665. Robb Padgett “Merry Heistmas”

Welcome back for another great filmmaker chat!

Robb Padgett brought his feature film “Merry Heistmas” to the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2025 and brought home the Grand Jury Awards for Best Feature Film- Comedy and Best Performance by a Cast in a Feature Film.
Robb’s film is an audience favorite and poor Robb has had to listen to me share not once but twice that, personally, I just do not like Christmas and that for me to thoroughly enjoy a film that features not just a Christmas-time setting but actual Christmas caroling is a gigantic accomplishment.

It was a ton of fun to meet Robb at Sherman Oaks Film Festival and even more fun to have him on the podcast.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                You can watch “Merry Heistmas” right now and I recommend using Just Watch to watch it. Enjoy!

Or… I’ll all-caps this… SUPPORT INDIE FILM AND CATCH ROBB’S FILM AT A FILM FESTIVAL ON April 23. If I knew more I’d give you a link, I swear!

Learn more about Merry Heistmas on Instagram at @heistmas
Follow Robb at @robbpadgett or at robbpadgett.com

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast WebsiteDIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

Source: Discover Film

664. 4Qs with Kathy Meng

What are the 4Qs? (1) Three favorite films. (2) An underrated film. (3) An overrated film. (4) A lesser-known film people should seek out.

Kathy Meng wrote and directed the short film “Willow and Wu,” a fantastic drama that had its Los Angeles Premiere at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2025. “Willow and Wu” earned Kathy and her co-writer Harry Bacon the Filmmakers Award for Outstanding Screenplay -Drama, as well as the Grand Jury Award for Best Cinematography – Short Film.

Kathy lives in Berlin and was not able to attend SOFF 2025, so I extra excited to chat with her and find out what types of films inspire her with the 4 Questions.

Follow the film on Instagram at @willowandwu_film

Follow Kathy on Instagram at @kathy_meng

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast WebsiteDIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

Source: Discover Film

663. Kathy Meng “Willow and Wu”

Happy Friday (and Oscars weekend to all who celebrate!)

Kathy Meng wrote and directed the short film “Willow and Wu,” a fantastic drama that had its Los Angeles Premiere at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2025. “Willow and Wu” earned Kathy and her co-writer Harry Bacon the Filmmakers Award for Outstanding Screenplay -Drama, as well as the Grand Jury Award for Best Cinematography – Short Film.

Kathy lives in Berlin and was not able to attend SOFF 2025, which made getting to know her through this interview very welcome.

Follow the film on Instagram at @willowandwu_film
Follow Kathy on Instagram at @kathy_meng

And now for a fun tidbit! Guess what? Part of my job is pulling names out of the credits of a film when an individual who worked on it wins an award. When I looked up the
cinematographer for “Willow and Wu” I was delighted to discover that SOFF alumni Sancheev Ravichandran was Kathy’s cinematographer! Sancheev’s comedic short film “Well-Rounded” took home the Filmmakers Award for Outstanding Creativity in Comedy at SOFF 2024!

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast WebsiteDIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

Source: Discover Film

2026 Awards

The Film Invasion L.A. team is proud to announce these awards for our 2026 Festival in Lima, Peru!

Best In Fest – Lima

Best Feature Film – Making Megaforce
Best Featurette – Pierre West
Best Short Film – We Meet Again

Lo Mejor de Perú – Lima

Best Peruvian Film – Featurette – The Return of the Lifeblood
Best Peruvian Film – Short – The Last Play

Audience Awards – Lima

Best Feature Film – in my land, Carnival is religion
Best Featurette – Caesar’s Cache
Best Short Film – The Summoning

Grand Jury Awards – Lima

Best Acting – Experimental – fear, my sickness
Best Cinematography – Experimental – The Last Day
Best Cinematography – Feature Film – The River At The Bottom Of My Garden
Best Cinematography – Short Film – Roughing It
Best Cinematography – Featurette – Caesar’s Cache
Best Director – Feature Film – Bob Lindenmayer – Making Megaforce
Best Director – Short Film – IB Asanga – Soeur Celeste
Best Editing – Feature Film – Felix Chamberlain – Making Megaforce
Best Editing – Featurette – Arnold Sotomayor – The Return of the Lifeblood
Best Editing – Short Film – Tadeo Escalante – Break Out
Best Feature – Documentary – The River At The Bottom Of My Garden
Best Featurette – Arthouse – FUTURE OF ART
Best Featurette – Comedy – TV Man
Best Featurette – Documentary – PATOU: In Black & White
Best Featurette – Horror – The Return of the Lifeblood
Best Lead Performer – Feature Film – Bob Lindenmayer – Making Megaforce
Best Lead Performer – Featurette – Tomas Hartwig – Pierre West
Best Lead Performer – Short – Maria Olga Matte – EL MONSTRUO DE LA FORTUNA
Best Music Video – The Big Picture
Best Performance by a Duo – Richard Riehle & Vernon Wells – We Meet Again
Best Performance by Cast – Comedy – Break Out
Best Production Design – Feature Film – Making Megaforce
Best Production Design – Featurette – THE MIRROR PARAJANOV
Best Production Design – Short Film – Hey Alexa
Best Series/Pilot – Rule of Three
Best Short – Animation – Lifted
Best Short – Arthouse – Boulevard de la mort
Best Short – Comedy – Lou
Best Short – Dance – Psyche
Best Short – Documentary – Holding It Together
Best Short – Drama – Dark Matter
Best Short – Horror – Long Time, No See
Best Short – SciFi – Hey Alexa
Best Song – Chavela Vargas – “Volver, Volver” – Becoming Chavela
Best Sound Design – Feature Film – Rodrigo Resende Coutinho – in my land, Carnival is religion
Best Sound Design – Featurette – Caesar’s Cache
Best Sound Design – Short Film – Hope
Best Soundtrack – PATOU: In Black & White
Best Supporting Performer – Feature Film – Barry Bostwick – Making Megaforce
Best Supporting Performer – Featurette – Jona Zeschke – Caesar’s Cache
Best Supporting Performer – Short Film – Cesar Rengifo Salazar – The Last Play
Best Writing – Feature Film – Documentary – Cambia Tu Vida, Chico – Una Vida en DEGASE
Best Writing – Short – Drama – The Choice
Best Writing – Featurette – Documentary – Plainspoken
Best Writing – Short – Animation – Yellowstone 88 – Song of Fire

Filmmakers Awards – Lima

Oustanding Performance by a Duo – Short – The White Shoes
Outstanding Cinematography – Short – Whispers
Outstanding Editing – Short – Drama – Soeur Celeste
Outstanding Feature – Documentary – Cambia Tu Vida, Chico – Una Vida en DEGASE
Outstanding Featurette – Documentary – DIG DEEPER
Outstanding Featurette – Documentary – THE MIRROR PARAJANOV
Outstanding Lead Performance – Short – One Last Breath
Outstanding Music Video – Beautiful Day
Outstanding Originality – Short Film – ALLURE
Outstanding Cast Performance – Comedy – Short – Sasquatch Roommate
Outstanding performance by Cast – Short – Fairy God Bro
Outstanding Peruvian Film – Short – fear, my sickness
Outstanding Peruvian Film – Short – Ananias
Outstanding Short – Animation – Yellowstone 88 – Song of Fire
Outstanding Short – Arthouse – The Last Day
Outstanding Short – Comedy – Becoming Chavela
Outstanding Short – Documentary – The Long Road Home
Outstanding Short – Drama – The Choice
Outstanding Short – Drama – Butcher
Outstanding Short – Horror – Hope
Outstanding Short – SciFi – The Power of Ink
Outstanding Writing – Documentary – Every Line Becomes A Circle
Outstanding Writting – Short – Drama – Fleeing Shadows

Award Definitions/Explanations

Best In Fest – Determined by the festival’s official selection committee.
Lo mejor de Perú – Determined by the festival’s official selection committee to honor films from our home nation of Perú.
Audience Awards – Determined by highly scientific instruments to measure audience satisfaction.
Grand Jury Awards – Determined by the festival’s official selection committee.
Filmmakers Awards – Determined by a panel of alumni filmmakers whose films have been Official Selections at our cousin festivals FI-Los Angeles and Sherman Oaks Film Festival.

Source: FILA

662. 4Qs with Kristina Sullivan

What are the 4Qs? (1) Three favorite films. (2) An underrated film. (3) An overrated film. (4) A lesser-known film people should seek out.

Kristina Sullivan wrote, produced, and starred inthe short film “What If … You Had The Perfect Person,” a SciFi short that was an official selection at Sherman Oaks FIlm Festival in 2025 and took home the Filmmakers Awards for Outstanding Cast Performance – Short Film – SciFi and Outstanding Screenplay – Short Film – SciFi for screenwriter Kristina Sullivan!

I already knew Kristina was an avid film lover before we chatted because she the way she attended and supported so many screenings at the festival, so I was extra excited to follow up with her 4 Questions!

You can follow Kristina on Instagram at @misskristina617

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast WebsiteDIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

Source: Discover Film