red string was on top of me. Thinking of String Head at the end of my bed was a creepy fascinating image – I had to make it and explore it. I also wanted to push the boundaries with Production Design as I never have before and use it to really convey symbolism and tell a story.
What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
I love the reactions and I feel so giddy about the different analyses. The positive reaction to the final song made my sound designer, Rochelle, very happy as they wrote + sang the song themselves under their artist name La Roche. The comparison of the film to night terrors that occur in real life was so on point that I felt a great sigh of relief. Many ideas had to be conveyed in this film and I feel as though they all landed. I was worried because there is no dialogue, but that is intentionally so in the film because these terribly anxious moments usually occur wordless and in the brain.
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