Formicopolis
New York City, New York | Film Short
Drama, Satire
One ordinary Tuesday, something inexplicable happens: the Empire State Building is twice as tall as it’s supposed to be, and no one knows how or why. The following days become a trial for our three main characters. How do they go on with their normal lives, knowing that the impossible can happen?
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This campaign raised $14,693 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
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One ordinary Tuesday, something inexplicable happens: the Empire State Building is twice as tall as it’s supposed to be, and no one knows how or why. The following days become a trial for our three main characters. How do they go on with their normal lives, knowing that the impossible can happen?
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
LOGLINE
One seemingly ordinary Tuesday, something inexplicable happens: the Empire State Building is suddenly twice as tall as it’s supposed to be, and no one knows how or why. The following days become a trial for our three main characters. How do they go on with their normal lives, knowing that the impossible can happen?
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Through surreal events, we want to capture the experience of balancing life in an increasingly uncanny world. This story uses absurdity to reflect on feelings that we all have in a time when every day feels like the world is flipped upside down.
What started as a funny hypothetical (“what if the Empire State Building glitched?”) turned into an earnest reflection of the number of times in my life when an event we previously considered impossible took place, times when I had to process feelings of confusion and incongruity, when the so-called “normal” lives we lead don’t quite match up with the way the world is changing around us. These were feelings I was processing during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, and, I came to see, feelings many others were also processing. This story uses that original, absurd thought experiment to explore the human reaction and toll from such an unlikely scenario. In a world that can often feel surreal, it’s appropriate to use surreal events to talk about those feelings.
We want to capture an exhaustive wave of feelings in a 20-minute film. The focus will be on three characters, Tori, Nathan, and Jennie, who all process an unprecedented event in different ways. Each begins to experience an existential crisis that goes on to affect their personal, social, and professional lives.
BUDGET
Every contribution helps! Whether it’s $10 or $1000, your pledge pulls us closer to the finish line. Even if you can’t contribute financially, sending our campaign to friends and family who are enthusiastic about new films and filmmakers is invaluable.
TIMELINE
Fundraising: February through April
Pre-Production: April
Shooting: April/May (2 weekends, 4 days in total)
Post Production: June and July
INSPIRATION
FORMICOPOLIS has two main themes: first, that we are small people in a big world, and second, the self-reflection that comes with that realization. We hope to address both of those ideas with a style that balances both absurdity and naturalism, to make this project feel as close to life as possible. Films such as The Worst Person in the World, Ikiru, White Noise, and Burning serve as the main visual and thematic inspiration: movies that use their location, urban or otherwise, as a backdrop to the introspective journeys of the characters.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Crew Cost
Costs $8,000
This covers the cost of paying our crew for their labor.
Finishing
Costs $2,000
This includes all post-production, such as editing, sounding editing, color grading, and visual effects.
Insurance
Costs $1,000
We want to be protected in case anything goes wrong!
Meals
Costs $1,000
To keep our cast and crew fed over the course of our shoot days.
Equipment
Costs $5,000
Camera, microphones, and anything else we need to capture our film!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Tres Fimmano (Writer/Director):
Tres (he/they) is a Queens-based post-production coordinator who has experience on projects such as Amazon Prime’s Dead Ringers and HBO’s Succession and The Gilded Age. He studied theater and history at Brandeis University where he wrote a thesis on the hidden queer themes in superhero comic books in play form. This is Tres’ first project as a filmmaker, a career he hopes to grow in by telling expansive stories about the existential feelings that come with living in this simulation we call life. Tres got his start in theater and transitioned to TV in 2020. He broke into the post-production world as a coordinator with The Last OG, but has remained committed to making his own projects one day. Getting to make FORMICOPOLIS is an opportunity he’s been waiting for for years now, and one he can’t wait to truly bring to life.
Lucy Pugh-Sellers (Producer):
Lucy Pugh-Sellers (she/they) is a Brooklyn-based Producer/Writer/Director. Her credits include her upcoming short film Skeeter Syndrome (2025), Goosebumps: The Vanishing (2025), Am I the Asshole? (2024), and Everything's Trash (2022). She cares deeply about telling stories that make people look again at the “normal” and experience in it the strange, the perplexing, and the wonderful, and can’t wait to add FORMICOPOLIS to that list.
Gabi Nail (Cast, Tori):
Gabi (she/her) is a Queens-based actor and singer originally from LA. Some favorite acting credits include Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, Theresa Rebeck’s Mauritius, and Jean Anouihl’s The Lark. She recently appeared in Nothing Felt Like Her, winner of the best LGBTQ+ Short at the 2024 Independent Shorts Awards, and will be shown at the East Village NY Film Festival in 2025. Gabi gravitates towards art that explores gender, mental illness, and the growing impacts of climate change. www.gabinail.com // @gab_nail
Karina Wen (Cast, Jennie):
Karina Wen (she/her) is excited to be part of FORMICOPOLIS! Karina graduated from Brandeis University with her B.A. in Theater Arts and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Boston area theater credits include The Crucible (Bedlam / Central Square Theater), Pacific Overtures (Lyric Stage Company of Boston), and The Joy Luck Club (The Umbrella Stage Company). Outside of acting, Karina works in the animal rights movement and dabbles in stand-up comedy.
Yael Urbach (Editor):
Yael (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based editor passionate about telling interesting and unique stories. Having cut numerous short films and a feature, her work includes Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola, which premiered at SXSW 2023, and Fishbones, a feature that screened at Slamdance 2018. Yael has also worked as an Assistant Editor on series such as The New Look for Apple TV and Dead Ringers for Prime Video.
Roksana Habibi (Composer):
Roksana (she/her) is a freelance musician who is currently based in Los Angeles. She got dual degrees in Psychology and Music while at Brandeis University, where she met Tres. After working in a neurobiology lab for several months, she decided to quit and pivot completely into being a full-time musician. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2020, she has started her own music education business and works as a freelance guitarist, songwriter and producer in genres ranging from rock, RnB, jazz, and ambient music.
Jonathan M Paul (Sound/VFX Artist):
Jon (he/they) is a Queens-based Freelance Sound Mixer/VFX Artist. With more than a decade of experience in independent short and feature films, his credits include the upcoming film Canoe Dig it (2025), the short film Quit Deacon Me Around (2025), and the 2020 new media series Adulting with Jane. Jon's artistic mission is to utilize empathy, zaniness, and surrealism to teach and explore the overlooked, the other, and the unknown. He also draws dogs. insta: @Selgthered
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
LOGLINE
One seemingly ordinary Tuesday, something inexplicable happens: the Empire State Building is suddenly twice as tall as it’s supposed to be, and no one knows how or why. The following days become a trial for our three main characters. How do they go on with their normal lives, knowing that the impossible can happen?
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Through surreal events, we want to capture the experience of balancing life in an increasingly uncanny world. This story uses absurdity to reflect on feelings that we all have in a time when every day feels like the world is flipped upside down.
What started as a funny hypothetical (“what if the Empire State Building glitched?”) turned into an earnest reflection of the number of times in my life when an event we previously considered impossible took place, times when I had to process feelings of confusion and incongruity, when the so-called “normal” lives we lead don’t quite match up with the way the world is changing around us. These were feelings I was processing during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, and, I came to see, feelings many others were also processing. This story uses that original, absurd thought experiment to explore the human reaction and toll from such an unlikely scenario. In a world that can often feel surreal, it’s appropriate to use surreal events to talk about those feelings.
We want to capture an exhaustive wave of feelings in a 20-minute film. The focus will be on three characters, Tori, Nathan, and Jennie, who all process an unprecedented event in different ways. Each begins to experience an existential crisis that goes on to affect their personal, social, and professional lives.
BUDGET
Every contribution helps! Whether it’s $10 or $1000, your pledge pulls us closer to the finish line. Even if you can’t contribute financially, sending our campaign to friends and family who are enthusiastic about new films and filmmakers is invaluable.
TIMELINE
Fundraising: February through April
Pre-Production: April
Shooting: April/May (2 weekends, 4 days in total)
Post Production: June and July
INSPIRATION
FORMICOPOLIS has two main themes: first, that we are small people in a big world, and second, the self-reflection that comes with that realization. We hope to address both of those ideas with a style that balances both absurdity and naturalism, to make this project feel as close to life as possible. Films such as The Worst Person in the World, Ikiru, White Noise, and Burning serve as the main visual and thematic inspiration: movies that use their location, urban or otherwise, as a backdrop to the introspective journeys of the characters.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Crew Cost
Costs $8,000
This covers the cost of paying our crew for their labor.
Finishing
Costs $2,000
This includes all post-production, such as editing, sounding editing, color grading, and visual effects.
Insurance
Costs $1,000
We want to be protected in case anything goes wrong!
Meals
Costs $1,000
To keep our cast and crew fed over the course of our shoot days.
Equipment
Costs $5,000
Camera, microphones, and anything else we need to capture our film!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Tres Fimmano (Writer/Director):
Tres (he/they) is a Queens-based post-production coordinator who has experience on projects such as Amazon Prime’s Dead Ringers and HBO’s Succession and The Gilded Age. He studied theater and history at Brandeis University where he wrote a thesis on the hidden queer themes in superhero comic books in play form. This is Tres’ first project as a filmmaker, a career he hopes to grow in by telling expansive stories about the existential feelings that come with living in this simulation we call life. Tres got his start in theater and transitioned to TV in 2020. He broke into the post-production world as a coordinator with The Last OG, but has remained committed to making his own projects one day. Getting to make FORMICOPOLIS is an opportunity he’s been waiting for for years now, and one he can’t wait to truly bring to life.
Lucy Pugh-Sellers (Producer):
Lucy Pugh-Sellers (she/they) is a Brooklyn-based Producer/Writer/Director. Her credits include her upcoming short film Skeeter Syndrome (2025), Goosebumps: The Vanishing (2025), Am I the Asshole? (2024), and Everything's Trash (2022). She cares deeply about telling stories that make people look again at the “normal” and experience in it the strange, the perplexing, and the wonderful, and can’t wait to add FORMICOPOLIS to that list.
Gabi Nail (Cast, Tori):
Gabi (she/her) is a Queens-based actor and singer originally from LA. Some favorite acting credits include Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, Theresa Rebeck’s Mauritius, and Jean Anouihl’s The Lark. She recently appeared in Nothing Felt Like Her, winner of the best LGBTQ+ Short at the 2024 Independent Shorts Awards, and will be shown at the East Village NY Film Festival in 2025. Gabi gravitates towards art that explores gender, mental illness, and the growing impacts of climate change. www.gabinail.com // @gab_nail
Karina Wen (Cast, Jennie):
Karina Wen (she/her) is excited to be part of FORMICOPOLIS! Karina graduated from Brandeis University with her B.A. in Theater Arts and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Boston area theater credits include The Crucible (Bedlam / Central Square Theater), Pacific Overtures (Lyric Stage Company of Boston), and The Joy Luck Club (The Umbrella Stage Company). Outside of acting, Karina works in the animal rights movement and dabbles in stand-up comedy.
Yael Urbach (Editor):
Yael (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based editor passionate about telling interesting and unique stories. Having cut numerous short films and a feature, her work includes Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola, which premiered at SXSW 2023, and Fishbones, a feature that screened at Slamdance 2018. Yael has also worked as an Assistant Editor on series such as The New Look for Apple TV and Dead Ringers for Prime Video.
Roksana Habibi (Composer):
Roksana (she/her) is a freelance musician who is currently based in Los Angeles. She got dual degrees in Psychology and Music while at Brandeis University, where she met Tres. After working in a neurobiology lab for several months, she decided to quit and pivot completely into being a full-time musician. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2020, she has started her own music education business and works as a freelance guitarist, songwriter and producer in genres ranging from rock, RnB, jazz, and ambient music.
Jonathan M Paul (Sound/VFX Artist):
Jon (he/they) is a Queens-based Freelance Sound Mixer/VFX Artist. With more than a decade of experience in independent short and feature films, his credits include the upcoming film Canoe Dig it (2025), the short film Quit Deacon Me Around (2025), and the 2020 new media series Adulting with Jane. Jon's artistic mission is to utilize empathy, zaniness, and surrealism to teach and explore the overlooked, the other, and the unknown. He also draws dogs. insta: @Selgthered