Immersed – A Cinematic Immersive Album by Justin Gray, 60min,. Canada
Directed by Justin Gray, Michael Fisher
Justin Gray’s Immersed is a groundbreaking cinematic album that transforms how audiences experience music. Composed, recorded, and produced as an immersive audio experience, the album features 38 artists from Toronto and around the globe, placing listeners at the center of a three-dimensional global orchestra.

https://www.instagram.com/justingraysound/

Get to know Justin Gray:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

I have long dreamed of creating an immersive cinematic album experience. As a music composer, engineer, and producer, I work regularly in the area of Immersive Audio, and I see movie theatres as incredible places for audiences to experience music.

From the moment I started writing this music, I imagined the ideal playback environment as a movie theatre, where an audience could collectively watch the film and experience the music in Dolby Atmos or 5.1 Surround Sound.

This film presented an opportunity to realize this dream, pushing the boundaries of music technology and expanding the album listening experience into a visual, cinematic one.

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

This cinematic album took four years to make. I started by writing the music. Once it was entirely composed and orchestrated, I entered pre-production, which involved rehearsing the music, developing technology to record it for three-dimensional playback, and collaborating with co-director Michael Fisher to establish the visual concept for telling the story of this music on screen.

We then recorded the majority of the music in a Toronto studio over the course of 30 days, recording and filming each part live. We also did 10 additional shooting days to capture footage of the dancers, additional music performances, and the natural world.

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

Cinematic Album

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

Scheduling is always the most significant obstacle for me in any production. This cinematic album features 38 artists from around the world. As an independent film producer, I was responsible for scheduling the entire team throughout the project.

I’m grateful it all came together as planned. Still, as any music producer or filmmaker knows, the people involved are the most valuable asset of all, and having them all in the right place at the right time is a monumental task.

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

I was overjoyed to see the audience respond so positively to the film. What stood out most to me is that, despite the immense amount of technology required to create this production, everything fades away for the audience. They simply experience the beauty and power of the music and the film.

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

I’ve loved film since I was a kid. And although I’m not a traditional filmmaker, I’ve been pairing music and film for over a decade. For me, the two art forms are intimately connected. IMMERSED is the most ambitious and fully realized project I’ve had the pleasure to produce.

It would have been impossible without the co-director and cinematographer, Michael Fisher. Michael and I have been working together for over a decade, and we’ve been dreaming of a project like this for a long time.

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

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, followed by Pulp Fiction.

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 it would be valuable to have more opportunities for live screenings. Online screenings are practical, but nothing can replace the collective experience of an audience being together in a theatre.

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

As a producer coming from the music world, I’ve enjoyed the FilmFreeway experience. It keeps everything organized and transparent, and I’ve found it to be a very efficient way to share projects with festivals around the world.

10. What is your favourite meal?

A wonderful spread of vegetarian Indian dishes, served with naan and rice.

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

Next, I look forward to continuing to work with artists worldwide—to push the boundaries of their art and explore new ways of expressing music in partnership with cinema.

TEA TIME, 9min., USA
Directed by B.T. Goldman
A detective interrogates a strange elderly Englishman about a missing person in his neighborhood.

https://www.instagram.com/cybereggproductions/

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

I hadn’t directed a project of my own in over a year, and I was at a wrap party for a short film that I was an extra in (SPRINKLES, directed by the Andrew Korzenik, written by Riley Stockard, and produced by Sky Mattioli, all great talents). I tend to be off in my own world a bit at parties, and the image of a wild, tuxedo-laden man forcing tea on a guest at a table in an empty room came into my head. It was kind of out of nowhere, and seemed like a really simple, filmable idea for an unsettling story. It was an eerie, but also amusing to me since I grew up with an English father (who naturally was cast as the Englishman in this film).

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

I initially had the idea around September 2023, we filmed in February 2024, and I had the final edit in December 2024, so it was a total of about 15 months from conception to completion.

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

Uncomfortably funny.

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

It was probably the audio editing. It really felt like everything came together fairly easily, everyone who worked on the film is a close friend or relative. Eric Alcaraz, our incredible cinematographer, is well educated in audio engineering and really saved me with that when I was editing.

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

Shock. I was so delighted and humbled by how positively the audience felt. The film really seemed to have the effect on the audience we were going for. It was great to hear my dad get praise for his performance too.

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

I’ve been drawing cartoons since I was a toddler, and starting making films with the help of my parents with a video camera when I was about 6 or so. I made a lot of silly short films in my high school video class, where I met John Kemsley (who plays Det. Alan Burke in Tea Time). I went to Cal State Northridge to study animation, and I’ve gone back and forth with different creative mediums since.

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

Probably Yellow Submarine, the animated Beatles movie. I obsessively watched it over and over again as a little kid. I still have the VHS tape I watched it on back then.

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

Any opportunity to network and chat more with the other creators! The WhatsApp service is a great idea.

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

It’s been great! It’s a very convenient and thorough way to investigate and submit to festivals.

10. What is your favorite meal?

I love Chinese food. Takeout, proper restaurant, any of it.

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

At the moment I’m working on an animated project! Quite different from Tea Time, but I think it’ll be just as exciting.