Our experimental film “Backfroooms” has been selected for the New York Movie Awards!

Our experimental film “Backfroooms”, created during this summer’s advanced FROOOM! film workshop in Split, has been invited to the New York Movie Awards, a monthly festival programme held at the well-known The Kraine Theater on Off-Broadway.

This year’s FROOOM! workshop in Split thus resulted in an experimental film. During the summer workshop, we focused specifically on this form of filmmaking, with which most of the participants had previously had less experience, exploring just how unusual, playful and different film can be from what we are used to.

One of our initial inspirations was the internet phenomenon known as the Backrooms, and for a while we played with the idea of making a film under the working title Backfroooms. At first, we intended to make a fiction film, but during the test shoots we realized that the most exciting part of the process was precisely the exploration of strange images, movements and cinematic techniques. So we decided to follow what was beginning to happen in front of the camera and turn those tests into the final film.

This approach was also partly inspired by a scene from Twin Peaks, which we watched while researching our original fiction-film idea. Instead of following a predetermined story, we allowed ourselves to play, test different ideas and create uncanny situations that often surprised even us. It was precisely this curiosity, spontaneity and abundance of laughter during the shoot that shaped the film you can now watch.

And so, all that effort, exploration and playfulness has now received a lovely recognition through an invitation to this small but valuable festival programme in New York.

The film was created by: Anamarija Komadina, Karlo Madiraca, Niko Vučković, Leon Vučković, Gabriela Vidović, Toma Ribičić, Andrija Jerković, Oliver Pribačić, Zita Ortner, Nikola Ivanković and Cvita Ukić.

Workshop mentors: Boris Vuković and Tihana Mandušić, assisted by Siniša Jakovčević.

The FROOOM! workshop in Split was supported by the City of Split, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Agency for Electronic Media, and the Croatian Association of Film Authors and Producers.

Shadow Casters are supported by the City of Zagreb – City Office for Culture and Civil Society, Erasmus+ and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC).