Conversation with award-winning filmmaker Peter Gabriel Gagnon on the making of an action film that has moments of humor in it. How to find that balance of TONE and make sure you don’t lose your audience by mixing seriousness and silliness in the same scene.
This is NOT an easy thing to pull off but Peter does is well in his award winning short film “Wukong Couriers”.
Conversation with novelist Barry Lindstrom on the process of writing his book into a TV pilot. From hiring others to do it, to finally realizing that he needs to do it himself.
Based on, Concepts from the novel Considering Someplac Else By Barry B.L. Lindstrom
Get to know the writer:
What is your screenplay about?
The Galactic Council has seen enough and has voted 8 to 1 to eliminate all humanoid Earthlings. Padrin, the lone dissenter, an expert extra-terrestrial world saver, must now save humanity using only the positive actions and interactions of individual humans as evidence. In this, the pilot episode, Padrin’s android, Facto, unexpectedly connects with the plight of suddenly, violently, orphaned 18 year old Charlene and her 12 year old sister, Jennifer who, apparently, are being forced into a polygamist cult run by their only next of kin. Padrin, sensing that Facto’s discovery is something far beyond coincidence contemplates invoking Galactic Assertion 5: There MUST be something that moves a system from its current state to one that is better for the planet and its population, in defiance of all probabilities, patterns and past behaviors.
We Earthlings call it Fate, Destiny, Faith, Luck and Random Chance, but the rest of the galaxy calls it: NaturalAwe.
What genres does your screenplay fall under?
Consider, if you will, “the twilight zone” as genre.
Half hour serialized Character driven episodes centered around the idea that: The Galactic Council has been monitoring the behavior of planet populations for eons.Whenever a planet’s ecosystem is threatened or a planet’s population threatens other planets, the council, after following due process can directly intervene without warning, Unless, of course, there is significant evidence of NaturalAwe.
Why should this screenplay be made into a TV show?
Sometimes it seems like things have never been worse, That we are incapable of fixing that which is broken, That those who blame everything on those not-like-us are in control, That the doom and gloom dystopian vision of our entertainment depicts our destiny. As one who was raised on lessons gathered from Good-triumphs-over-Evil 50s and 60s Broadcast Television, (Occasionally impacted by exemplary public education), built a highly successful Information Systems career based on Richard Feynman’s “Perspective is worth 80 IQ points”, and has extensive experiential evidence that there is no such thing as coincidence, I feel we need to deliver SOMETHING that might just move us to ways that are better for the planet and its population, in defiance of all probabilities, patterns and past behaviors.
Conversation with award-winning filmmaker B.T. Goldman on the making of his Thriller/Suspense short film TEA TIME. B.T. chats about his choices making an effective ending when directing a short film. How do make an impact while staying true to the story you’re telling.
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).
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.
How would you describe your film in two words!?
Uncomfortably funny.
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.
Music Video made entirely in Unreal Engine 5 for the song “BuddhaMachine=HMA” and based off of the short story “Rain Drops”
The plot of the music video pulls and expands upon the short story, whose plot is as follows: a worn out detective in future Beijing attempts to solve a series of bizarre murders that involve a street drug called ‘Rain Drops’, that purports to send people directly to heaven after use.
1. What motivated you to make this film?
After I finished my album, I planned on writing short stories for each of the songs. At the same time my fascination with the workflow and possibilities of Unreal Engine 5 started to grow. I work in film production and have seen people implement it before, but it never crossed my mind that I could do it. So one day the need for a music video crossed with the desire to learn a new skill/program, and I decided to embark on my Unreal Engine journey. I tried to keep it simple at first, use premade assets, touch them up here and there for specific shots. But mostly my goal was to learn the camera and rendering system and see if I could make something compelling and interesting with it.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
It took longer than I hoped! My day job is a sound mixer/designer and composer for film. I think from idea conception to final exports and uploads it took me about 9 months. I could only work on it in my spare time however so it took a while.
3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Meditative Cyberpunk
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Besides learning a whole new workflow (I’ve never worked with a 3D rendering system or video game engine for that matter), I think the hardest part was understanding and utilizing UE5’s complex rendering engine. It took many many tries in some cases to get it to pump out the shots I needed. Many YouTube tutorials were watched and many a coffee was drunk.
5. There are 5 stages of the filmmaking process: Development. Pre-Production. Production. Post-Production. Distribution.
What is your favorite stage of the filmmaking process?
For me, if this was shooting out in the real world and not in UE5, I would say all of the stages except for production are my favorite. I used to direct music videos when I was younger and the development/pre-production process was always fun and exciting. It’s where the psych was the highest and you came up with all your brilliant and wacky ideas before production time showed up with a wet blanket to tell you what you were actually going to get. I never felt like on any project I directed that I got everything like I hoped it would be. People tell me that’s normal, but I hated the feeling. It was like pulling valuables from a burning building. In post production you can finally go into a dark room with just a few people and finally have some alone time with the pieces you’ve collected. There is when, what you actually made, starts to take shape and you get to be creative again. It can be a cold wet blanket as well, but I’ve always preferred the delicate and exacting lessons post shows you (PUs, color, sound design) to the chaotic and panic-y lessons you learn on set. When you work with UE5 though you get to direct from the comfort of your own home in your pajamas! Nothing better than that!
6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
Probably when I was around 8 or 9? I don’t remember exactly when the moment was, but I always was fascinated with cameras and making movies with my action figures in my spare time as a kid.
7. What film have you seen the most times in your life?
Great question! It’s a deep cut, but probably the 2002 cult movie The Mothman Prophecies I’d say. It may not be on anyone’s top 10 lists, but it had a huge impact on me growing up. Especially in my sound design career. The director Mark Pellington used to direct all these weird and surreal spots for MTV back in the day as well as direct some incredible music videos. On the film, they even went so far as to hire the sound designer and composer before the DP so they could make sounds, music, and atmospheres that they could play on set and cut against. This movie really solidified in my mind that films are a marriage of sound and image together, and that cinema’s true power lies in the tango between those two elements. It’s what separates it from all other art forms. Also, if you look back at some of Mark Pellington’s old work you can see that his style certainly had an impact on this video.
8. In a perfect world: Who would you like to work with/collaborate with on a film?
As a sound designer I’d say I’d love (but would also be very nervous) to work with David Fincher, his attention to detail and allowance for his collaborators to dig deeper is something I crave on a lot of the projects I work on. As a film composer I’d love to work with Lynne Ramsay or Zach Cregger. As a director I am not sure! Just people whose work I respect and are great to be around, in this business there is so much chaos that can happen at any step of the process that it’s imperative to have your people around you.
9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
Easy peasy!
10. What is your favorite meal?
At the moment I love a good Poke Bowl
11. What is next for you? A new film?
On top of running my post production business Dragonfly Audio Post with my friend Ben. I am working on two short films and writing a lot! One short film is a UE5 live action hybrid thing and the other is all live action. It is a blessing and a curse sometimes that my brain likes to keep myself this busy. But if I get psyched about something I try to allow myself to embark and follow it wherever it leads! The discovery is part of the fun.
Spaghetti Western meets horror music video from slide blues guitarist and friends.
What motivated you to make this music video?
As a musician who also loves cinema, a music video gives a powerful visualizer to accompany the music. It’s a great way for an artist to further share the vision which motivated the song and its lyrics with their audience. Film is also a huge passion of mine and creating a music video is a fantastic way to realize that whilst creating a piece which will make the music all the more marketable.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
This was the most involved project I have ever worked on. From the planning stage to completion, it was a couple of years! A great deal of people came together to make this project happen from costume and makeup teams to drone operators, expert equestrian teams and special effects teams both during filming and post. The most gruelling part of the process were the post production special effects and extensive rotoscoping in order to entirely transpose a Western movie set situated in the UK to a desert in Southwestern USA!
3. How would you describe your video in two words!?
Western Horror.
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing “Walk with Me Through The Fire”?
The post production special effects were a real learning curve and incredibly involved and labor intensive. During the filming itself, it would have to be capturing the bolting horses! Animal actors of course have a mind of their own and don’t always do what you want or expect. Sometimes this works to your advantage but other times you have to try a few different things to capture the shot you have in mind.
5. There are 5 stages of the filmmaking process: Development. Pre-Production. Production. Post-Production. Distribution.
What is your favorite stage of the filmmaking process?
I have a love/hate relationship with post production. While it’s often hard, frustrating and incredibly labor intensive, seeing the ideas come together is incredibly satisfying, especially when the end product is gradually developed and built into something so different from the original shot. I especially enjoy seeing special effects transformations. For example, in Walk With Me Through the fire, our excellent prosthetic artists did an incredible job turning myself and my fellow musicians into living skeletons. However, in post our eyes, necks and mouths were removed and we were lit just so in order to bring the idea I had for the characters to completion. Often, it’s the tiniest details that satisfy me most, for example when my character “drinks” the shot and you see the whiskey gradually disappear from the glass. Obviously this was not possible to do for real due to my skull prosthetics so was done in post. It’s a tiny fraction of time in the video but just so satisfying to see those little details!
6. When did you realize that you wanted to make this kind of music video?
As long as I have made music videos, I have always harnessed a Southern gothic horror vibe and have gradually become more and more adventurous with the scale of my projects. I have always loved Westerns and was waiting to be inspired to write just the right song to enable me to create a music video of this theme. One day when noodling on guitar, I happened upon a riff that I knew was the one! As I wrote the song I knew it would be to accompany a Western music video so both the song and the film concept were developed concurrently in order to compliment each other.
7. What film have you seen the most times in your life?
It’s a toss up between Django Unchained, Sinners and The Exorcist (1973).
8. In a perfect world: Who would you like to work with/collaborate with on a film?
It may be a bit obvious but Quentin Tarantino and Ryan Coogler. Also, probably a bit more surprising considering my usual style but I think Danny McBride is quite the genius.
9. What is your favorite meal?
Chargrilled oysters from Drago’s in New Orleans followed by more chargrilled oysters from Drago’s in New Orleans! Haha!
10. What is next for you? A new video?
Creating the Walk With me Through the Fire music video was an incredibly experience but it was very exhausting and took a great deal out of me and my team. I am going to return to working on my music and writing album number 2! Once that is well underway I will likely turn my attention to another music video but Walk With me will be a very hard one to follow and outdo!
At its core, My Storm in a Bottle is about loving someone who’s unpredictable, expressive, human – someone who’s been through things and not afraid to be themselves. It explores devotion from a different angle, not lock and key or possessive, but a little zaney in the best kind way. It pays homage in a bluesy jazz cadence and depending on the circumstance it’s definitely learned and lived with but with personality.
2) What motivated you to write this poem?
I wanted to write about intimacy but wanted it to feel alive. Something different. It’s been a while since I’ve written like this and wanted to revisit it. I didn’t want everything to happen at once or feel predictable. I wanted to write something that’s alert, watchful, but doesn’t take itself too seriously.
This version came from two rewrites. The first was focused on a house that creaks when the wind blows. The second played with the weather and how it could make the house creak. Somehow, a bottle of Jack Daniels got involved. That sense of drawing lines from the center of the page outward is something one of my favorite art teachers, Becky McRae, encouraged me to experiment with as I mentioned one of our interviews before.
3) How long have you been writing poetry?
I’ve been writing poetry for quite some time, though the way I write now is totally different than from when I first started. Over time my work has become more intentional. Some of my early pieces, what I sometimes call doodles or quick sketches are still online. I still make mistakes, and I encourage them. Nowadays I tend edit more, a whole lot more. But I’m still learning. Always learning.
4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
I’d love to have dinner with all my little cousins. It’s actually been a while since we’ve all gotten together, and sharing that time would be really cool.
5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?
I’m fascinated by voices and how they tend to bring out things we might have unintentionally missed or bring attention to things, especially when it comes to ourselves. With My Storm in a Bottle, I read it aloud, but I didn’t experience it with the same intensity that a professional actor like Val Cole brings. Hearing her perform it gave it more depth and more clarity. I could visualize everything and it made me smile.
6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?
Yes. I write short prose and narrative driven pieces, most of my work leans towards storytelling, even when it’s poetic. I’m currently working on a new book called Sideshow, which is more than halfway done, and I’m looking forward to releasing it sometime in 2026.
7) What is your passion in life?
Connection – noticing the small moments of how people and experiences touch us.
—- POEM:
My Storm in a Bottle
She rises over my house, like the sun, or the moon. The stars have tried to tell her, but she won’t listen.
Just as she rises, She calls my name like thunder rolling slow through every inch of my house.
Even if I am sleep, I wake up and say “Baby I love you.” But that won’t be love not without her peeking through my window, Before she says it back.
I see her eyes looking left, then right. She don’t mean no harm the way she pops up out the blue. Sometimes saying it outright only makes things worse. I tell her “lord, ain’t no other woman here.” Sometimes she grins and smiles.
She rises over my house. Her smile can make the night turn to day.
But before she nestles her head deep in my chest, she raises it one last time to see if anything is out of place.
This woman you made, lord. Half honey, half storm in a bottle. Roofers don’t come out no more I love her just the same. My storm in a bottle.
Guns in Paradise is a South Korea–set short film that blends fantasy, action, and romance through a metafictional lens. Trapped in routine, a DVD store clerk imagines a violent, passionate love story between two doomed assassins — unaware that the fantasy she’s creating might hold the key to rewriting her own life.
Get to know the filmmaker:
1. What motivated you to make this film?
In my recent projects, I’ve been deeply hands-on, taking on nearly every imaginable role within the filmmaking process. Over time, I’ve worn almost every hat—except one: set design. That gap stayed with me. Wanting to push myself further and expand my visual language, I decided to build a set for the first time.
This wasn’t just about learning a new skill. It was about deepening the knowledge I’ve accumulated over the years and becoming a more complete filmmaker. While I don’t intend to keep doing everything myself forever—I’m very aware that this approach isn’t sustainable long-term—I do believe strongly in understanding every department at a fundamental level. That understanding is what allows meaningful collaboration. When I work with seasoned professionals in the future, I want to communicate my vision clearly, elevate their strengths, and create work that feels unified rather than fragmented.
That creative momentum was amplified when I acquired a dream camera: the Canon C700 shooting RAW. I’ve been a Canon user my entire life, and finding an affordable C700 at auction felt like a sign—fuel added to an already growing desire to create something ambitious and uncompromising in quality.
At its core, this project is a love letter to cinema itself. It reflects my personal relationship with movies—the inspiration they’ve given me, the hope they still represent, and the quiet sadness I feel about the current state of the medium. It’s both a tribute and a reckoning, born out of admiration, concern, and an enduring need to create.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
This project took two years to make. In general, my short films come together in about two months, featurettes take closer to two years, and full-length features require a minimum of four years.
3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Passion, Rebirth.
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
At every step, I’ve faced seemingly unimaginable obstacles. In many ways, I’m used to it—because from the very beginning, I’ve consistently made films that lived in the realm of the “impossible,” largely due to budget constraints. To make them happen, I took on nearly everything myself as a way to survive creatively and financially.
I always find a way to get the job done. Along the way, many people—including myself at times—have questioned my sanity. I often hear, “You can’t do that. That’s impossible.” But somehow, I figure it out and move forward anyway. For example, my first feature film was post-apocalyptic, and I needed locations that felt genuinely destroyed and deteriorated. To achieve that, I traveled to Burma—now known as Myanmar—and filmed exterior shots there. The decision ultimately led to me being removed from the country for capturing images of areas the government didn’t want shown. I don’t think I can do that type of gorilla filmmaking anymore.
5. There are 5 stages of the filmmaking process: Development. Pre-Production. Production. Post-Production. Distribution.
What is your favorite stage of the filmmaking process?
I don’t think I have a favorite stage of the process. Every phase is incredibly challenging, and without genuine passion and motivation, I don’t think I could get through any of them. That said, if I had to choose the opposite, distribution is probably the stage I struggle with the most—not because it isn’t important, but because by the time the film is finished, I’m often too exhausted to fully engage with it or give it the attention it deserves.
6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
When I was 16, I suffered a pneumothorax that left me hospitalized for six weeks, with my lung attached to a tube. The recovery was long and difficult, and during that time, movies became my escape. They gave me a place to go when my body was confined and my future felt uncertain.
Films also became a way for me to connect more deeply with my friends—we began living our lives as if it were part of a movie, framing experiences through story and imagination. Before the surgery, I was a martial arts instructor and champion, but afterward I was forced to give it up. That loss ultimately redirected me toward the arts.
I started with graphic design, then moved into multimedia and visual effects, and over time, that path naturally led me to filmmaking. Along the way, I trained in acting and theater, and somehow all of these disciplines—each skill accumulated over the years—converged into cinema.
There was also a pivotal moment early on: a show called Project Greenlight, which offered emerging filmmakers the chance to make a feature with a million-dollar budget. I entered the competition with virtually no experience and somehow made it into the top 50. That moment felt like a sign—confirmation that I should commit fully and dive deeper into filmmaking.
7. What film have you seen the most times in your life?
This is a difficult question to answer. I watch a lot of films, and my answer changes all the time. There are simply too many great movies, and as a filmmaker, I’m able to appreciate them on many different levels.
8. In a perfect world: Who would you like to work with/collaborate with on a film?
The first name that immediately comes to mind is Hans Zimmer. His music has a rare power to elevate a film beyond the screen.
9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
It’s been a great experience so far—extremely well organized. A well-run festival is what matters most to me.
10. What is your favorite meal?
Through my travels, I’ve found that Vietnamese and Korean food resonate with me the most—rich in variety, bold in flavor, and endlessly satisfying.
11. What is next for you? A new film?
From here on, I plan to focus on feature films, primarily at a larger budget scale. I genuinely love the indie process, but doing everything alone can be both exhausting and overwhelming. The upside, of course, is total creative control—and the fact that you’re actively building the film from day one, which removes the lingering anxiety of whether it will ever actually get made.
With bigger-budget projects, I’ve seen the opposite challenge: films collapsing after years of development due to financing issues or actors dropping out. Watching a project unravel after so much pre-production can be devastating. That said, I’m ready to take on something more ambitious—projects that require collaboration at scale, deeper resources, and a longer runway, but with the creative clarity and resilience that only comes from having gone through the indie trenches first.
JULIET & THE KING, 92min., Iran Directed by Ashkan Rahgozar The Iranian King gets an invitation to visit France. While visiting a “Romeo and Juliet” play in Paris, the actress catches his eye. He falls in love with her so deeply that he asks her to perform the same play in Tehran, so he can impress her and win her heart. Julie, the actress, decides to take this chance with the help of her friend Jamal. But she suddenly finds herself among jealous court ladies. https://hoorakhsh.studio/works/juliette-and-the-king/
Get to know the filmmaker:
1. What motivated you to make this film?
My motivation for making Juliet goes back to my upbringing. I grew up in a family where history was an inseparable part of everyday life. My father had a large personal library, and I would say that about two-thirds of it consisted of history books, especially books focused on the Qajar period. His own field of study was largely centered on Qajar history.
At the same time, the form of this period—the way Iran began to enter modernity from a traditional structure—was always fascinating to me. Alongside my father’s studies, I was exposed to many of these books; sometimes he would recommend them to us, and we would read them. Gradually, through this process, the historical trajectory of Iran, its cultural interactions with both the West and the East—particularly with the West during the Qajar era—became very interesting to me. These interactions played an important role in shaping Iran’s cultural development and its transformation from tradition toward modernity.
All of this stayed with me, and eventually I felt it would be meaningful to explore these ideas within the framework of a film, and to give them form through a cinematic idea.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
From the initial idea to the completion of the film, it took around seven years. During this period, about a year and a half was spent moving forward at a very slow pace due to financial difficulties. After we were able to resolve these issues, we managed to continue the production with a much better and more consistent speed.
3. How would you describe your film in two words?
Love and Art
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
The biggest obstacle we faced during the production was a legal dispute with the project’s investor. Due to the economic conditions in Iran, the significant devaluation of the national currency and the sharp rise in production costs, the project experienced a serious financial shock. Our investor was not willing to accept this situation, which led to a very heavy legal conflict.
This dispute lasted for about a year and a half. During that time, we were under intense financial pressure while also dealing with a prolonged legal process. Eventually, we were able to reach an agreement, and part of the necessary investment was secured, which allowed us to complete the film.
5. There are 5 stages of filmmaking. What is your favorite stage of the process and why?
I really enjoy the development stage. It is the phase where an idea starts from vague mental images and written notes—at first, it exists only as text and unclear images in my mind. These images are usually not very sharp at the beginning, but gradually they take on a concrete form.
During this stage, a very interesting synergy happens between me and the artists who are working on the initial concepts and the early visual development of the project. This process of turning something abstract into something tangible is the part I enjoy the most, and it is also the most exciting stage for me.
6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
I realized quite early that I wanted to become an animation filmmaker, probably around the age of 15 or 16. The reason was that I was interested in many different things at the same time—I loved dinosaurs, history, drawing, and music.
I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to pursue all these interests together—developing ideas alongside drawing, music, and many other elements—animation was the best medium for that. From that age, around 15 or 16, I genuinely knew that this would be my profession.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Princess Mononoke is the film I have watched more than any other in my life.
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 most important thing that motivates a filmmaker at a festival is how much the film is actually seen. If a festival can attract a larger audience and give the filmmaker more exposure, along with meaningful feedback—sometimes positive, sometimes negative—that can greatly increase the value and impact of the festival.
The more a festival is able to draw audiences and create real engagement with the films, the more attractive and meaningful it becomes for filmmakers.
9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experience been working on the festival platform site?
FilmFreeway is probably the best platform for submitting films to festivals. It is very good, highly functional, and fast to use. The main issue, however, is that it can be quite expensive at times. For us, especially when submitting to international festivals from Iran, these costs can become significant.
Beyond the fees themselves, there are also challenges related to payment transfers, as we do not have access to international accounts or full connectivity to the global banking system. This makes the process more difficult for us. That said, in terms of usability and functionality, FilmFreeway itself is a very effective platform.
10. What is your favorite meal?
My favorite meal is Iranian kebab, specifically koobideh kebab.
11. What is next for you? A new film?
I am always engaged in various projects. I work as a co-producer on different projects from around the world, and I also direct several animation projects. Regarding my own film work, I am currently developing a new project that I am very excited about. I hope to complete it and be able to present it within the next two years.
The theme of Footsteps is the exploration of humanity’s deep connection to nature.
2) What motivated you to write this poem?
I was raised in the forests of Northern California, where my life was always intertwined with nature, yet every time I interact with the natural world I discover more of its magic and I feel the connection strengthen.
3) How long have you been writing poetry?
I have loved writing and creating poetry since I was a child, and though I put my creative writing on hold for some time in order to get a BA in Journalism, I came back to writing poetry throughout my 30’s.
4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
Without hesitation I will say my mother. She passed away when I was 16 and she was an incredible woman who lived an amazing life. I wish everyday that I could get to know her now that I am the age that she was when she was raising me.
5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?
I believe there is something very beautiful and profound about the spoken word as a form of art. Poetry read out loud is unique; it fills a space between music and literature read out loud.
6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?
Besides poetry, of which I had a published book released last year called WildLife, most of what I write tends to be more journalistic in nature. I create works such as blog posts on sustainability or other specific topics, and editorial pieces regarding travel and living abroad.
7) What is your passion in life?
The best way to put it would be that my passion in life is to be a present, positive, loving, compassionate, conscientious & sustainable human being.
—- POEM:
FOOTSTEPS, by J. Amber Griffin
Footsteps beneath the branches lead to a descension into deepness
A haze of heaviness clears revealing contemplative consciousness
Sensations of fervor writing the beginning of the story
Noting the colors, textures, shapes inviting all of us are welcomed
Curiosity and admiration adorning the kinship between us
Flowers grow, petals fall planted are new seeds of growth
Rising up together not fickle determined by the delight
Continue chapter by chapter cyclical until death it doesn’t part
Where sunlight lacks shadows protect another haven
Often unseen is the balance the perfection too often strived for
Connection bears witness intrinsic a feeling of the truth
Staring at starry skies release and simply remember
The Ancient Time Piece, 5min., UK Directed by Justin Walker, Islien Walker Lily, a teenage girl is stuck in a monotonous cycle, perhaps this is connected to an old eerie clock she found in her family’s basement, a clock that was still ticking when she found it…. how long had this ancient Time Piece been ticking!
My daughter Islien (co-director and lead actress) wrote the short story The Ancient Time piece when she was 11 years old, now she is 13….the short story was published in the compilation book ‘The glitch twisted tales’ which resides in the national library, London UK. Myself and my daughter had discussed making a short film based on her story for sometime… eventually we commenced production this summer.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
Haha, well shooting only took 2 days, post production, editing, effects, score sound design took approximately 2 months.
3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Time Reflective
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Well being amateur/smartphone filmmakers who produce short films on a zero budget you are always working with restrictions and limitations…..often you ‘think’ big during concept/pre production but find in reality you have to work within your means….however you do tend to be more creative due to these restrictions. The major obstacle is finding the time between my full-time job and family life to shoot and complete post production is always a challenge. Obviously there is a challenge in having the final product look a quality piece/semi-professional on limited resources.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
Apprehension, I think it’s human nature to want positive regard, you want your work to be well received and liked, so it was a relief to see positive feedback.
6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
At age 15, I had always had a love for film from an early age, I have always been fascinated by the process of film and how they were made…I have never been academic or good with my hands but have always been creative and had an active imagination.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Jaws….Jaws is my all-time favourite film
8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
Wow…this festival has so much to offer…what more could we as filmmakers ask for… nothing!
9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
Filmfreeway has always been professional with good communication, very easy to navigate with an extensive catalogue of film festivals.
10. What is your favorite meal?
That would be an English roast dinner.
11. What is next for you? A new film?
We have just finished post production on ‘The Girl Who Haunted Herself’ the short was unscripted and an impromptu production, we are hoping to release the film in the new year.