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Meet the Filmmaker: Jonny Mancini, “Mecha”

Q: Why did you become a filmmaker?
JM: I first picked up a camera when I was 6 and began making videos with my brothers. I continued to makes films throughout my childhood, and into high school beginning to teach myself how to use editing software. I began more serious about my filmmaking my first year of college when I realized I could make a career of what I love if I work hard enough at it.

Q: What are we going to see at EFPalooza? Has it screened elsewhere and what are your plans for it?
JM: Mecha was my junior year project which I wrote, filmed, and directed on my own. It is an experimental sci-fi film about an adolescent android boy and his journey of self discovery through dream. It has received more than 30 international and domestic screenings, and has gone on to win 7 awards in festivals based in places including Orlando and all the way to India and Tokyo.

Q: What else are you working on?
JM: I am currently working on my first feature film. Which will be hopefully be adapted from a new short I am creating simultaneously.

Q: Tell us one weird thing about you and/or your movies?
JM: I recently broke a personal record during my most recent film Gemini, and only had the police called on me and my crew once during the shooting of the film.

Q: Where can people go to find out more about you and your work?
JM: I am working on a website, but currently my Vimeo and Youtube pages contain most of my work from school and elsewhere, and act as a kind of portfolio. My photography and visual art is showcased primarily on my instagram: ynnojjonny

Q: Is there anything you’d like to say about EFPalooza or The Emerging Filmmakers Project?
JM: I have done many festival Q&A’s but I have never had so much fun during one as I have with Emerging Filmmakers Project. The audience was curious and engaged, being full of filmmakers and film lovers, and it felt really special to share my work with them.

Mecha will screen Saturday, February 23rd at 6:00 p.m. at The Bug Theatre as part of the Experimental & Animated Shorts block during the 2019 EFPalooza Film Festival.