Battle Of LA, 14min., USA
Directed by Patrick Pizzolorusso
During one of Los Angeles’ most bizarre evenings in 1942, a ‘something’ was spotted over the skies. A ‘something’ that the anti-aircraft batteries opened fire on. A ‘something’ that a young scientist finds at a small crash site and brings back to her home.Throughout the evening her colleague and her do their best to figure out what it is and what they need to do.

https://tinyrocketfilms.com/
https://www.instagram.com/pactorpizz/

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
The need to make my own work. Hollywood isn’t calling, unfortunately. I know I am surrounded by an incredibly talented circle of friends and felt the time was right for us to all come together and create something we could all be proud of. Something that could showcase all our talents. From my incredibly gifted cinematographer, to my editor, sound designers, colorist, and of course, we actors in it.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
14 years! Some of my original brain storming notes were from 14 years ago. Over the years I’ve added to them or adjusted the arc of the story. Once I decided to really go for it, it took about a year and a half. From the moment I dusted off the script and finished it to the moment we rendered our final edt.

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

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Patience. Seriously. Patience. Post-production takes time. Especially when you’re waiting on creatives’ schedules to open up because you absolutely want to work with them. This whole project has been a lesson in patience and staying true to your vision. Not sacrificing anything just for the sake of finishing. But being patient enough for it to be done correctly.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
I had such a feeling of relief and validation. Relief that people liked something that I’ve put out there into the world. And validation that the ideas we had going into this and the vision I had for this film were clear and viewers picked up on everything. I finished watching it with a big sigh and just said out loud to nobody, “they got it!”

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
I’ve always wanted to tell stories. As an actor in NYC I was mostly working on the stage because it’s just so readily accessible there. Filmmaking is just another path for storytelling. Once I moved out here I realized what a talented circle of friends I had that we should make our own work. Tell our own stories.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s hands down my favorite. It’s one of those perfect films that captures an era in time and embodies the genre it’s emulating flawlessly.

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 love a good workshop. Or even a Q&A with industry professionals. Being able to get insight from someone working in the field is invaluable. Being able to ask a question or two of industry professionals who want to be there and want to help new and up and coming filmmakers is incredibly beneficial at this stage in a lot of our careers.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
Hoenstly I love it. It’s incredibly easy to navigate and the information provided by each festival is in an incredibly easy to read format.

10. What is your favorite meal?
My grandfather would probably curse me, In Italian, if I didn’t say Lasagna.

11. What is next for you? A new film?
I am in the midst of writing my next film and working on some practical effects for it. Battle of LA was full of practical effects and real working props. It’s something I am a big fan of in movie-making. So my next writing project is going to be another fantastical piece just possibly a different genre. Something older. And Westerner. But that’s all I can say for now.

ARTHUR AVE., 9min., USA
Directed by Joey Medina
In a Bronx bar, a clash between traditional Italian-American “wiseguys” and the LGBTQ+ community leads to a confrontation that challenges the characters’ preconceptions and the dynamics of power.

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

I wanted to spread a message of kindness and I thought the contrast between the mobsters and gay couple would help do that.

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

Took me about two days to write the script, a month to prepare and 9 hours to shoot. And probably 3 weeks for editing.

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

Beautifully done.

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

Casting the right actors was harder than I thought. An actor pulled out the day of the shoot and I had too give their lines to an other actor and reblock the entire film.

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

I enjoyed it and felt that they understood the film.

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

When I was in fifth grade and I watched a super 8 movie my teacher made with his class the year before. That’s why his name is in my end credits of all my films, Morris Chairnow.

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

Rocky, it’s my favorite 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?

I think what you are doing is great. Feedback is always welcome even when it’s negative, because you learn from that. I submitted the script of Arthur Ave first. It was not selected, and the feed back I recieved from you was it needed at leaset one more page. So the scene in the beginning with the dog was added because of the feedback I received from the festival.

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

I love FilmFreeway, It makes it easy to submit.

10. What is your favorite meal?

I love seafood.

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

I’m in preproduction on a short film called, Buddy & the Man. About a Vietnam Vet who has cancel and adopts an old dog no one wants.

Slaughterhouse 2 Death Metal, 93min., USA
Directed by Rick Roessler
The story of the Cleavon and Remdog Bacon (last survivors of the infamous Bacon family of Lakeside, California of Slaughterhouse 1) are continuously being harassed by developer Mel Webber, wanting to snatch-up their property for a golf course/senior development. If that weren’t enough, a drug cartel is using the property as a drop-off point, millennial Pacific Crest Trail hikers think they have a right to it, and death metal fans regularly take it over for their out-of-control raves. All this unwanted activity severely disrupts the bacons “Wonder Jerky” business, and they have no choice but to declare war on everyone in order to, once and for all, put an end to it… Let the games begin!

https://www.instagram.com/slaughterhouse2themovie/

Get to know producer Jerry Encoe:

What motivated you to make this film?

Slaughterhouse 2 is a sequel to the original Slaughterhouse produced in 1986. As the original Slaughterhouse gained cult status, we toyed with the idea of a sequel. Of course, we encountered several problems planning the sequel. Number one, the first film was shot in San Diego down by the border. All of those locations are gone now. Three years ago while we were watching a show called “About San Diego,” an episode highlighted the Motor Transport Museum in Campo, California. At once we realize the potential of that location for the sequel. Campo is about 60 miles east of San Diego. It’s a small town with a population of 3000 people. Rick Roessler and I drove to Campo and visited the Motor Transport Museum. Seeing it in person, the location was far better than we had imagined. We met the docent of the museum, Brian Butler, and inquired about using the museum as our main location. As luck would have it, Bryan secured a role as one of the main actors in the film. We wrote the screenplay with Campo and the Motor Transport Museum in mind as the main locations in the film.

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

It took approximately three years to produce this film from start to finish. That includes forming an LLC corporation, raising funds for the production of the film, editing and searching for a distributor for our film.

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

Horror Comedy!

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

I would say there were two major obstacles that we faced in completing this film. First, it’s always very difficult to raise money for a feature film–especially for an independent horror feature. Slaughterhouse 2 is financed primarily through family and friends. Goal number one is to return to our investors 100% of their investment. Of course, when that happens, we are in the black and hope to do so soon.

Second, the most difficult obstacle was that we overestimated that we could shoot Slaughterhouse 2 in four weeks. We wound up going to Campo and shooting pick up shots with a small crew at least 10 times before completing the principal photography.

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

Our initial reaction when watching the audience talking about our film we were pleased that they recognized the horror comedy aspect of the genre. Also, several of the audience members talked about the original Slaughterhouse film produced in 1986. They said that the sequel held true to the original film.

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

When I was 12 years old, my parents got me an old used 8 mm film camera with a photo flood light bar. I filmed a lot of family events with that camera. That’s when I first became interested in becoming a filmmaker. I used to work at a film laboratory, Calvin Film Productions. The director, Robert Altman, got his start at Calvin film productions in the 1950s .I used to think that it was magic to process film and create images from it. With experience I realized it’s not magic, it’s a collaboration by very talented hard-working people.

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

Quentin Tarantino’s,” Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

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 would say the best thing that you could do to satisfy me and others is expediting the process of selection and notification to the festivals.

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

This is my first experience with Film Freeway. I appreciate that it allows us to easily submit our film to multiple festivals. The cost is reasonable and hopefully, we will benefit from the recognition of our film from these festivals.

10. What is your favorite meal?

My favorite meal is fish tacos, rice and beans and a Margarita.

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

Well, we are certainly not going to wait 36 years to make another sequel to Slaughterhouse.

We are busy marketing “Wonder Jerky,” a product mentioned in the film. We have trademarked the name of “Wonder Jerky” and are working on a trademark of the name “Slaughterhouse.”

CRAWL SPACE, 4min., USA
Directed by Randy Scott Slavin
After his daughter wakes up terrified by sounds from the crawl space, a father ventures into the dark to prove there s nothing to fear but some things that go bump in the night are better left unexplored.

https://instagram.com/randyscottslavin

PAGES IN THE WIND, 14min., USA
Directed by Lucas Haviland
As Bailey sits in the park, he starts to reminisce about his journal entries over the past month. Through flashes to these entries, Bailey and his boyfriend, Gavin, experience the various intricate elements of their relationship. All the while Bailey takes in the environment around him in the present day. When his best friend, Corrine, stops by to surprise him, they start to catch up on the past week. Bailey quickly remembers that his entries might be less realistic than he wants them to be. And that his roommate, Gavin, will probably never be the man he needs in his life.

https://www.instagram.com/havilandfilms/

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

The film’s exploration of romantic love and the lengths someone would go to experience it are rooted in my own thoughts surrounding the lack of that kind of love in my life. The exploration and need to put an image to these thoughts and showcase yearning is what drives my motivation in making this film. All to answer the question: To what lengths will someone go to feel love? Seeing and working on the creative projects of my friends and classmates, this motivation was kept alive and continued to grow until the final results of the film that was screened at this festival.

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

It took roughly a year and a half from idea to finished product; however, the idea itself was not something I entertained in executing and creating until about half a year after I wrote it. This put the pre-production, production, and post-production process at about a year, with plenty of bumps along the way.

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

Queer Yearning

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

I think the biggest obstacle as a first-time director was handling the intimacy and the plan of action in the approach to it. While other obstacles like weather and crew members graduating all played their parts, the attention to detail and ensuring actor safety and comfortability was definitely a major obstacle that was worth working through and utilizing an intimacy coordinator to achieve the final product. As a director handling intimacy for the first time, I felt like I have grown in my understanding of both writing and working through intimate moments between characters.

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

Going into the audience feedback video, I was nervous solely because of my perfectionistic tendencies and the miniscule things I wanted to try to change. This quickly changed to excitement and general appreciation for the thoughts, praise, and constructive feedback from the audience. It was reassuring to hear about parts that I was hesitant about being well-received by the viewers and for the themes to come across even in the ambiguity of the film.

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

I realized I wanted to make films and write for film and TV going into my senior year of high school. After coming out and starting to embrace my queer identity, I knew that I wanted to write and create stories that gave visibility to emotions and feelings that many people in the LGBTQ+ community experience. I also wanted to portray queerness in manners that were missing as I grew up. Not to mention, I realized that I wanted to use film and screenwriting as a medium to explore the intricacies of relationships (romantic, platonic, familial, etc.) and connections between people of all identities.

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

For enjoyment, I watched The Hunger Games films, specifically The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, many times. In terms of films that have influenced my writing and work, Brokeback Mountain is a film that I consistently revisit.

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 was very satisfied with my festival experience thus far and have appreciated the email communication and updating that takes place. I think it could be interesting if there was a way for other filmmakers who were voted on by the audience could get in contact with each other to talk about their films and respective creative processes.

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

It was pretty intuitive and user-friendly! I didn’t have any issues submitting my project and filling out all of the information for the project file.

10. What is your favorite meal?

One of my favorite meals is a sushi platter of a variety of different rolls and seafood combinations.