Table of Contents
Three Key Takeaways
- Adrian Bobb’s “Drifters” blends sci-fi and romance to explore emotional ambition through a visually immersive short film.
- The film’s innovative use of virtual production techniques and physical acting for VFX demonstrates a seamless marriage of technology and storytelling.
- Bobb’s journey reflects the independent filmmaker’s drive to craft singular, emotionally resonant visions while preparing to transition into feature filmmaking.
Adrian Bobb, writer, director, and VFX supervisor, brings a uniquely ambitious sci-fi romance to FilmQuest 2025 with his short film Drifters. Featuring Matt Murray as Tal, a former astronaut, and Samora Smallwood as Ness, the film intertwines romance, tragedy, and speculative elements in a wilderness setting. Produced alongside Zeus Kontoyannis and Ali Mashayehki, Drifters showcases Bobb’s signature blend of emotional depth and technical artistry. You can find Adrian’s work at @abobb or visit adrianbobb.com.
What drew you to make this film? Why this story, and why now?
My stories are kind of a chimera of ideas and situational opportunities coming together at the right time/right place. For Drifters, I had this idea of a psychiatric appointment that starts out normal, and then ends with a wildly massive entity by the end. I wrote the first draft as this kind of sci-fi horror, then after getting married, it ended up being more sci-fi romance (not a huge surprise!). I wrote it once from the perspective of the male lead, then I rewrote it from the perspective of the robot, and it became a story about two lost souls forced to start over.
What surprised you most about the filmmaking process this time—creatively or logistically? Was there a moment on set or in post that completely changed how you saw the story?
When building the main robot in the film, I had to act out the motions of the character for my animators (as I often do).
“There's always a fun moment when you find yourself in your living room filming yourself as a 137 ft robot, and you remind yourself why you love what you do.”
Is there a moment in the film that feels the most you—something only you could have made?
I think everything to do with Ness is very much a "me" thing. I like making something no one has seen before. Second to the story, it's the most important thing to me, especially when creating sci-fi projects.
What was the hardest creative decision you made while making this film?
Editing it down to 15 mins. I feel like if I had more time, I would've added more to flesh out the story more, but I think that's just a difficulty of a short film...especially in sci-fi when so much relies on the exposition of the world you've built. I'll just chalk it up to when/if I recreate this story as a feature.
What do you hope audiences take away from your film?
It's emotional ambition. Obviously, this short is stupidly ambitious technically and story-wise (I'm really ready to move on from the 15-minute sweet spots of shorts), but I'm happy to see and hear the emotional heart of the story resonate with the audience. I've had the privilege of seeing it with an audience twice now, and I've heard some truly lovely responses and conversations about how the film made them feel and think. And honestly, that's all I can ask for as a filmmaker.
How has this film shaped or shifted the kind of stories you want to tell next?
After 6 years of short films, I'm hoping this film settles my abilities as a visual storyteller. While I'd like to tell more stories like this one in the future, I want to make sure I have the time to tell them as features. I don't want to say this is the last short film I will ever make, but I am very fixated on moving forward into the feature space. I have a feature survival thriller film I've been recently signed on to direct and after that? Well I have a long list of feature projects (sci-fi, horror, and thrillers) ready to go (if there's anyone that's looking for some pretty out there genre projects in the vein of The Thing, Alien, and Cloverfield, hit me up!).
What’s a tool, technique, or resource that really helped you during production?
One of the major components of the script for this short is the usage of the virtual wall. This project was the first time I filmed on it (I've since worked on two other stages), and as such, I needed to prove to myself that it would work within the confines of the story. Luckily, the story was about a world starting real and ending surreal, so even if the wall didn't work, it would still serve the narrative. Luckily, it worked great while still lending to the slightly dreamlike quality of it.
Independent filmmakers often rewrite the rules out of necessity. What do you think is the greatest strength of independent filmmaking, and how did you lean into that on this project?
“I think independent film is the closest thing in film that you can get to a sculpture or a painting.”
Whereas studio films are very much architectural projects with hundreds and sometimes thousands of people, independent films truly are representative of a singular vision. A look into a specific mind, in a specific time and place.
What does it mean to you to have your film selected for FilmQuest, one of the world’s top reviewed genre film festivals?
It's always an honor. FilmQuest is a festival that really represents fans of genre in a respectful and very honest way, and as a genre filmmaker, it's the kind of crowd I adore and it's the crowd I make movies for.
How does your film fit within—or push the boundaries of—genre storytelling?
Drifters is absolutely a science-fiction story in every sense of the genre. It's literally about love, death, and robots. It asks big questions and provides big visuals in a way that I hope the audience brings with them after they've watched the film.
Where do you see this film going next?
Not sure yet! We've obviously applied to other festivals and we're currently still waiting to hear back from them!
“At the core of all my work is a desire to existentially haunt the audience.”
Cast & Crew
- Adrian Bobb — Writer/Director/VFX Supervisor (Instagram: abobb)
- Zeus Kontoyannis — Producer (Instagram: zeuspictures1)
- Ali Mashayehki — Producer (Instagram: landedent)
- Matt Murray — Tal (Instagram: mattmurray28)
- Samora Smallwood — Ness (Instagram: samoragloria)
