Folie Glacée, 11min., Canada
Directed by Louis Rémillard
Eli et Vincent se commandent une collation à la crèmerie locale sans s’attendre aux horreurs qui ruineront leurs rendez-vous en amoureux

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

It all started with me and my friend, who’s the director of photography on the film, hanging out in Montreal. We both got ourselves ice cream cones and as we were eating them, walking around, the idea of the story kind of came to us as a joke at first. I thought about it for a moment, and I ended up telling myself it would make a fun screenplay. I came up with the idea of the ice cream vendor being ill intended and serving contaminated ice cream and he suggested the idea of the couple being on a date. So I owe it a lot to my friend’s encouragement and believing in my story once the screenplay was finally done. We were excited to make something that would be wacky, fun and horror since it is a genre we both liked very much.

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

As it is for most passion projects, everyone was either working their full time job or started working on other projects. The crew was mostly composed of my newly graduated classmates so it was a dance of work-fun balance.I think it took about six months of production but since it was all done in free and voluntary time, those six months were spreaded throughout a whole year.

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

Wacky and bloody!

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

It was definitely having to shoot the film almost entirely at night. Scheduling became complicated because I wanted everyone on deck, comfortable and up to work. Having to rest throughout the day and having to shoot everything before sunrise became particularly challenging for the biological clock. We did everything possible to make the experience as fun as it could be and playing with fake blood, making scary scenes definitely contributed to the good ambiance on set. Although it was challenging, we have good laughs to look back to.

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

All of those compliments definitely made me blush! Sincerely, I received compliments in the video about aspects of the film that I wanted people to experience and enjoy. Since it was my directorial debut, I was doubtful it had landed. Thus I am very grateful to learn it’s a mission accomplished.

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

For as long as I can remember, whenever I was asked as a kid “What do you want to do when you grow up?”, my answer was always “I want to make movies”. Of course, being so young, I had no real conception of what the process of filmmaking looked like but I was always drawn to the power of fiction and knew I wanted to express myself with that art form. Though, what motivated me to actually pursue that path was finding the confidence of fighting the stigma in my mind that artists are useless or broke. Living off your passion can look daunting when the time to choose a field of study comes but I think I wanted to make little kid-me proud.

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

In theaters, most likely Oppenheimer. I think I went to see it six times in theaters. As for at home, probably any Sam Raimi movies. Both his superhero flicks and, more importantly, his horror flicks.

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 thought it was unfortunate I couldn’t attend the private screening as I have yet to see my own film on the big screen. Other than that, the team was super welcoming and helpful to promote my film. The audience feedback video is an excellent idea and it makes the festival experience all the more fun. I think it would be even more helpful and interesting to receive feedback from the jury in the form of a video as well or in written form.

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

As it was my first short film and first time submitting to a festival, I found the FilmFreeway platform to be very intuitive and welcoming.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Unironically, ICE CREAM !

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

I definitely intend to keep trying my hand at making horror movies. It is a genre I cherish a lot, I would at least keep implementing horror tropes in my filmography. That being said, I am currently writing a western horror short film that I hope to produce very soon. I am also developing a half-documentary, half-fiction short film based on a true story. I can’t say much about this one just yet as it is still in very early development but although it will mostly be a comedy, I fully intend on having scary horror scenes in that one too. Those are the two projects I am currently focused on.

SUBMERGED, 14min., Brazil
Directed by Heloísa Cardoso
A young woman waits for her lover for a secret trip. However, he does not show up and does not respond to her messages. That’s when strange and inexplicable events begin to happen in her house. She asks for help from her lover, who ignores her. Realizing that she is hopelessly alone, she gives up waiting for salvation and surrenders to her own shadow.

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

The relationship depicted in the film mirrors one I personally experienced, involving ghosting and psychological abuse. This type of relationship is also portrayed in my novel Glass Casket (Caixão de Vidro).

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

I came up with the idea for this film in 2021, began shooting in 2024, and completed the editing in 2025 — a process that took four years from start to finish.

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

Creepy / Unsettling

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

The biggest challenge was definitely the low budget. Some ideas had to be discarded, and many others were modified.

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

I was really moved by the feedback overall, but especially when viewers picked up on my references — like David Lynch and The Ring.

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

I’ve been a theater artist since childhood and have dedicated my entire life to the stage. It was only during the pandemic, with theaters closed, that I realized my writing and directing skills could also be applied to film — and when I started studying it, I fell in love with the audiovisual language.

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

I’ve watched many horror films over and over throughout my life, but the last one I rewatched five times was Pearl.

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 think the overall festival experience was very satisfying — with the film screening, awards, interviews, and feedback. If I could add one thing, it might be a free review.

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

The experience on the platform was great — very practical and intuitive.

10. What is your favorite meal?

I’m a vegetarian, so any meal without meat makes me very happy. But I have a special liking for pizza.

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

I am adapting my novel Glass Casket into a feature film — it also explores a psychologically abusive relationship. I’m also writing a new novel about psychiatric hospitalization.

DOBRINA, 5min., Germany
Directed by Hannes Rall
Lotte Reiniger meets Sergio Leone in this animated short, where desire burns as bright as the desert sun.

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

I always wanted to make a film that combines my love of the films of Sergio Leone, Lotte Reiniger (famous German silhouette animation pioneer) and the artworks of Pablo Picasso particular his bullfight drawings and prints. The film obviously also pays homage to the opera Carmen, so I hope it all comes together in a rather unique mix.

But of course there was also the fabulous song by Michael Roedinger and his band that inspired the story and the visuals in the first place.

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

Round about two years because I always had to find time to animate on the film, together with my German colleague Ralf Bohde.

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

Flaming shadows.

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

Clearly finding the time to do it.

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

I was so happy to find that the comments exactly mirrored what I had intended to communicate with the film.

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

Actually a very long time ago, now it’s coming to 40 years when my initial love for comics turned into an infatuation with a fascinating medium of animation.

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

Probably a lot of animation films among them all the Disney classics, but naturally also a lot of avantgarde and independent animation. As you can tell from my film very easily also do love westerns be it the very classic ones like “The Searchers” or Sergio Leone’s fabulous “Spaghwtti”-Westerns like “Once upon a Time in the West.”

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 think the audience feedback you’re doing and sharing with the film makers is a wonderful idea and should be more common with festivals – as it will allow the many of us who cannot personally attend all the festivals to still get an idea of the impression the film left with the spectators.

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

Film freeway is great because it is really easy to handle and very intuitive and user friendly.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Oh no there are so many to choose from – but possibly the Italian dish Osso Bucco.

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

Yes indeed there are actually several in the works. Ironically a very long “short film” (29 minutes) that “mashes up” free famous Shakespeare please in slightly humorous fashion and a very short one that will be a kind of sequel to my very successful short

“Shakespeare for all Ages.”

Gravity Bound, 3min., USA
Directed by Frankie Lasley
The Man on the Moon is bound to the moon by his job; controlling the tides on Earth with a magical box of gravity. His quiet days are spent longing after a Shooting Star, who is bound to forever orbit him from a distance.

https://www.instagram.com/gravityboundfilm

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

– I wanted to make a love story because I think love is kinda at the root of every story, and going for something surreal and otherworldly let me and the other artists express our ideas and our feelings in ways we could only achieve with animation.

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

– It took about a year to make Gravity Bound, we spent a long time just on pitching the idea to people and refinding it, and then in pre-production we practically started over entirely. But even with all the work and ideas that never get seen, it was still all important to creating the best possible film we could make.

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

– Otherworldly Love

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

– Our time frame! We wanted to keep to a 3 minute run time to avoid overextending ourselves, but we had so many ideas!

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

– I was tearing up, one of the scariest parts about making a film is that you look at it for so long you don’t know if your ideas are actually coming across, or make any sense. Watching people understand it and interpret it, and then even better, say they liked it? It was so rewarding and it felt like being understood.

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

– I realized a long long time ago that I wanted to make art, but I didn’t know if I could direct a whole film. Even when I started this film I wasn’t sure. But very quickly, at the start of this project, was when I realized I would go the distance to make sure my ideas and my team’s ideas would get seen so their dedication would be worth it, and with that came making and finishing a film.

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

– I’ve seen Ernest and Celestine maybe 8 or so times. I used to watch it when I was sick or had a cold because their friendship and their love was so calming and cute.

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 think what you’re doing is great! I think we need more festivals with this kind of two way involvement

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

-good! very easy and smooth.

10. What is your favorite meal?

– I love mushrooms, anything with mushrooms. Rice? Pasta? Potatoes? Saute some shiitake mushrooms and throw those guy on top and Im drooling

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

– The Gravity Bound team has all just graduated with BFAs in animation! I, Frankie, relocated to LA to keep making art, the rest of the team is following similar paths and spreading their wings all over the country. If you’re looking for talented animators who like to try new and challenging things, the Gravity Bound credits is full of top tier options 🙂