Reach for the Stars, 22min., Australia
Directed by Dylan Randall
After her mother’s passing, young Madeline is struggling with coming to terms with her grief. One night, when a small spacecraft crashes in her backyard, she meets B3R1, a stranded visitor from the stars.

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Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

Reach For the Stars is a project that I hold very close to my heart, as the idea came after the passing of my Grandad, and how my family and I dealt with the grief that followed. This moment in my life motivated me to create something that could be a light-hearted, wonder-filled adventure but with emotional undertones that helps us explore the idea of how different people deal with loss, and how that can be overcome. He was always a supporter with my films, much like my entire family, and the way that a writer can use their own personal experiences to carve a story was something that drew me to finally creating a story that carried this weight. I was also motivated and inspired by the wonderful work of the ‘Industrial Light and Magic’ studio and the puppets created for the original Star Wars, and I began to wonder how I could incorporate these techniques into my story. As soon as I knew I wanted to incorporate a robot, learning everything about how they used to do it became my everyday reading. Because I believe that stories are the windows to a world far beyond our reach, I wanted bring a shared experience of so many people to life with something that could not be tangible in our day to day life. This bridged the gap between reality and the wonderful make-believe and B3R1 acts as the emotional bridge for our audience to connect them to this story and to act as a sense of hope that people may need.

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

The original idea formed in April of 2024, but I had other projects in production around then and I hadn’t fully finished the script yet. I then pushed back the completion of the script until Feb 2025 and from the moment I finished the script, I already had a cast picked out without even asking them. Pre-Production on the robot started in March as he was quite particular to build and needed all the time to make adjustments, do visual tests etc. Then we started Principle Photography in July and it took 5 shoot days in total. PostProduction took around 2 months, as it was mostly VFX work on the robot until our completion in September. In this time we also live recorded a majority of our score with the help of our composer, Lizzie, and some amazing musicians.

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

Wonder and Wholesome

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

B3R1, The Robot. He was a little tricky to get right. From the beginning of the filming process, I knew he was going to be a physical robot which was then digitally enhanced in post. It wasn’t until his creation began that I realised, due to his scale, and my lack of robotics knowledge, he was going to be a very basic shell, which would then be brought to life. I completed a VFX test which included using eye tracking on After Effects which was parented to his cartoon eyes so that the actor could do a physical performance which I could translate to digital movement. It looked good but it was not great. We jumped straight into production and I was still figuring him out, so we shot the actress first, and then moved onto B. Initially it was stopmotion, which we tried, and ultimately failed for the shots I was trying to create. He didn’t feel alive and it felt so disconnected. We scrapped the stop-motion 3 days into shooting, and we pulled out the fishing wire and off we went, B3R1 finally felt alive. It was a combination of our amazing puppeteer Daniel, and the help of the crew for more complex shots, which brought him to life, and in the end made B3R1 the easiest part of the shoot. The haze and fog machine was our real enemy.

5. There are 5 stages of the filmmaking process: Development. Pre-Production. Production. PostProduction. Distribution.

What is your favorite stage of the filmmaking process?

My favourite stage is a big tie between the Production stage and Post-Production stage. For my films, I include a lot of visual trickery that sometimes you cannot picture or see on set during production. For production, I love watching my stories come to life through peoples interpretations, watching scenes blend together and see the images I’ve had in my mind for months, finally fall in-front of my eyes. It is an honour to be able to be trusted by your closest friends to tell some of the most heartwarming to most crazy stories you’ve written. Post-Production is so much fun, as I have been a wiz at VFX for a long time, and every film I try something new, and even sometimes try a new form of art to include in my film. Reach for the Stars included many hand drawn animations, which was a first for me, and then my skills in AE come into affect when I had to bring these drawings to life in the film. Every creative process of the filmmaking journey is an incredibly fun one, and these are only two highlights of what makes film so special to me.

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

For as long as I can remember. I can’t actually put my finger on the exact moment, but my father brought me up on all the old 80s films and I can just remember always wanting to try recreate every moment I saw. The Delorean disappearing in BTTF, the TARDIS in Dr Who, Gremlins, ET, Jaws, Indiana Jones. I could name every film that I have watched and wanted to try and recreate. Ever since then, every school project I tried to make it a film, every film I have made has been fun, trying something new each different time and learning something from the last. It’s been a blast and will continue to be a blast!

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

Definitely Back to the Future!

8. In a perfect world: Who would you like to work with/collaborate with on a film?

Honestly it would be to work under/work with Steven Spielberg or Christopher Nolan. Those two directors have shaped my filmmaking and just every film they have made is amazing. I am a Sci-Fi buff, so its to be said that these two had something to do with that!

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

I haven’t submitted a film since my feature I made in 2022, and it has been alright this time. I have had a few mixups with the larger more country hoping festivals where my film hasn’t uploaded so I missed the festival etc, but all round, this time has been great, and I have been able to be apart of so many amazing festivals around the world and the opportunity to show the team and I’s craftsmanship in filmmaking.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Can’t go wrong with Steak and Chips!

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

Yes! A brand new film is currently in Principle Photography. After the adventures of using puppetry in Reach for the Stars, I thought I would extend my play and try building and creating my own set of puppets, to braces the high seas! It is coming along great and it is currently extremely fun to be shooting, the edit of this film is going to be very intense however super rewarding. There is nothing like trying your hand at something new and learning something along the way. I can’t spoil too much, but the adventures across the high seas are just getting started.

Feet Don’t Fail Me Now, 7min., USA Directed by Fuzhi Zhao The sun will erase your memory. If you don’t want to become nobody, you have to keep running. Get to know the filmmaker: 1. What motivated you to make this film? Part of this idea stemmed from the fear of the unknown, which is deeply embedded in human nature. We are scared of what we don’t know. The universe is so vast that it might not have a limit, and the ocean is so expansive that we only know a tiny portion of it, and nobody can tell you what death is like. There are countless things in the world that work this way. Just like us, my protagonist Noe can’t stop running away from “the Sun,” something that everybody on the planet fears because it will erase your memory quicker than death. Noe embraces the experience at the end, because she is small and the universe has more power over her. She can never outrun her fate. With acceptance comes peace and new experiences; she has never seen anything quite as strange and beautiful as “the Sun.” Noe believes “the Sun” will be the end of everything for her. Is it actually true? The other half of the story is also my feelings about these “learned truths,” the things we are told to do or not to do, and if these “truths” serve a function. Noe’s stopping to look at “the Sun” is also her act of defiance. 2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film? I’ve had this idea for a few years. After revisiting this concept, it took me about three months, from the first draft to the edits, to make this film. 3. How would you describe your film in two words!? Dystopian haiku? 4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film? Everything felt kinda stressful at the time, but now I think about it, it’s really not that bad. I guess one thing is communication. Coming from an animation background, I didn’t have much experience collaborating with a bunch of people. Talking to people about what’s in my head is still something I am practicing. 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 love development because that’s where I can get crazy with my ideas, I can write stories and see them in my head, and then I wish other people could see it as I do. And then there is production, where I get to see the story slowly coming alive. It’s also chaotic in a way that requires you to come up with a solution on the spot when you have a problem, and I find some of the interesting things I’ve done are like that. 6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films? I’ve always been into drawings, and at some point in high school, I thought that it’d be cool if the drawings moved. And then I realized that behind the scenes of movies is not at all what we see as the audience. And that I can construct different realities than the one I know. 7. What film have you seen the most times in your life? Her by Spike Jonze 8. In a perfect world: Who would you like to work with/collaborate with on a film? Yuasa Masaaki 9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site? The festival platform site is easy to navigate. 10. What is next for you? A new film? I’m working on a new project right now. It’s a retro-futuristic sci-fi about a scientist named Tommy trying to fix his ill Mother, who despises him.

1. What motivated you to make this film? – I had produced a few features prior to this, and figured it was time to try my hand at directing one of them. I knew it would be low budget—lower than most projects I had produced up to that point—so wanted to think of something contained and unique. SHIFT was born pretty quickly into that process: one room, security monitors, a potential murder. The rest of the world was colored in after that simple premise rose to the top.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film? – It took about two and half years. From script to screen, only about a year, but post we took our time. I think more independent films should take their time in post-production. Almost no one is really asking for it, so there’s no pressure to rush the film except for the pressure you put on yourself.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!? Hitchcock In-Skinny-Jeans.

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film? – The security monitors! Everything on the monitors is practical—we used no screen replacement or VFX to create the effect. We shot the movie twice: silently with the monitors, cut those scenes together, and then played them back live in the room for the actors to react to on set. It was a real song and dance of piecing those together well enough to sell the action when actors leave the room and appear on the monitors. It works really well, almost too well, because no one asks about them and assume it’s really happening. But that was not the case!

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? Post-Production. Everything up until that point is just potential. It’s when you really start to craft the film in post-production that get to write it one last time and adjust your story.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films? – Grade school. My parents took me to the movies to keep me quiet, I think, and from there I always wanted to learn how to make my own. And am now doing so.

7. What film have you seen the most times in your life? Starship Troopers and Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

8. In a perfect world: Who would you like to work with/collaborate with on a film? – Martin McDonagh.

9. Besides movie-making, what else are you passionate about? Reading and Magic: the Gathering.

10. What is your favorite meal? – Mexican.

11. What is next for you? A new film? – I’m primarily producing these days, with the occasional short thrown in. Directing another feature will manifest sometime in the future, but right now producing is where I’m focused.

Moving mandala what I started with a simple circle . I was interested what are the possibilites of such simple basic programme as Windows paint . First picture I named Q by case ,subconsciously or * upconsciously* ,later found in literature that Q is letter Qof in Jewish alphabet ,represent the Sun ,number 19 in Tarot .

http://www.silvano.hr/

Review by Parker Jesse Chase:

What begins as a single yellow dot at the center of the frame slowly expands into a living mandala, growing piece by piece through color, symmetry, and repetition.

The film leans into asking what can be made from simplicity, and answering by building shapes and colors into movement. Yellow gives way to green, then to hot pink and purple, each color introduced as a new layer of thought. Shapes begin to stack, forming patterns that feel less like a kaleidoscope and more like a system building itself in real time.

The title Q carries a quiet weight. Echoing the letter “Qof” from the Hebrew alphabet, often tied to the sun and symbolic cycles. That connection reframes the piece, turning the mandala into something more than visual play. It becomes a kind of orbit, a slow meditation on repetition, energy, and transformation.

The electronic synth score grounds the experience in a distinctly 90s digital texture, matching the raw, Microsoft Paint-based aesthetic. It feels nostalgic without being ironic, embracing the visual language of early desktop art.

As the mandala evolves, it doesn’t just expand, it shifts. Mandalas open like doors, giving way to new configurations, new centers. Nothing stays fixed for long. Even the structure itself feels temporary, always on the verge of becoming something else. The final transition into a full red screen, pierced by a forming yellow beam, lands like both an ending and a reset, a return to origin with the memory of everything that came before.

Q 1 is a hypnotic synth in creation. It watches something come into being, not all at once, but gradually over time. Where color and shape carry meaning without ever needing to explain it.

A seasoned detective struggles to make sense of his daughter’s untimely death.

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Review by Julie C. Sheppard:

At the outset of this gripping short, When Fighting Monsters, there is an astute onscreen quote of warning by Nietzsche – – to paraphrase, when attempts are made to fight evil, unjust deeds, you must to be careful that the darkness of revenge does not take you over, so much so that you are eventually just as corrupt as the original perpetrators. The actor playing the central figure convincingly portrays a character who falls into this dangerous psychological trap.

The screenplay makes use of pointed dialogue between characters where subtext is king. What is left unsaid is even more powerful than what is said, as the story unfolds. The main character attempts to control the narrative of innocence, but things start to close in on him.

Much of the film is engulfed in darkness, both physically and psychologically, with disconcerting nighttime scenes and emotional moments riddled by bitterness and anger. Swirling, eerie music and rhythms frame the highly dramatic moments. The warning off the top is prophetic, as revenge and madness come together with tragic results.

After her cell phone is stolen, Laura, a pregnant dentist, commits a desperate act: she attacks a stranger, convinced he’s the thief. But what seemed like a passing impulse opens a rift in her perception of reality. The cell phone reappears. The messages don’t stop. The images show impossible things.

Review by Parker Jesse Chase:

Delusion opens with the sound of a lighter flicking open and closed. No context is given, but anxiety builds. This directorial choice sets the tone before any visual or narrative is shared. When we finally see Mauricio, lit by a harsh red glow, it frames him in ambiguity. Is he a threat, or just a man caught in the wrong moment? The film never gives us a clean answer, and this uncertainty fuels everything that follows.

As the film continues to follow Laura, a pregnant woman whose phone is stolen on a dark roadside. What should be a moment of inconvenience turns into something far more dangerous. She locks onto a stranger, Mauricio, and decides he is the one who took it. That decision becomes the film’s core fracture point. From there, reality begins to slip.

Lighting plays a major role in the psychological shifts at play. The early warm tones of the gas station give way to sickly greens, reds, and yellows by the time we reach outside the bar. The world starts to feel contaminated, like reality itself is turning against Laura. It’s not just a visual queue, it mirrors her internal state.

This is a story about perception under pressure. About how fear, isolation, and vulnerability can lead to abrupt decision making. Laura’s pregnancy adds weight to every choice she makes. Her body is not just her own, and that amplifies the urgency, the protectiveness, the paranoia. When she says, “I’m not going to let them take anything else,” it lands as both maternal instinct and a
warning sign. Protection turns into projection.

Sound design carries much of the emotional weight. The escalating notifications, the persistent ringing, the layering of a heartbeat tied to her pregnancy, all build a sense of pressure that never releases.

Delusion is defined by its refusal to bend, even when confronted with its very truth. Laura embodies this. There is no real evidence that leads to Mauricio taking her phone in the first place, yet she builds a case in her mind and acts on it. The stabbing is not just violence, this is conviction made physical. Once Laura crosses this line, the film refuses to let her step back. The phone returns to her hand. Messages flood in. Images appear that should not exist. It becomes less of an object and more of a force. Something invasive. Something that cannot be discarded.

The phone reads like a stand-in for our relationship with constant connection. It doesn’t just demand attention, it traps it. Laura tries to throw it away, destroy it, escape it, but it always returns to her hand. That loop mirrors the way we engage with our own devices. The need to check, respond, stay plugged in. Even when it harms us.

Then the film sharpens its edge. Laura receives a video of herself committing the crime. She is being watched. Not just observed, but consumed. A message comes through: she is being live-streamed. People are watching her unravel in real time.

That’s where the film lands its most unsettling idea. Suffering turned into entertainment. We scroll through pain every day. We watch breakdowns, violence, and public shame. There is a distance that makes it easy. Delusion collapses this distance. It puts Laura inside that loop, turning her fear into content. The audience within the film becomes a reflection of us outside it. The performances ground the film. Laura’s unraveling feels physical. Her hands shaking, her breath tightening, the way panic lives in her body. Mauricio, in contrast, is quiet and human, which makes the violence against him hit harder. He feels like someone who could have walked away from the story entirely, if not for her belief.

The final image, a wide pullback revealing her bloodied and alone, lands with a kind of cold distance. It echoes the earlier surveillance shots. We are no longer close to her. We are watching, just like everyone else.

In a nocturnal Cuba, lit only by the tiny lights of the cocuyos, the island’s DJs and electronic music producers become a living metaphor: like those glowing insects, they come alive at night, illuminating the city with their energy and restlessness.

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Directed by Desiderio Sanzi

Review by Julie C. Sheppard:

This film, Cuba Coocuyo Remix, is a solid tribute to the electronic music coming from nighttime venues of this colourful, historic island. The film captures the rhythm of the language, and the sites and sounds of the place – – the cinematographer does a fabulous job including scenes of people of all ages and walks of life going about their days. 

Despite the obvious challenges of living in Cuba with its old cars and rather crumbling infrastructure, the DJs are not at all deterred when making plans to create lively, upbeat musical entertainment. The refrains of music we do hear give us a strong clue to what the high energy events of the night will bring. It is also inspirational to hear the thoughts, plans and dreams of a local DJ, and a confident voice discussing the available equipment and software.

The comfortable interactions between city folk give the pace of the film a gentleness, as time almost seems to stand still as we wait for the evening to come and the music and dancing to begin. Film viewers no doubt wish they could join in this electrifying dance.

At times, being bipolar can be an all-consuming challenge, requiring a lot of stamina and even more courage but when a young girl, Ava, decides to rid herself of her medication, thinking her own strength and will power can fix the chemical imbalance in her brain, it just leads to a recipe for disaster. When Ava finds love on this chaotic path, was it all she needed? Or will things take a turn for the worst.

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Review by Victoria Angelique

It is rare that a narrative film like WHAT GOES UP delves deeply into the choices a person with bipolar disorder makes, particularly when it comes to medication. Ava does what many people that suffer from mental health disorders do, she chooses to stop her medication on her own because she feels better and decides that she no longer needs the daily regimen without consulting a doctor. This has catastrophic effects as the days pass by, with the ominous score foreshadowing the coming events that are about to unfold in Ava’s life. 

The people in Ava’s life mirror those in real life situations when it comes to mental health. Her lifelong friend implores her boyfriend to tread carefully, which indicates that she knows how Ava will react to certain words. It’s only when Ava goes too far, trying to force her into playing a dangerous game that her friend also tries to force Ava to get help. The only calm force, in Ava’s current manic state of mind, is her new boyfriend Jesse. He treads carefully, even saving her life as she feels betrayed by her friends and wants desperately to die. 

Ava’s decision to stop the medication sent her into a manic state. Jesse is written to be a modern prince charming as the man that steps up to save her and stand by her side, when he could have ran since he just met her at the coffee shop he worked that month. There was an instant bond, so he stayed strong and even as she descended into her manic state, he chose not to leave. 

Mental health is a stigma that many people don’t talk about, much less depicted in film. It’s hard to explain the state of mind that a person goes through when medication is stopped, but WHAT GOES UP did it perfectly.

Another Star is set in 1970s Washington, D.C., where young Black girls begin vanishing from neighborhood streets, their disappearances met with silence, suspicion, and systemic neglect. When one girl fails to return home from a simple trip to the corner store, her family’s growing panic exposes a community long accustomed to being unheard.

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Review by Julie C. Sheppard:

Another Star is a vivid and suspenseful retelling of the heartbreaking true story of targeted murders of young black girls in Washington, D.C. in the early 1970s. This film captures the style of the era on so many levels: the use of a rotary dial telephone and an analog clock, bright wallpaper motifs on the set walls, wardrobe pieces with patterns such as stripes and geometric shapes, large afro hairstyles, 1970’s musical refrains emanating from the radio, and scenes of protesters picketing against the Vietnam war. Another reminder of the time is that there is no sign of any modern electronic games for the kids, but instead a simple game of Jacks for entertainment.

The film layers in archival photos of the real girls who lost their lives, which makes this dramatization even more poignant. Other effective choices are made such as muted voices during arguments and low, extreme close-ups of hurried walking feet of both the pursued and the pursuer. It also does a clever job using flashback scenes to clarify the chain of events before the murders.

A solid cast does justice to this tragic depiction of events. The committed female detective is particularly convincing and is able to sensitively draw out the grieving mother with a mind to keep other children from potential danger. These murders must have caused such terror and paranoia for this black community of the time. The project does a remarkable job elucidating this fear, and yet also reveals resilience, love and loyalty.

In the mead-hall of Heorot, the warrior Beowulf answers King Hrothgar’s desperate call as the monstrous Grendel terrorizes the kingdom. A dark epic retelling of the ancient legend — Act One of a planned trilogy.

http://theglitchverse.com/

Review by Julie C. Sheppard:

Revenge is sweet in the animated short, Beowulf: The coming of Grendel. The Old English epic poem Beowulf as its source, this AI-generated film does a superb job creating the atmosphere of the period piece: scenes of rocky terrain by the sea, rough behaviour of raucous men feasting and drinking in front of a roaring fire in the middle of the sturdy wooden hall, and the presence of the old king in elegant robes and crown, and suitably-lined face. Grendel is terrifyingly depicted with a massive body and hideous eyes and teeth. Of course, we are not disappointed by the visuals of the handsome, muscled conquering hero.

This short makes use of impressive sound effects and music, from guttural utterances, surging orchestrals and booming percussion during combat, to wistful refrains of a medieval-style pipe as the king deliberates. Voice artists also deserve a nod here, convincingly able to portray their roles, from noble to brave to beastly. This project provides an excellent introduction to those fascinated by the epic poem Beowulf, a satisfying tale in which both revenge and justice are served.