CHILDHOOD DELUSIONS FILM FESTIVAL
A delusional film festival for adults to showcase films and videos they made as kids. Featured in The New Yorker and Screen Slate.
The Big Night
90 minutes of delusional, magical childhood videos, action movies, class projects, animation, music videos, and so much more
*montages that bring together themes in childhood storytelling and creativity.
*supercuts of exceptional childhood works and strange creations.
*the delusionary auteur spotlight, showcasing a particularly grandiose childhood vision in its entirety.
*a Q&A with a few of the childhood filmmakers.
*an afterparty!
2025 Festival Highlights
Scruffy
dir. John Zhao
John Zhao took us on a heart-wrenching journey following his last moments with Scruffy -- his childhood pet gerbil.
In four minutes, we experience stillness, the last gasps of life, a death, and funerary preparations.
According to John, it was his “first encounter witnessing the process of a soul leaving a body.” We will forever honored to have hosted the big screen premiere of this sensitive tribute at Childhood Delusions. RIP Scruffy.
The Loaded Gun I, II, and III
dir. Alex Knapp and Noam Steinerman
Audiences were WOWED by this adrenaline and testosterone-fueled action franchise in the spirit of John Wick. Set in crime-ridden New York City, The Loaded Gun follows The Operator as he takes down a nefarious drug empire (located in their parents’ apartments), leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake.
And the consequences haunted the Operator for years to come. So much so that Alex and Noam reunited the cast for the first ever CDFF sequel: The Loaded Gun III. And we hear Alex and Noam working with Warner Bros. Discovery on the Loaded Gun IV !! More soon.
Swampcat
dir. Savannah McGruder
Audiences were immersed in the mysterious world of of Swampcat, a chilling horror-comedy featuring Bratz dolls, director Savannah McGruder’s childhood cat, and award-winning voiceover work from the director herself.
This chilling childhood film follows two Bratz tourists who fall victim to the ferocious, man-eating Swampcat while on a hike through the rural South.
In a shocking finale, the Swampcat pounces upon its prey, dining on a helpless plastic Calico horse and the Bratz tourists! Be careful where you go on vacation!
2024 Festival Highlights
PERIPHERAL
dir. Halley & Sasha Freger
Sisters Halley & Sasha Freger were enabled by their mother to make delusional works as children. This culminated in Halley’s award-worthy performance demolishing the family kitchen in PERIPHERAL, featured this year at CDFF.
In her Q&A, Halley commented that revisiting these old movies reminded her of why she continues making films today.
VIKING FILM
dir. Marc Weiss (1966)
CDFF was proud to screen Marc Weiss’s (Creator of PBS POV Docs) seminal 1966 high school production, VIKING FILM, featuring Marc and his buddies raid from Coney Island Beach into Manhattan, ultimately overtaking Belvedere Castle in Central Park.
GOLDTOE
dir. The Schindel Cousins
The Schindel cousins’ legendary James Bond spoof, GOLDTOE, made its silver screen debut at CDFF 2024. The event practically doubled as another Schindel reunion, with cousins appearing from all over the eastern seaboard. Here’s hoping the two other missing James Bum films turn up soon.
VENDETTA
dir. Steve Macfarlane
The festival’s first ever 🌟 Delusionary Auteur Spotlight 🌟 was given to filmmaker Steve Macfarlane for his brilliant work, VENDETTA. The film’s climactic image (Tom the cowboy riding away on his trusty stick horse Alyssa, completely oblivious to reality) perfectly embodies the way we like to move through life here at CDFF.
Congratulations Steve, on this major achievement!
The CDFF Delusionary Auteur Award
this could be yours.