The kind of filmmaking that my guest, Vanessa Esteves, does is all encompassing -- job, hobby, passion. And that shows through in her latest work, CHRISTOPHER & THE BUG (2025), a "heartwarming short film about a reclusive owl whose peaceful solitude is disrupted when a tiny bug unknowingly moves into his home."

We talk about why we don't see the bug, what college roommate inspired her to write this story -- not in a good way!; animated films and screentime for kids, and more.

If all of our films were given the thought and love Vanessa gives her directorial debut, we would be in such a better place.

In this episode, Vanessa and I discuss:

• do we see the bug in CHRISTOPHER & THE BUG?
• how she got started in filmmaking and why she decided this would be her directorial debut;
• what is it like producing animated films and if it is an easy jump back to live action;
• the lessons she's learned from producing films that she brought to CHRISTOPHER;
• how to tell the story on a run time of 11 minutes!;
• the challenges of specifically an animated film;
• why sound design and score were so huge for this film;
• the idea that animation is just for kids and how it is different in the short film world;
• how we can improve families and filmmaking;
• her day job at Boatrocker Studios as a senior director for creative affairs, kids & family, and how she feels about screentime for kids;
• what it's like being a filmmaker in Toronto and what's next for her.

Vanessa's Indie Film Highlight: GYMNASTICS (2025) dir. by Nikki Buziak and Leo Fafard

Memorable Quotes:

" We call it a bedtime story for adults."

" The reason that you never see the bug is because I don't want it to necessarily just be a bug, right? If we showed the bug, then it's a film about an owl and a bug, and then it definitely feels like it's for kids."

"I was living inside childrens' entertainment."

" Honestly, storytelling is storytelling, so whether it's going to be animated or if it's going to be live action...it really is you're working with the scripts and you're focusing on the story, so the two are very interchangeable."

"I learned how to tell stories on a small scale."

"The sound design was huge for us and score was huge. We called score our other main character because we needed the score to be so powerful that it would draw you through, right?"

" When you look at more mainstream animation, you're going to see more often, I think, blockbusters that are animated are usually for kids or family viewing. But in the short film world, it can really span everything, all the ages, all the genres."

" I often say that it's not just my job, it's also my hobby, which is so true because filmmaking has been a part of my life since I was a kid."

Links:

Follow CHRISTOPHER & THE BUG On Instagram

Follow Vanessa On Instagram