Maybe you fear the next generation of filmmakers will be lost to TikTok — that the lure of making instant-gratification posts online will distract today’s young directors from making feature films, imperiling the future of cinema. But that isn’t true at all of the four young filmmakers — all 18 to 22 — we spoke with recently about the future of filmmaking. Zelda Adams, Avalon Fast, Jack Fessenden and Ethan Eng have made some of the most thrilling and audacious films we’ve seen in recent years. We talked with them about how they started making movies so young, and why they’re committed to keep making them. Fast’s debut, Honeycomb, is screening tonight at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal.
MOVIEMAKER: One immediate thing that I find fascinating about all of you is you make such assured movies and movies so specific to your own vision. Yet there’s this stereotype that younger people only want to make YouTube videos or TikTok videos. Why movies?
Zelda Adams is an 18-year-old filmmaker for her family filmmaking company Wonder Wheel Productions. She began her filmmaking career at age six, and plans to continue directing, shooting, and acting in feature-length horror films in the future. She is based in upstate New York. Wonder Wheel’s latest film is Hellbender, about a sheltered 16-year-old named Izzy who learns her family’s dark history.
ZELDA ADAMS: I’ve tried to venture into making vlogs, or TikToks. But I always really try to make them super artistic and cool and spunky. And then they never get any love. And I’m like, ‘I put 15 hours of work into this 10-second clip, and I got, like, 10 Likes. What?’ So that’s something I really love about movies. The audience is going out to see something beautiful and artistic and creative.
AVALON FAST: I’ve thought about that myself, and thought that maybe I should start doing that kind of thing, just to build some hype around whatever I have going. But I grew up with movies. When I started watching movies it was VHS… I grew up with DVDs and going to the video store and picking up a movie, until I was like 16 years old. That was how I got entertainment. So yeah, it feels like it’s still a part of my generation to be making movies, and TikTok and shorter online videos seem like something I don’t really even understand that well, yet.
JACK FESSENDEN: TikTok and online video stuff is not an escape the way that movies are. They just remind you more and more of your own peer group and maybe the ways in which you don’t fit in. And so engaging with that stuff doesn’t give you the same kind of transcendent feeling that watching movies has since we were kids.
ETHAN ENG: I mean, I’ve seen some transcendent TikToks. Like epic street fights that have blown me away more than any Bruce Lee movie. But I do agree. I do think our generation still has a reverence for the big screen. Like you said, Zelda, there’s a lot of consideration and thought and effort put into it. It’s something that we all still want to participate in.
MOVIEMAKER: Jack and Zelda both come from filmmaking families. Avalon and Ethan, I’m not sure about your backgrounds, but it does seem like you’ve created film families — with your friends. How do you feel about the importance of family and friends in making movies?
AVALON FAST: I have an uncle that’s a filmmaker, and I remember that being super inspiring when I was a kid, just to see that that is a career. … But yeah, I was so lucky to have a group of friends that are interested in making movies. It took a lot of motivation to make any of the short films I made in high school, and then Honeycomb in particular was a total group effort. And so I’m curious to see how that’s gonna unfold in the future. Like, whether or not they’ll come with me or if I’ll create a new film family or how that’s going to work, but it’s definitely been really important for me to have a collaborative team while making movies.
Ethan Eng in Therapy Dogs
ETHAN ENG: They always say don’t make movies with your friends. But at this stage, I think it’s better to have put your project in the hands of people that you trust, and you like to be around. It should always be fun to be making the movie. It’s an excuse to hang out and, you know, do devilish things. And yeah, just go off the wall. So friends are the best.
JACK FESSENDEN: Both of my parents are filmmakers. My mom’s a stop motion-animator, so her thing is basically working alone, very, very patiently building dolls with different arms and stuff… and so that was always going on. And I would do that when I was a kid, Lego animations and clay. And that was one way I learned. And then my dad is a horror movie producer and director. And he also acts a bunch. So in the house, there was always just this energy of everyone doing creative things since I was little, and it felt like I had to do it, too. Like that was the natural form of play that we had — just going out with a Handycam or a point-and-shoot camera and filming videos with my friends.
But they weren’t videos — they were short films. Even when I was nine, that was how I was thinking about it… And then it slowly turned into being more serious as I became a teenager. My dad remains my creative partner — he produced Foxhole. And I’m very lucky to come up with an environment in which young indie filmmakers are the people that he wants to foster with his small company.
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ZELDA ADAMS: That’s so, so cool. I kind of have a similar origin. I started making films when I was around six years old, and my parents started making films at the same time. So we all started learning the filmmaking process together. We knew nothing together. When I was six, we set out in an RV and just traveled around America. I was homeschooled, and we just decided to make a movie. And since then, we’ve made seven.
Together as friends and as family, we’ve evolved so much. Just like looking back at that first film — how much we’ve learned since then — is beautiful. But also just how much we’ve grown together as family and as friends, I think is really cool. And I don’t know what that would have been like if I was doing it all alone. It’s so nice having someone to learn and grow with. And I think that also includes the people that we’ve met in the process, hiring actors and a crew. That becomes your family, as you guys said, which I think is beautiful.
Avalon Fast, 22, is an independent filmmaker from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Avalon writes and directs GIRL HORROR and completed their first feature film, Honeycomb, in 2021. The film follows a group of girls who try to create an idyllic life for themselves in a seemingly abandoned cabin. Their self-imposed rule starts to take a cultish turn.
AVALON FAST: I think it’s cool, too, just talking about what you’re saying, Jack — growing up with it as play. I just hadn’t thought of it before like that. And I also started with a form of stop-motion, because it was something I could do alone. Which was always like a problem for me as a kid for some reason. [Laughs.] Not all my friends wanted to make these movies with me. At a point they’d be like, ‘This is annoying, Avalon, I don’t want to do this anymore.’ So I’d either use my cats as actors, which is embarrassing, or I’d make stop-motion movies. And I think that’s the cool thing — film can be collaborative, but you can also do it alone. One of my favorite parts has always been the editing process, because it’s like, almost like meditative for me. It’s just time for me alone.
ZELDA ADAMS That’s so true. That actually makes me wonder — all of you are directors. Do you all edit your films as well?
JACK FESSENDEN: It feels to me like writing, directing and editing, at this point, that’s the process. I can’t quite let go of any one of those things yet. Because I’m still learning. And I feel like until I feel like I’ve maxed out, and I’m like, “Okay, I’m not the best at this, I want to hand this off,” I might as well keep doing it.
Like, in this recent short film I just made for school called “The Deep End,” we had to shoot it on 16 millimeter, and edit it on 16 millimeter. So we were physically cutting the film, splicing it on these old Steenbeck machines. … I learned so much about editing, because each shot choice mattered so much. Instead of taking five seconds to trim off, you know, 10 frames, it takes five minutes. I read a lot more into each cut now.
ETHAN ENG: You’re a great editor, Jack. I’ve seen some great cuts, like seeing Stray Bullets. It is something I noticed that you pay attention to. And I think that’s really cool. You’re right, when we have digital software, you know, there’s a different style to it, like writing by hand versus typing something out. And yeah, it’s, it’s crazy, but it’s really fun. You get to go hard when you’re editing on digital software, and can create 20 different versions of a scene in a matter of minutes. When you’re editing, it reflects back on how well you wrote your scene, how you shot it, how well it’s acted, it really is the biggest critique. You just have to be a bit of a bastard when you edit, and just be ruthless. Be able to just kill and cut.
A scene from Foxhole by Jack Fessenden
AVALON FAST: I’m making a more professional feature now. And one of the first things I talked about with my producers was having an editor come on board at the end to make it more professional or different than I’d done before. It was a positive thing: ‘You won’t even have to worry about that, you know, that’ll be taken care of by somebody else now, and you’ll get to look over it at the end, and make those decisions.’ And I kind of sat on that and I was like, Hmm. I don’t know — that’s the one of my favorite parts of this whole process and I’ve always done that for myself. So we’ve had another conversation now where it’s kind of like, I either want to sit with a more professional editor to learn with them, or I just want to do it myself and hand it off to somebody at the end and see what they do, but also have my version as well, because it’s important to me.
MOVIEMAKER: Hellbender has incredible drone shots, and Zelda, you were the drone operator?
ZELDA ADAMS: Yeah, I love drone operating. Our previous film was very static. We only had a tripod and our Canon 5d. And something that I love so much is movement. So I was like, “You know what? We need to invest in some new devices.” So we got a Mavic Air 2. And I was the one that figured out how to use it. And the first day that we were filming with it… I was acting in the shot, while also controlling the drone, hiding the remote behind me. And I crashed it. I crashed the drone the first day of using it. And it got stuck in the most perfect place ever, or else it would have just gone to the depths. And I made my dad reach down and grab it. But that made me realize, like, Yeah, you know what, don’t be too cocky like the first time you’re using a drone. But yeah, drone operating is so fun. I feel like movement is so important in film. And it just, you know, scratches that little itch in my head.
MOVIEMAKER: Richard Linklater said, when we interviewed him last issue, that it’s a great time to be a filmmaker, because technology is so good. And I know Ethan said in our last issue that Blackmagic Design’s Fusion basically saved his life by preventing him from doing this ridiculous stunt that I’m glad he didn’t do. Is there other technology that has made what you do possible?
ZELDA ADAMS: I’m really grateful to be living in this day and age because I use a Canon 5d for my movies, and it’s incredibly high quality, but also super affordable. And I honestly don’t know how else I would be making movies, because I can’t afford super expensive cameras, but I can afford a 5d.
AVALON FAST: With kids growing up now, it’s like, ‘You can’t have a phone until you’re this age. And God forbid you have a laptop at your disposal at a young age.’ That’s like a thing now. But I was an only child, and I was really bored all the time. And so I would use my parents’ laptop and kind of just confiscated it as my own for a point. [Laughs.] And that’s how I started making movies, because I had access to technology at a really young age, where it might not have made sense that I had access to that kind of technology. But I think that’s what did it for me. I don’t know if I would have sought it out if it wasn’t in front of me. I always think that’s interesting, just because there’s so many restrictions on kids now growing up. I think it’s important, because interesting opportunities can come out of it as well.
MOVIEMAKER: What kind of programs and what age?
AVALON FAST: I had like an HP and it was that thing where you import some photos, and then in the top right corner, it’s like “make a movie.” This is like HP Movie Maker. And it just made a lot of sense to me. It just clicked in my brain. Now I work with Adobe, on a different computer.
JACK FESSENDEN: I got my dad’s old laptop, I think when I was nine, and that was super exciting, and it had Final Cut 7… And it was just my toy. I didn’t know that it was professional, I was just trying to figure it out. I learned like 10% of it. But that’s all you need to make a movie. I still don’t really know how to use many features on these editing programs. I went through a brief period of trying to learn Adobe After Effects, doing blood and lightsabers and stuff. But other than that, I just kind of use the bare minimum that I can to tell the story. I do like color, though. I do get into that.
Ethan Eng, 21, is the filmmaker behind Therapy Dogs, a movie shot secretly during his last year of high school in 2019. It had its world premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival, making him the youngest director to ever compete, and earned him the ABGO Fellowship presented by Anthony and Joe Russo. He is based in Toronto, where he is working on his next film.
ETHAN ENG: Speaking of color, you know, DaVinci Resolve has a great color grading portion of it. And that’s something that I’ve been using. I didn’t go to film school, so I didn’t really have much of a formal education when it comes to post production. But as you said, Zelda, we’re very lucky to be living in this time, when you can look at YouTube and see any tutorials for anything you want to do, or just ask somebody on a forum. And of course, these programs are getting cheaper. You don’t need to buy a Steenbeck, you can get DaVinci for free.
And you know, even though it’s kind of bad to say this, you hardly need to light a scene anymore, just because it’s so easy to just capture whatever lighting conditions you’re in. Like when I was in high school, I bought an URSA Mini Pro, and was able to stuff it in my locker with a bunch of tripods and stuff. And that’s just the world we’re living in. Now you can buy these cameras, and you can compete with Hollywood. … As long as you know how to grade it, which you can learn online — education is free — you’re on your own. And it’s golden.
ZELDA ADAMS: Absolutely. Competing with Hollywood is such a good point that you make. And that’s something that I think we’re all able to do now. Like a couple films ago, my dad and I made a film called The Hatred and we just put it on Amazon. And something that’s so great is it was competing with all of the, you know, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie movies on Amazon. Anyone can go out and watch my movie. And now there are so many, you know, streaming platforms that are fantastic… I feel like films are a lot more accessible now, which I really applaud.
AVALON FAST: I did want to say I loved Hellbender. It reminded me of the stuff that I’m doing and stuff I want to do.
ZELDA ADAMS: Oh, my gosh, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. I mean, one of the questions I had for you is: What’s your preferred genre? I would guess that you lean toward horror but there’s also something mystical about your movies, and dramatic.
AVALON FAST: I say that I make horror movies, because that’s easier for people to swallow. But there’s a lot of what I make that comes out of drama. And the next thing I’m making is going to be more of a romance with this border on horror. I think that’s my preferred genre when I watch films. My partner will be like, “So, you want to watch a horror movie?” And I’m like, “Not really. Kinda want to watch a romance!” [Laughs.] They’re like, “What’s your problem? You’re supposed to be a horror girl.” What about you?
A scene from Honeycomb, by Avalon Fast
ZELDA ADAMS: I love horror. The horror genre is where I feel at home. Because you can tell a drama story or a romance story, any type of story — but you can just cover it in blood.
JACK FESSENDEN: Avalon, I was curious how you got so many people to commit to Honeycomb. Were they like two friend groups? Because they really feel so real — like the boys group and the girls group.
AVALON FAST: Yeah, that is my friend group. It’s still my friend group. I live with those people. There’s like five of the cast members living in my house right now. Of course, it was hard to wrangle them. But at the same time, they’re all just hanging out at the beach, doing that all day. So it was kind of like, ‘Okay, guys, we’re gonna do something with our time now this summer.’ And they were pretty open to it. And a lot of them were actually really excited about it.
One of the first days we shot a dance [sequence] in the cabin, and we probably did 12 hours that day. And that was our longest day. Everyone was pretty pissed at me. [Laughs.] But other than that, it would be three hours here and there. … I’m making it sound like it was really easy, but it was really frustrating and really time consuming. And also all those people had jobs as well, throughout the summer, so yeah, it was complicated. Somehow we did it.
ZELDA ADAMS: I was wondering, Jack, for Foxhole, where was your set? Because it was just incredible.
Jack Fessenden, 22, cited as one of IndieWire’s “11 Filmmakers 30 or Under You Need to Know” at age 17, is based in New York City. He finished his first feature film, Stray Bullets, during his sophomore year in high school. His latest, Foxhole, came out in May and tells three stories from the Civil War, World War I, and Iraq. He recently graduated from Wesleyan University.
JACK FESSENDEN: So that was in a field in a big wedding tent. I was basically fixated on how in the first part of the movie, the Civil War, it’s this thick fog. And that was the biggest nightmare making the whole movie — getting this fog to look right. Because a lot of it had to be rotoscoped and done in CG. I wanted to trap fog inside a big tent outside, so that we could have a real hole with real dirt and real grass and an outdoor set, but we could contain the atmosphere and trap the light and keep the rain out and leave our equipment in there. So one of the biggest things we invested in was a big wedding tent. Just picture an 80 by 40 tent. And we pitched it in this field after having dug the hole. And then we had five days to shoot each war.
AVALON FAST: I really loved Foxhole, by the way, but when it opened up, I was like, ‘Whoa, we’re like in an actual location.We’re not in a house. We’re not in a park. This is a real movie.’
JACK FESSENDEN: That’s our front yard.
ETHAN ENG: I have a question for you, Zelda. Hellbender almost seems like a story that is pretty close in orbit with what would possibly be the circumstances of making a film with your family. It feels like every step of making that movie would be meta in a way. And I kind of noticed that when you tell stories that are in very close orbit with your life, things kind of fall into place in very strange and fortunate ways. What was the experience of even writing a story like that for you?
ZELDA ADAMS: Yeah, Hellbender is a story that relates a lot to what we are going through as a family. … The reason there are a lot of parallels from Hellbender to our real life is because I’m getting ready to go off and go to college and be out on my own, which is going to be such a drastic change from our previous life. You know, we’re best friends, we live in the same house, there’s not a second that we aren’t hanging out. So to leave is going to be just insane.
And Izzy in Hellbender, she’s getting ready to go off into her own world and explore what else is out there. And it’s kind of terrifying for the mom. And I think there is a part of my parents that’s like, Oh, my God, what’s going to happen?, but there is a little bit of contrast, because I think they really are excited for me to just get out there and explore outside of the family.
Zelda Adams as Izzy in Hellbender. Photo courtesy of Shudder
MOVIEMAKER: I find movies kind of meditative. You’re shutting out the entire world for two hours. Is that part of the appeal of filmmaking for you? And do you think that’s going anywhere?
JACK FESSENDEN: I honestly had never thought about it that way. But that’s exactly why I always just think of it as an escape: This story is going to wrap you up, especially if you’re rewatching the movies that you love or something. I think that’s why a long attention-span format, in today’s standards, still can survive.
ZELDA ADAMS: I watch a lot of horror movies and horror TV shows, and something that I think is really neat is that I get to explore some of my worst fears in a safe place — you know, home invasion, and sharks. I don’t actually have to experience that, I can just watch it in a movie and it feels so good. And it’s thrilling.
ETHAN ENG: Personally, for me, and a lot of people I know, we don’t really experience movies in the theater anymore. Most of our experiences with films are sitting alone in a dark room, whether it’s your laptop, or even on a cell phone, and just having that one-on-one with the movie. And, you know, you’re right, it is very meditative. It’s an hour or two of your time to kind of listen to somebody else. And sometimes during those moments, you kind of hear the things that you needed to hear, and it helps you. So yeah, I do think that’s kind of the experience now, it’s quieter. I think it’s more gentle.
Main image: Zelda Adams, Avalon Fast, Ethan Eng and Jack Fessenden.
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