THE MULTIDIMENSIONALS, 90min., USA
Directed by Ewa Pirog-Rojas
“The Multidimensionals” tells the beginnings of STAR ENVOY, an unacknowledged Defense Intelligence Agency Operations Group assigned to protect US interests among the galactic community via specialized “ambassadors” whom are alien hybrids. It follows Ulrin, a lifetime government grey man, and alien hybrid, as he recruits the specialized ambassadors from different walks of life (Anuba, Karson, and Phoebe). It also goes into their encounters with different galactic species (Annunaki, Arcturian, Grey, Reptilians, and others). In a parallel timeline, he is his Native American self seeing the recruits and sometimes providing commentary from his POV to Ulrin, the government employee. The work stands alone as a feature film or can be the pilot episode. Work is 90 minutes along with an additional 10 minutes of bloopers and credits. Shot on 35 mm Department of Defense camera – digitized and a BlackMagic 6K Pro.

https://www.instagram.com/fallen11series

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

Grew up watching science fiction and loved the genre. If it had a star in its name I’ve watched it! Today’s science fiction genre could benefit from a female’s perspective.

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

About a year for all phases of the pilot, and picture lock for a first season of the series.

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

F-cking Fabulous!

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

We made this film between Alex and myself filling in all of the roles with no budget. Passion, endurance, and tenacity were our budget. Our love for making something that is different and ours was our currency.

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

Very informative, positive, helpful, and appreciative for the opportunity.

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

My background is in arts but was always limited to smaller scales and focusing on print design rather than media. When the opportunity presented itself to work on something not requiring a crazy number of investors and budgets I jumped in with both feet.

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

It’s a toss up between “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” and Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon”

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 really like sharing with likeminded people and getting the feedback along with promotion of the project so that more people can see it.

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

Positive.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Pierogi.

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

Completing season 1 of the series and getting it out there. It’s a fascinating and wild ride.

NIGHT OF THE DIMENSION TROLL, 8min., South Africa
Directed by Tyrone Donovan Patrick
One dark night… a little boy gets ripped from a wonderful dream when a terrible little troll appears through a portal at the end of his bed… and steals his blanket!

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

‘Night of the Dimension Troll’ (or ‘Nag van die Dimensie Trol’, original Afrikaans title) is a culmination of wanting to do a scary, silly, fun, fantasy children’s story in book format, with simple and clear illustrations that told the story visually well enough that a young child could follow along by looking at the pictures alone, not even needing to hear or understand the narration. I wanted to take an everyday setting, ie: a house/home, and transform it into, a type of, epic fantastical setting, by taking the characters and shrinking them down to a diminutive scale and thus magnifying the world around them to epic proportions. I also wanted a supernatural villain that was a bit of a menace, that would create a sense of urgency- the longer they didn’t get to him, the more trouble he’d create for our heroes.

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

The story had been brewing in my mind for a few years. I finally got around to completing the story & script and then started with the illustrations. There were nearly sixty in total (not all of which made it into the final film) which took me about three months to complete. The final editing took me just over a week or so to complete, so you could say ultimately around four months.

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

Spellbinding & exciting (hopefully)

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

Completing the illustrations was a major challenge. I always wanted to do the story as a children’s illustrated book, but the idea changed to making it into a short film. I had the opportunity to work on the illustrations full time and so I did. The illustrations were all hand drawn in graphite colouring pencils, which took me around 12 – 16 hours of drawing full time, everyday.

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

I was pleasantly surprised that it had mostly been received well, it seemed that even though the audience were adults (obviously), they said they’d been quite captivated by the story which was awesome to hear.

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

In my early 20’s I did a degree in visual communication and took ‘Video’ as a subject in my second year and discovered- “Hey! This is awesome”. I’ve been in love with the medium ever since.

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

Full Metal Jacket

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

Anything that would create the opportunity to screen the film to as wide an audience as possible.

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

Great. The website is very simple & straightforward to use. Maybe too easy even.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Seafood.

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

I’m currently working on a documentary on ancient stone circle ruins in Southern Africa.

REGULAR DAY, 2min., China
Directed by Kiam Yang
Humans have undertaken experiments on numerous species in pursuit of extracting natural fusion substances.

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

When we talk about the future, many people envision hardcore science fiction. This made me realize that there is a lack of imagination beyond hardcore science fiction. Therefore, I intend to do my best to fill this gap.

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

Around 5 months or so, using my spare time.

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

Fantasy Nature

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

Setting up a future world is perhaps the biggest challenge, figuring out how to make these designs exist plausibly is very difficult.

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

One viewer mentioned AI generation, which surprised me as my film did not use AI generation technology to create visuals. I hope that everyone won’t let the current AI trend influence their judgment of the film.And I am very happy that other viewers enjoyed the film.

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

When I graduated, I started making CG films, which made me feel that my creativity was being realized.

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

I don’t know, haha, I haven’t counted. Generally speaking, for a movie, I usually watch it at most twice.

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 you guys have done a great job.

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

The experience is smooth, the guidance is clear, and information retrieval is convenient.

10. What is your favorite meal?

I am Chinese, so my favorite cuisine is Cantonese food.

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

The next step is to create some small creative short videos to share on my social media. When I have a major inspiration, I will turn it into a full-length film.

FIRST & LAST, 4min., Canada
Directed by Alexander Nonaka Galant
At a showing of a rental apartment, a young woman stumbles upon a gruesome mystery while taking pictures with her phone.

https://www.alexandergalant.com/
https://www.instagram.com/alexander.galant/

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

Many years ago I made a thriller called The Jigsaw Puzzle which did well in the festivals and, I learned recently, it’s shown in some film schools as an example of a narrative without dialogue (which is why it has so many views on YouTube). I’m proud of that, but I’ve grown a lot since then. It runs a bit long, and was shot in a modest apartment that had white walls which I worked against, trying to make it creepy. So upon re-watching it about a year ago, I decided to create a new film that would be under 5 minutes and used the white-walled, friendly atmosphere as a misdirect.

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

From scripting it in mid-December 2023 to filming and editing it in February 2024: Two months and a bit.

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

Timeloop murder

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

This was a very small apartment with not a lot of room, so I couldn’t have as many crew members as we needed. One side was a complete wall of windows, so we were chasing the light. Convincing the homeowner that the blood would not stain was also a challenge. It’s a washable/edible recipe that I have from when I used to be a make-up FX artist.

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

Yes! They got it! I plague myself with self-doubt through the entire process, questioning everything. Does this make sense? Am I too cryptic? Will cutting out a couple of beats in post-production ruin it all? Hearing the feedback confirming they caught the nuances solidifies the saying to “show don’t tell and trust the audience to figure it out.”

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

I’ve always been a storyteller, and wanted to be part of the magic of TV or film since I was a kid. I’ve directed many stage productions (musicals and straight), but when a show closes, all that’s left is memories. Film lasts longer and there’s no limit to telling a story with filmmaking. Over the years I’ve worked in various areas of the film industry and lately as a script supervisor I’ve had the opportunity to sit next to some amazing directors and have learned a lot from their perspective. It’s taken a long time, but my next step is to transition to a larger-budget director’s chair.

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

Hmmm. Tough question. I’d say a 3-way tie: The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars (1977) and Rear Window.

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 can only speak for myself but I’m very much an introvert and find it difficult to approach people I don’t know. I think any opportunity to help with networking is great. Since so much of the hiring is based on who the production team knows, it is so important to create contacts in our industry.

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

Well when I first started submitting to festivals (like the above mentioned The Jigsaw Puzzle), it was a costly challenge to submit, between getting videotape screener copies made, transfering to PAL if sending to Europe, getting money orders in other currencies, customs forms… (I quickly learned to write “contains no pornographic material” on all the custom forms so that it wouldn’t get held up before a festival deadline!) Now with FilmFreeway, the screener and stills are already uploaded and payments done on-line, it’s all done with a few clicks. In my opinion, it’s an easy and efficient platform.

10. What is your favorite meal?

This is as tough as question #7. I’d say the all-time favourite is a properly cooked (med-rare) steak dinner.

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

I have just shot another 5-minute short entitled “SOB”, which features a young man talking to his therapist about whether or not he should go to his estranged mother’s funeral. The aim was to tell a story that was interesting with a twist, but that had no blood. It will be edited in the new year.

THE GENDER SYMPHONY, 14min,. USA
Directed by Phoebe Hemenway Legere
Filmed on the streets of Venice, the Gender Symphony follows the hapless servant Columbina as she toils under the tyrannical Dr. Pants—an alchemist obsessed with unlocking the secrets of wealth. When Dr. Pants stumbles upon an ancient incantation promising limitless riches, the spell summons not gold, but a powerful witch determined to teach him a lesson in humility.

http://www.phoebelegere.com/
https://www.facebook.com/phoebelegere
https://www.twitter.com/legere
https://www.instagram.com/phoebelegere

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated you to make this film?

The emotional core of the film is the platonic love between a masculine-of-center, queer woman and a highly sensitive, creative gay man.
Gender Symphony was shot on location in Venice, Italy.
I thought it would be interesting to use Commedia dell’Arte, a medieval physical comedy style, to comment on contemporary “Politics of the Body.”
I was passionately interested in using the beauty of Venice as a ready-made set for my political commentary and performance art.

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

One year.

How would you describe your film in two words!?

Multidisciplinary, LGBTQA+

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

I committed to the goal of a $0 budget for costumes. I wanted to make all of the costumes myself, from floating garbage I could fish from the canals. My problem was that Venice has become spotlessly clean.
I made friends with the men who run the garbage boats I ran down to the garbage boats every morning at 6 a.m. The universe coughed up the most fabulous trashion! It was magical.
I made all of the masks and costumes out of paper.

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

It was wonderful! Thank you to everyone! This is a very personal film. I made it for myself. All of the actors are my friends. I am delighted that so many women and gay people are loving it!

When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

When I was 7 years old, I put a beret on and told my friends:
“Look at my hat. Do you know what this means?”
They said, “No.”
I said, “It means I am a Movie Director. And we are making a movie. ACTION!”
My first film was a remake of Cinderella. I cast Ilona Kalisky in the title role.
Her first cousin, S****m, was enraged that I made Ilona the star of the film. That’s when I learned that art can be dangerous.

What film have you seen the most in your life?

You mean that I watch repeatedly?

Farinelli, King of Masks (China), Alphaville (Godard), and I watched the Netflix King of Qin series twice.

What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
Live screenings with popcorn and lots of gay people singing along would be great. I’d like to hear a whole theater of people singing my song “Master and Slave.”

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

TGFF – Thank God for FilmFreeway.

What is your favorite meal?

I just cooked a good dinner. It was plantains, carrots, and yellow squash sautéed in ginger, with a little pofu (that’s tofu made of pumpkin)…. with a touch of Mongolian #fire oil and quinoa with toasted sesame seeds. I had a side of broccoli lightly steamed with avocado leaves.
I paired this with a glass of New York tap water, room temp.
For dessert, I will have some Zero Bark – a keto chocolate sweetened only with monk fruit.
Almost every meal is my favorite. I love to eat.

What is next for you? A new film?

Yes. I’m making a feature-length experimental documentary based here in NYC. It will be #GORGEOUS.

THREEDOM, 7min,. USA
Directed by Garrett Hopkins
A young couple finds themselves lost in their own relationship. Brought to frustration and confusion one of them shares the idea of an open relationship. Reluctantly the partner agrees and actually travels a new road learning about themself. Perhaps they just needed to find each other, in someone new.

https://www.youtube.com/@GarrettHopkinsMedia
https://www.instagram.com/garretthopkinsmedia/

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

This film was produced for the 2024 CFC (Collaboration Filmmakers Challenge). A two week filmmaking competition with a quote from Hunter S. Thompson as the only prompt “Freedom is something that dies if it isn’t used” With every project I do, I want there to be something new for me. I’ve never written a RomCom before, so I decided I’d take that quote and see how I might be able to find its relevance in the complex world of interpersonal relationships.

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

Two weeks. That’s the joy of time trial filmmaking competitions. You finish a film and you finish it fast. I’d love for more time, like how so many of my colleagues’ personal passion projects go. But a lot of times those projects never see the finish line. They get left unattended as “great ideas” or take years to just never get finished because it’s on their back burner while they’re busy with work, family, life etc…

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

“That’s real”

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

Having to finish it in two weeks. The birth of the idea, the writing, the casting, all of production and post production.

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

I think you know when you’ve written a very believable and relatable script when someone reviewing your film eventually stops reviewing it and more so stumbles down the rabbit hole of the story. And opens up about their own understanding and experience with the film’s plot.

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

In grade school late (2000’s) I was filming and posting skateboarding and parkour videos to YouTube. In college I started a vlog channel. Halfway through college I was more properly introduced to filmmaking. And joined several film clubs. Therefore, I’ve always been a director/editor. And junior year of college (2019) is when I wrote/directed my first film.

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

Finding Nemo.

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

The only experience I missed out on was actually attending. It’s called the LGBTQ+ Toronto & Los Angeles Film Festival. I could not attend a screening in Canada, and am unsure if they will screen at LA as well. But I would attend if they do!

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

It’s currently the only way I’ve ever submitted to festivals. I could be wrong, but I believe that it’s the main, easiest, and straightforward way to fest your films.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Grilled brats/veggies, potato salad, ice cold beer in the sun.

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

I directed 4 films this year, and several small client video projects. In 2025, I might try my hand at making a documentary. I have a great idea lined up, everyone I’ve pitched it to has instantly understood and liked the idea. The 4 films I made this year were all made in 2-14 days. Very rushed, time trialed, pieces of art. And I feel like I can never 100% showcase my best abilities in that environment. I think I might take 2025, to slowly and carefully make my first documentary.

SECRET IDENTITY, 35min,. UK
Directed by Gurjoeth Singh Bassra
A closeted gay actor who’s known for playing a superhero character on an 80s TV show must confront his dual identity.

https://coffeebeanpictures.com/productions
https://x.com/CoffeeBeanPicUK
https://www.instagram.com/secretidentityfilm/

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

I was inspired by the story of Kevin Conroy, who remained in the closet for most of his life, and found it very interesting the way he played a superhero character who had a secret identity of his own, and suddenly it clicked, a light bulb turned on and I could feel a story coming to me. It also helped that I was really bored over my summer break so I essentially locked myself in a room, threw away the key, and started writing the first draft of the script.

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

Around August 2023 was when I started writing the script, then around October/November we had the cast and crew, we started shooting in late February and concluded principal photography in June, and now the film is being screened at places from last month onwards.

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

Melodramatic soap-opera.

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

Locations, actors availability, the budget. Basically everything. When one of our actors couldn’t come back we had a recast, but then I immediately regret it because it just wasn’t the same, so I fired the recast and brought the original actor back and we managed to make it work when we reshot the sequence, and now in the final film you probably can’t tell that there are reshoots spliced in with the rest of the footage. It is seamless.

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

It all made sense to me, the sound issues were also apparent to me, but to be entirely honest I kind of just got tired of trying to make the film exactly perfect and figured it was better to release it now or otherwise it will just never get released, and the time I spend trying to make this slightly better could be time I spend on the next project. Overall, I’m happy with how the film turned out.

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

It just kind of organically happened when I kept watching more and more movies, then I had what felt like a near-death experience, and my biggest regret was never getting to make any films, so once I woke up I soon decided to finally go out and direct my first short film, which was Late Again. To me, I’ve always been obsessive when it comes to making films as I can’t imagine doing anything else.

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

Spider-Man 2 maybe.

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 don’t really have any complaints

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

It was good, simple and easy to understand.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Pizza.

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

Right now I am directing an indie short film which stars Yasemin Sehri, Gwithian Evans and Bhasker Patel, titled ‘Perfect Girl’. I wrote the script for this as well and I am very excited to start shooting in April! Also, I am producing a period piece set in 1929 titled ‘Talkies’, which will shoot in March, so I will be very busy in the coming year!