Joe Badon is a filmmaker, illustrator and musician whose unconventional artistic style and vision sets him apart. Having directed feature films The God Inside My Ear and Sister Tempest, Badon's also the writer and illustrator of 'The Man with Ten Thousand Eyes' and 'Terra Kaiju'.

His unbridled creativity continues to fuel each artistic production as is the case for his latest adventure, The Blood of the Dinosaurs. A surreal, moody, trippy and altogether wild short film, which featured at Fantasia... Spling caught up with Badon to find out more about the short, his story, guerilla filmmaking and what lies ahead.

How did you get into filmmaking?

In 2017, I saved up some money, wrote a script and found all my cast and crew mainly through Facebook. Together, we made The God Inside My Ear. I have no formal training, although I did work with directors in illustrating storyboards for a number of years.

What would you say are some of the TV shows and films that have had a marked influence over your creative life?

Twin Peaks, Off The Air (adultswim), The Devils, Holy Mountain, True Stories, Rubber, Jesus Shows You The Way to the Highway, Hour of the Wolf, Evil Dead 2 and Eraserhead.

What would your elevator pitch be for The Blood of the Dinosaurs?

It's Mr Rogers on acid during a midlife crisis.

The film alludes to natural resource depletion and sexual perversion... what inspired The Blood of the Dinosaurs and are you willing to expand on some of the underlying themes of the film?

It's just a meditation on the Circle of Life and the meaninglessness of existence.

The short film creates an unnerving and uncomfortable feel by straddling genres and realities... what do you find most appealing about playing to the ambiguous?

Ambiguity lets every viewer interpret the film more personally and individually.

What’s the most freeing thing about opting to go the short film route?

People are cool with less narrative structure with short films.

Your actors seem to be completely invested in your vision. How would you describe the working relationship and do you ever get any pushback when it comes to more outlandish scenes?

At this point, actors know that I'll be asking for crazy shit and they're cool with it. Having done two other films, people know I have a specific style and vision and they seem to trust me. I am very blessed by this.

Do you prefer the short film format?

I've actually created two feature films before this. With longer format stuff, you're able to create a richer narrative story and more character development... that's why the next project - The Wheel of Heaven - is an episodic.

The Blood of the Dinosaurs is a naturally divisive film. What’s the greatest compliment and conversely the worst insult you’ve received about it?

Honestly, the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. I think that the biggest complaint is that people just want to see where the story goes from here as the short basically just ends and will pick back up in The Wheel of Heaven.

Filming almost exclusively in Louisiana, what do you think are some of the limitations and benefits?

The limitation is that there is no really no access to industry investors and professionals as opposed to Los Angeles.

The benefit is that everything is *much cheaper* and you can actually do guerilla filmmaking. That would be *impossible* in Hollywood.

You’re busy with the festival circuit with the screening at Fantasia right now... but have you had a chance to think about what’s next?

Next is editing The Wheel of Heaven, which is already shot. And there are a few bigger film festivals that we're waiting to hear back from for The Blood of the Dinosaurs. Plus, The Blood of the Dinosaurs