DOTGABI - FIRE, 3min,. USA
Directed by Kaia Kim, Jenna Vopat
There's a lame birthday party going on. DotGabi, a party lover, is sick of this boring event. With her magical powers, she turns it into the ultimate kick-ass party.

Get to know the filmmakers:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
We wanted to make an exciting film that would stand out from the crowd and be fun to watch! We wanted to create a music video and bring bright energy and visuals!

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
In total from pre-production to the final product it took around one and a half to two years!

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Party and YOLO. Be unapologetically you and don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Live in the moment and break out of your shell, discover yourself!

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
The biggest obstacles were mostly technical. Such as small errors or problems with either programs or the render farm. Whether renders were too slow or there were small tweaks we needed to fix to then rerender. Time management was important, and we are so glad we got to finish everything to our liking and expressed everything we wanted to.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
We loved that people enjoyed the vibe and the dancing. It was really nice to hear that people enjoyed the vibrancy and energy. Everyone's kind words motivated us more and gave us encouragement!

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
In 8th grade Kaia was really into vocaloid and hatune miku, their beauty and art inspired her to pursue art and films. In high school Jenna saw a ted talk about an artist who went from fine art to digital art working on 3D features, and it opened her eyes to the world of 3D and other digital arts, she fell in love.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Jenna has seen the films Coraline and Ready Player One a lot in her life.
Kaia loves to watch the music video Feel Good Inc by Gorrilaz often for inspiration and vibes.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
Receiving more feedback whether good or bad is always great to hear, and from diverse individuals and communities is always a great way to see from different perspectives. Also connecting with different people and different artists by sharing each other's info is a great idea to expand one's community and social network that I think a lot of artists love and would love to participate in, so it'd be nice if there was a way to connect to more artists.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
In all honesty, we ourselves did not submit our thesis to the film festival, our school did for us. But we are so grateful to them and to the platform FilmFreeway and of course to the festival and critics.

10. What is your favorite meal?
Jenna really misses her favorite lunch place where she'd eat hand pulled noodles with shredded pork, extra spicy. She hasn't been able to go to the restaurant in a while but she can't wait to eat there again.
Lately Kaia has been a big fan of eating ramen with the weather changing. She's especially been really into hot broths.

11. What is next for you? A new film?
For now we are working on personal individual projects to keep our creativity flowing and for fun. In the future we hope to have the opportunity to work on beautiful films and hopefully more music videos as well!