Funding 

"The short is made with a relatively low budget, but we had to seek funding to get it made, because the film required a lot of special effects. I’ve been very lucky to have producer Monique van Kessel on board. Together with her team from Make Way Film we managed to receive funding from several regional funds and we had a successful crowdfunding campaign on Cinecrowd. A lot of time and effort went into securing the budget, but it was worth it. After the film was selected for several important festivals, we also managed to receive distribution funding from the Dutch Film Fund.’ ABOUT THE PRODUCTION ‘Obviously, a lot of work went into the special make-up effects. Sfx artist Stephan Vos and the team of the Mad Scientist Movement worked several months on creating the amazing effects. We shot the film in three days in December 2020. One day on location in Limburg for the exterior shots and two days at the Van Nelle Fabriek in Rotterdam for the interior scenes, where a set was built. It was a fun but tough shoot with long days. For me personally, it was also a heavy shoot. My dad was very ill at the time and sadly passed away a day after we finished shooting. And there was another lockdown right after we wrapped. So, it was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. Post-production followed in the beginning of 2021 and that went very smoothly. I’m very proud of the result."

About the production of Shiny New World 

"Obviously, a lot of work went into the special make-up effects. Sfx artist Stephan Vos and the team of the Mad Scientist Movement worked several months on creating the amazing effects. We shot the film in three days in December 2020. One day on location in Limburg for the exterior shots and two days at the Van Nelle Fabriek in Rotterdam for the interior scenes, where a set was built. It was a fun but tough shoot with long days. For me personally, it was also a heavy shoot. My dad was very ill at the time and sadly passed away a day after we finished shooting. And there was another lockdown right after we wrapped. So, it was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. Post-production followed in the beginning of 2021 and that went very smoothly. I’m very proud of the result."

Visiting Film Festivals around the world

"Since the summer of 2021, the film is on a successful festival run. The film has been selected for important genre festivals, including Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea, Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada and Sitges Film Festival in Spain. We received many screening requests from programmers who saw the film at those festivals. That created a momentum for the festival run, especially around Halloween."

The Feature in the future

"Recently, we received funding from the Dutch Film Fund for the artistic development of the feature film. I’m finalizing the screenplay and we’re working on a vfx-test for one of the creatures in the film. It’s still a long road ahead, but the success of the short film really helped in getting the development of the feature to move forward."