Sami Ylönen is a filmmaker from Finland. He completed his film studies in 2019 and has since embarked on a freelance career in the creative industry while simultaneously pursuing his passion for filmmaking. With a background boasting a decade of improvisational comedy theatre acting from his youth, Sami has also taught himself special effects makeup techniques, adding a unique touch and atmosphere to his films.

He is particularly drawn to themes of outsiderhood, the madness of the world, and the exploration of his own dreams and nightmares. These themes often sneak their way into his work, which typically blends elements of horror and comedy, seasoned with homemade special effects.

Sami's previous work as a filmmaker includes the experimental horror short film "Vortago" (2014), the horror-comedy short film "Human-like Creatures" (2016), and three episodes of the experimental fictional talk show "Midnight Special Show" (2021-2022). His latest short film is titled "Prettify" (2023).

I’m a multi-award-winning writer/director specialising in dark drama, comedy and horror. I have over 15 years of experience in short films, music videos and broadcast television and I'm also a directors UK and BAFTA Connects member.

My films have gained great success and have been selected at many festivals from around the world including BIFA, Bafta and Oscar qualifying festivals. I have also won many awards including ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Director’ for my films WE, SAFEKEEPING, EJECT, CLOUDS and ERIC. My work has also been featured on David Reviews, Shots, 1.4, Directors Notes, Omeleto and Film Shortage.

My new short film 'Eric' had an amazing screening at Frightfest and Heyuguys even featured it as one of the best shorts of the fest - https://www.heyuguys.com/the-best-shorts-from-arrow-video-frightfest-2022/ and it also won best horror at Performance short film competition.

In 2022 I got shortlisted out of 600 directors to pitch on the channel 4 series On the Edge https://careers.channel4.com/4skills/talent-schemes/4stories. After seeing my films Eject and Eric, 20th Century Studios and Disney invited me to pitch for their bite size horror scheme https://www.hulu.com/series/bite-size-halloween-2b6c50a7-535b-4a37-9bf5-e075ab26a68b . I also recently got selected on the New Blood scheme where I pitched my feature script 'Crave' to some amazing mentors - https://cloutcom.co.uk/new-blood-horror-initiative-selects-fresh-class-of-eight-projects/.

MAGGIE ZENG is a Montreal-based children’s book illustrator, concept artist, and animator, who specializes in story-driven illustrations that appeal to childhood wonders. She is the illustrator of the Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz Award winning book “This Is The Boat That Ben Built,” as well as “The Hockey Skates” written by Karl Subban. Her film “If You Find Yourself in a Pocket Dimension” has screened at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Maggie’s favourite pencil was a 0.9mm Staedtler Mars micro that someone stole from her during her first year of high school. (She bought a second one.)