EARLY ADOPTER, 15min., USA
Directed by Matt Szymanowski
After a tech junkie's addictive research into a new technology that probes the deepest realms of consciousness nearly kills her, her partner decides to do something drastic to prove just how fragile their relationship and life really is.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12937582/
https://www.instagram.com/mattszy

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

I was inspired by the question about whether the great answers of the universe are either outside of us or within us. Most often people look outside, and their pursuits are even noble and true. And looking outside leads to great discoveries. But paradoxically these discoveries could be external manifestations of the knowledge and wisdom that is also in us. And I wanted to convey this idea in two people who stand on opposite sides of the matter, and these two people are also lovers and partners, and they accept each other regardless of there differences, however difficult it is.

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

I shot this film a few months into the pandemic in 2020 in September. And it took nearly four years to finish it for a variety of reasons. I shot my second feature a year after shooting this short. I also had a few false starts with vfx collaborators because I was particular about how I wanted the "inside" to look and feel. And then working with my sound designer took a little less than a year bc we only could work a few nights and weekends every week or so because of all our other obligations.

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

Get in!

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

Keeping the momentum going for myself and also finding the right collaborators who believed in the film and wanted to go on this journey with me. When I start a project I often don't know how I'm going to finish it, or how I'm going to finance it. So the process of discovery along the way is important because it determines how this will get done.

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

I love it how everyone sees something else, they see what is meaningful for them.

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

I was in high school when a friend asked me to act in his student film. I became his assistant on the project and saw the whole process all the way through. Then I made my own film a year later. And I realized I want to keep doing this.

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

Tough question. I'll have phases where I rewatch a few films over and over. The few that come to mind now are Dr. Strangelove, Badlands, The Hustler, and THX 1138.

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

Networking with industry folks, producers, investors, promotors, and press outlets.

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

Filmfreeway is great. Easy to use. I recommend it.

10. What is your favorite meal?

I really enjoy a creamy red sauce with pasta.

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

I'm in post on my next feature film called Captive Mind, it's a post pandemic dystopian film about the last dreamer in a world without dreams. I also just shot another short in one long day, in the style of a spy thriller based in Warsaw, Poland.