THE ILL-FATED, 20min., Canada
Directed by Daniel Rodriguez
A tragic event in a young girl's past, sets in motion the wheels of her inevitable fate / Un événement tragique dans la vie d'une jeune femme, la dirigeant vers son destin inévitable.

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

I've always been fascinated with dreams. My half-hippy mother taught me from a very early age to remember my dreams and control them when possible. Following that habit, I had a nightmare about 5 years ago that really stuck with me, that I had yet not seen amidst the horror films of our times, so it felt like a nice place to start my career as a director, since the story and the construct were very advanced.

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

The planning and the editing are what took the longest, waiting for that perfect date when everyone is ready and available. I toyed with the script about a month, I provided it to the actors and met with them weekly for another month before we started shooting. It took us 2 long weekends to capture all the takes, and then the editing, composing the music and mastering the audio took me 2 months. With finishing touches, editing the poster, uploading and submitting to festivals, creating and uploading the subtitles in both English and French, editing the trailer, I'd say around 6 months total.

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

Dark mystery

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

When things don't go as planned! My lead ghost actress got an allergic reaction on her face to the prosthetic makeup products, so last minute we had to find a replacement. There was a long train passing by the parking lot where we shot some scenes that forced us to re-arrange the schedule, because this train was really that long and the sound capture was just impossible! 10 or 15 min waiting and it kept coming and coming, so we had to adapt and come back another day.

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

Positive! Since one often wonders how much is really understood about the original concept, the story, the character's struggles. And seeing people in synch with my original idea is very rewarding.

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

An idea that I was developing in one of my music bands for a concept album, turned too big for the project. The lyrics to 10 songs ended up morphing into a trilogy that's already written. How much fun I had developing that story led me to understand that I wanted to make movies and not just music and music videos. Creating the music videos for my bands also gave me that thrust into filming and storytelling and a love for photography and visual arts in general.

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

On the serious side I'd say Lord of War, a shocking very moving story about our society and the violence that plagues it and why it might never go away, sad, but very meaningful, a huge message to humanity.

On a lighter side maybe Tommy Boy? Haha, just the hilarious journey of a long life looser that ends up finally graduating, assuming responsibility, finding love, saving his home town and growing into his well-respected dad's shoes. I never get tired of it!

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

It would be great to get constructive criticism from successful industry peers to polish our craft as film makers.

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

It's an incredible platform! Very easy to hit the best festivals in the world, you just have to make sure your product is up to standards, but it's amazing how simple it is to get to any top tier festival.

10. What is your favorite meal?

I was born in Colombia, and one of the most celebrated dishes there is the "Bandeja Paisa". Easiest way to describe it is an English breakfast where the beans are salty, the bacon is replaced by fried thick pork belly, it comes with avocado, arepa (thick corn tortilla), steak, plantain, creole sauce and cilantro! Mmmm ... I cut everything up, mix it all into a huge pile of food, and there is just soooo much flavor there!

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

I'm writing a full script for "The Ill-Fated" hoping to get it optioned, funded and turned into a full-length feature one day. With the makeup FX artist that I partnered with for the Ill-Fated, we have developed an insanely horrifying dark entity through some photoshoot exploration. This will be our 2nd horror short, to be filmed this fall. I'm in the process of writing that script and creating the whole background to that story. But the trilogy that I mentioned previously that I've written is the ultimate goal, it's just now with the decline of cinema, and the rise of TV series streaming, we are considering the option of turning those 3 scripts into a "seasons" format, following the trend on how most people consume cinema now days.