ICE BREATH, 43min,. Romania Directed by Leonard Alecu Between 2015 and 2024, Leonard Alecu filmed the melting icebergs off Greenland’s East coast. Sailing dangerously close to icebergs, Alecu handled his camera to record the ice masses yielding to the ruthless ocean. Filmed in black and white, Ice Breath is a cinematic poem whose only elusive actor is the filmmaker’s gaze. In 43 minutes, a sequence of flat pictures turn into dynamic tableaux, an existential journey from genesis to extinction. The hypnotic feature of the film is enhanced by the soundtrack Become Ocean, a haunting composition by John Luther Adams suggestive of a relentless tidal surge, of melting polar ice and rising sea levels. Become Ocean received critical acclaim, earning the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the 2015 Grammy for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. More than an environmental documentary, Ice Breath and Become Ocean is an experimental fusion exploring the vast, inscrutable meanings of climate change.
FROZEN WATERS, 25min., USA Directed by Anastasia Fetisov Frozen Waters chronicles the awe-inspiring journey of endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh as he becomes the first person to swim beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet. In this historic feat, Pugh swims 1 kilometre through subglacial rivers, navigating icy tunnels and freezing waters, all while advocating for the protection of the planet’s oceans. The documentary captures not only the physical challenge but also the urgent environmental message behind his swim, highlighting the delicate balance of Antarctica’s ecosystem and the global consequences of climate change. Through Frozen Waters, Pugh’s mission for marine conservation comes to life, urging world leaders to act before it’s too late. The film is a powerful call to action, showing the connection between human resilience and environmental preservation.
Something has happenned in Mady’s life. As an immigrant woman in America, she has achieved the American dream; A successful career as a doctor of psychology, a lavish home, nice car, and, most importantly a husband and two wonderful children, yet something is missing. Not knowing what it is, she goes looking for it in strange places and in ethically-questionable ways.
Get to know the writer:
What is your screenplay about? It’s about an immigrant woman, who has embodied the American dream by becoming a successful psychologist, a wife, and a mother, yet has started living an increasingly destructive double life to escape her existential despair.
What genres does your screenplay fall under?
Thriller. Dark Comedy, maybe. Always find this question hard to answer.
How would you describe this script in two words?
Control and abandon.
What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
It’s a tie between Eraserhead, and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.(1978)
How long have you been working on this screenplay?
The FEEDBACK Female Film Festival (FFFF) was created for women filmmakers and screenwriters. The goal is to showcase the best of female talent in film & TV from around the world.
Deadline Today to submit via FilmFreeway:
The FEEDBACK Female Film Festival is a great platform that really supports female filmmakers. They offer amazing opportunities to get your work seen and promoted. One of the best parts for me was getting the audience feedback video to my short film ‘Sequoia’—seeing real reactions to ‘Sequoia’ felt truly special and rewarding. Huge thanks as well to the festival for awarding us Best Visual Design. It was an honor to be part of it!
This is an amazing festival!! The communication and the professionalism of the team is wonderful. The promotion of my short film “Another Saturday” has been beyond what I have experienced in other festivals. The amount of promotional options for my film has helped my as a filmmaker most notably the video of the audience FEEDBACK. I know of no other festival that provides this capability. I am so honored that it was chosen as Best Story. Thank you FEEDBACK Female Film Festival for an experience that I will never forget and am so grateful.
A very positive experience overall. I was delighted with some very insightful feedback on “The Birthday List” and love that this festival supports female writers. Highly recommend! Thank you.
I love this festival because it offers so many opportunities for the director, it is really original like no other. Thank you for the award to our The finger and the moon, we are very happy. Thank you for the feedback and thanks to all the people who have spent words on our film. Great!!!
I really appreciate the ability to hear from the audience members as this is the main thing I miss since many festivals have gone on-line. Here, I am able to get that connection from the comfort of my own home! I also appreciate the opportunity for a podcast interview and other publicity opportunities and am so grateful for the award! Overall it has been a wonderful experience.
Accept only stories that fit into the experimental genre. An experimental story is a narrative that challenges traditional storytelling conventions and explores new concepts and representations of the world. Experimental stories often use innovative language, non-traditional narrative structures, and metafiction to create unconventional and complex stories.
Submit your short story to the festival, and we will automatically have it performed by a professional actor and turned into a promotional video for yourself.
This festival has a guaranteed 4-tier set up for each accepted script. (No matter what, all screenplays submitted receive FULL FEEDBACK on their work.) 1) Full Feedback on your script 2) Actors performance video reading of your script 3) Blog interview promotion. 4) Podcast interview on the Film Festival ITunes show.
A paranormal story is a work of fiction that explores phenomena and beings that are beyond the scope of scientific understanding. They include elements like ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, and other entities that cannot be explained by the laws of nature. They can be set in the real world, but generally includes elements that defy scientific explanation.
3 ways to submit: 1st chapter. full novel. performance reading.
I wanted to be a poet and film director since I was a kid because I wanted to tell critical stories and be ultimately be bossy. I wanted to tell stories and hold an audience captive momentarily with something incredible, just for a moment. The way Free Willy held me captive as a child. I ended up spending 17 years in education because everything seemed to being going to shit and it felt like the easiest way to make an impact. What do all my students over the last 17 years all have in common? .. they all consume media.. and a lot of it. No better way to make an impact than through film, more specially short films and series so people can pace themselves or get the bite sized chunks our ADHD world facilitates.
Growing up, I was not exposed to much queer media other than the occasional episode of Will and Grace, but not for lack of trying. By the time I got to college, The L Word was the closest we got to relationships that resembled ours. Any queer films or shows I could get my hands on was about belonging riddled in trauma- important stories to tell but it was the only lens that was filtering. I longed for something that showed the nuance, universality, humor and most importantly joy in lesbian relationships.
As a poet, I believe in exploring identity and experience as the substance of my art. Fruit Loops is the extension of my own experience which in some ways is a very universal one. This is my first project as a screenwriter and also as a director and after several decades in a different field, I was finally able to begin my pathway in film. I intentionally cultivated a cast and crew of women, nonbinary and queer folks to work on this mockumentary style short film. Fruit Loops is a love letter to queer storytelling where the focal point isn’t trauma or fighting for acceptance. I seek to display raw, genuine intersectionality and raw, genuine human connections in all their beauty and ugliness with the queer community as the backdrop for these stories being told.
It is time that entertainment and media can relate and connect to all facets of the human condition and not just the most dominant narratives. In a country that moves deeper each day in seeking to destroy the trans community and working to erase LGBTQIA+ rights, it is a priority now more than ever to tell joyful and normalizing stories to connect all of our experiences and find the humor in our struggles to find love and belonging.
Miami Film Festival Winner – This captivating dark comedy follows the eventful journey of Jessy, a morally ambiguous young man who finds himself entangled in a web of challenges when his mother is kidnapped. To settle his debt, Jessy reluctantly sets out to seduce Carlos, an older man in a vulnerable state of decline.
Directed by Alejandro Renteria
Written by Jorge Luis Sanchez-Noya
Cast: Alex Cowley, Mauricio Renteria, Lili Renteria
Director Statement This first story is part of a feature film design to reflect this statement.- The time spent on this earth is marked by the attention we give to our desires or the time we spend running away from suffering. This story develops and shows us the tragic force behind these silent motivators of human behavior. Miami is a hub for the Spanish speaker community world wide. This story happens to be spread out between Argentina, Mexico, Spain and Miami. This is a device to show the difference of tone, color and/or flavor of these cultural idiosyncrasies. This will aid to highlight how these silent motivators of human behavior remain the same regardless of the location. Using these four stories in different geographic spots while they are conceptually intertwined will show the audience these silent motivators with the hope they will recognize them, not just to be entertained but learn deeper truth about themself. As a result of having lived for long periods of time in different countries, has allowed me to perceive this simple truth, I want to share it and to show how similar we are at the core, no matter the location. The four short stories are tragedies with a tone of dark comedy, (one of those four has already been shot, link is attached.) The rest will be shot in similar manners, cinematic, subdued color schemes, low key lighting, high contrast cinematography. The fifth one is more of a dreamlike and will be closer to a romantic comedy look. One actor will play 4 different characters as he symbolically represents death, This will be evident with the final story.
Story short review
“Objetos de Deseo” is an 18-minute indie short film directed by Alejandro Renteria. It revolves around Jessi, played by Alex Cowley, who finds himself in a desperate situation in Miami and must make ethically questionable decisions to resolve it. The film expertly combines dramatic misdirection, tension, and a touch of dark humor. It explores themes of need, manipulation, and the lure of easy money, all set against the backdrop of Miami’s nighttime streets. The story unfolds as Jessi attempts to strike a deal with Mr. Lord, portrayed by Mauricio Rentería, but soon realizes he may not be in control of the situation. As the layers of deception are peeled back, the narrative keeps viewers engaged, leading to a surprising and impactful finale. The performances by the leads, Cowley and Rentería, showcase their characters’ complexity and the film’s understated style complements the storyline. Overall, “Objetos de Deseo” offers a fresh take on a cat and mouse game, making it a captivating indie film that explores human nature and the choices we make under extreme circumstances.
Miami Film Festival Winner – This captivating dark comedy follows the eventful journey of Jessy, a morally ambiguous young man who finds himself entangled in a web of challenges when his mother is kidnapped. To settle his debt, Jessy reluctantly sets out to seduce Carlos, an older man in a vulnerable state of decline.
Directed by Alejandro Renteria
Written by Jorge Luis Sanchez-Noya
Cast: Alex Cowley, Mauricio Renteria, Lili Renteria
Director Statement This first story is part of a feature film design to reflect this statement.- The time spent on this earth is marked by the attention we give to our desires or the time we spend running away from suffering. This story develops and shows us the tragic force behind these silent motivators of human behavior. Miami is a hub for the Spanish speaker community world wide. This story happens to be spread out between Argentina, Mexico, Spain and Miami. This is a device to show the difference of tone, color and/or flavor of these cultural idiosyncrasies. This will aid to highlight how these silent motivators of human behavior remain the same regardless of the location. Using these four stories in different geographic spots while they are conceptually intertwined will show the audience these silent motivators with the hope they will recognize them, not just to be entertained but learn deeper truth about themself. As a result of having lived for long periods of time in different countries, has allowed me to perceive this simple truth, I want to share it and to show how similar we are at the core, no matter the location. The four short stories are tragedies with a tone of dark comedy, (one of those four has already been shot, link is attached.) The rest will be shot in similar manners, cinematic, subdued color schemes, low key lighting, high contrast cinematography. The fifth one is more of a dreamlike and will be closer to a romantic comedy look. One actor will play 4 different characters as he symbolically represents death, This will be evident with the final story.
Story short review
“Objetos de Deseo” is an 18-minute indie short film directed by Alejandro Renteria. It revolves around Jessi, played by Alex Cowley, who finds himself in a desperate situation in Miami and must make ethically questionable decisions to resolve it. The film expertly combines dramatic misdirection, tension, and a touch of dark humor. It explores themes of need, manipulation, and the lure of easy money, all set against the backdrop of Miami’s nighttime streets. The story unfolds as Jessi attempts to strike a deal with Mr. Lord, portrayed by Mauricio Rentería, but soon realizes he may not be in control of the situation. As the layers of deception are peeled back, the narrative keeps viewers engaged, leading to a surprising and impactful finale. The performances by the leads, Cowley and Rentería, showcase their characters’ complexity and the film’s understated style complements the storyline. Overall, “Objetos de Deseo” offers a fresh take on a cat and mouse game, making it a captivating indie film that explores human nature and the choices we make under extreme circumstances.
Khentopia is a peaceful society on the planet Zeeray, where ethereal energy generated through chanting at Harmony Center is used to feed a protective shield that envelops the planet. All is well, until one June morning in 2502, the crew of raider ship Space Wolf is intent on breaking through the shield to carry out a pillage mission. They succeed in obliterating the ethereal power generation and so the protective shield. On top of that, a parallel universe emerges with an alternate Khentopia that is harsh and hostile.
Khentopia, a high-tech quest film, has all the trappings of a well-conceived CGI generated sci-fi adventure. It provides the viewer with epic action-packed visuals: adventurous space ships in starry skies and a broad cast of characters, both human and machine.
The lead character is an articulate and dashing scientist, able to lead his colleagues to success. Other captivating characters include a pirate-like figure and an attractive, intelligent robot in a sexy, glistening black outfit. The AI voices for these and others are excellent, as each character brings a different energy to the narrative.
CGI imagery is dynamic and creative, displaying explosions, highly detailed charts, deep portals and many glowing, drop-down menus on screens. The sound track is chilling, notably the nautical-like clanging, and the sound effects are appropriately intense and crisp.
As the film’s quest plays out, the story builds to a crescendo of tension and exhilaration. This ambitious project is quite an undertaking for the lead storyteller, a tale that is also infused with humourous moments of banter between the characters, adding welcome relief for an otherwise serious plot of epic proportions.
INSECT_O_CIDE, 76min., UK Directed by Georgina Willis We are fast approaching an Insect Armageddon. Insect_O_Cide is narrated by the Times Bestseller author Professor Dave Goulson, and explores the reasons for the dramatic insect declines occurring worldwide. Dame Joanna Lumley after seeing the film said “watch this heartbreaking and important film. It is enraging and inspiring at the same time: we can make good the harm we have done, but only if we start now, right this very second.”
Festival Reviews 