Instagram story viewer> @smithamsala> Tagged

smitha hamsala!

@smithamsala

3K

followers

679

following

DreamWorks Artist Management Intern
Co-Director of @showstopperfilm
welcome to my little art stash

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

THE WINNERS — CONSONANCE 8

Two evenings. Sixteen films. Two venues in Tbilisi. One audience that voted on every single one.

🏆 BEST FEATURE FILM — We are all Young Gods
🏆 BEST SHORT FILM — Schumann: a love story
🏆 BEST MUSIC VIDEO — The Sofa
🏆 BEST DOCUMENTARY — The Peaceful Weapon
🏆 BEST ANIMATED FILM — ShowStopper
🏆 BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM — Footlights & Shadows
🏆 BEST MUSIC COMPOSER — City Of God – Oceans
🏆 BEST DIRECTOR — Hot Toddy
🏆 SPECIAL JURY AWARD — Resonancia

And the two you decided yourselves:

🏆 FESTIVAL WINNER — Resonancia,
from the scoring cards in the room
🏆 CHANNEL AUDIENCE CHOICE — Hot Toddy,
from 117 votes on our Festival Channel

Thank you to everyone who came, watched and filled in a card.

#Consonance2026
#LiveScreeningsNetwork #FilmFestivalWinners
#DanceFilm
#MusicVideo

28

3

OFFICIAL SELECTION
The 8th edition MUSIC DANCE SCREENINGS FILM FESTIVAL CONSONANCE

16 films. 12 countries.

Swipe to meet every film going to the screen on September 17–18 in Tbilisi.

Music videos, dance films, hand-drawn animation, documentary and visual poetry — from a National Film Board of Canada production to a world premiere out of Fribourg.

Here is who is coming to the screen:
The Sofa — Netherlands, France · 3 min · Suzanne Koopman
LOCA — Canada · 5 min · Véronique Paquette · National Film Board of Canada
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea — Germany · 8 min · Alasdair Jardine
Footlights & Shadows — United States · 10 min · Victoria Radrigan
TO THE OTHER SIDE — Italy · 12 min · Federico Trento
Olympe's sun — Mexico · 29 min · Anne-Sophie Charon
City Of God – Oceans — Hungary · 3 min · Olivér Lehel, Nóra Sallai
ShowStopper — United States · 3 min · Amit Naftali, Smitha Hamsala · Ringling College
The Limits of Math — United States · 5 min · John D. Scott
Hot Toddy — United States · 13 min · Emma Huibregtse
The Maestro — Brazil · 23 min · Vinícius Correia
Schumann: a love story — United Kingdom · 29 min · Andromeda Graziano
We are all Young Gods — Switzerland · 79 min · Julien Minguely, Ludovic Matthey
The Peaceful Weapon — Latvia · 60 min · Dima Bass
Resonancia — United States · 38 min · Ted Nash, Cathy Barbash
Common Connections — United Kingdom · 25 min · Gabi Norland

Your vote decides. After each screening the audience fills in scoring cards, and those cards choose the Festival Winner.
Awards announced September 19.

Congratulations to all selected filmmakers 👏

Details & Tickets in bio.

@showstopperfilm @aminaftali @smithamsala @tersitefilm @balletswithatwist @miss100percentfunk @verovic_paquette @canacaianafilmes @winduppics @bebravetoact
@v.13.productions
@el.sol.de.olympe
@dance_piano.art

#Consonance2026
#LiveScreeningsNetwork
#DanceFilm
#MusicVideo
#FilmFestival

31

4

THE STORY IS IN THE DETAILS.

How much information can you methodically compact into a single shot to earn your audience’s attention and pull them into your story?

The story exists before your characters speak, it exists in the rooms they’re in, the flickers in their eyes, the colors they wear, the lighting that drapes it all.

Every story, whether filmed, animated, or kept in text, has a limited amount of time and space to encapsulate you within the walls of its vehicle. Environment, movement, sound, palette, lighting, even the temperature of a scene should act as tools to quickly grab our attention before our hearts are fully invested in the story.

@Aminaftali, Artist and co-director of @Showstopperfilm (2026) (alongside @smithamsala) breaks down how intentional design made their short film immediately rich with character and story.

Nothing in your story should be accidental or "just because...".

Save this for your next short film and and share it with your filmmaking partner. 🎬

@pressplayhousedaily #pressplay

150

0

➡️ Share this with your short film partner!

The opening scene is essential to retain your audience... here's one way to do it👇

⚠️ SPOILER ALERT: We’re breaking down the opening scene of @Showstopperfilm. If you want to experience the full film first, follow @Showstopperfilm to keep up with which film festivals you can catch it at next!

But for those of you who only caught the sneak peek: were you already able to establish the characters’ positions, what each of them wants, and what may unfold?

@Showstopperfilm (2026) is a masterclass in how quickly a short film can establish character, desire, and conflict in less than 20 seconds.

And it does it without a single line of conventional dialogue but an electrifying gibberish opera that jolts us into its feverish world.

The true stars of Showstopper are the two-man production team, young artists and directors, @aminaftali & @smithamsala, who build the film with a candy shop of visual storytelling: dynamic staging, expressive character acting, bold colors, a playful 2D–3D design, and a musical number that threads through every shot of this glamorous yet wildly toony opera showdown.

▶️For filmmakers and animators: study those opening 17 seconds and see how much of these tools you can apply to your own film.
@pressplayhousedaily

390

4

The spotlight is on ⭐️

The official trailer for ShowStopper is finally here!🎶💐

We’re extremely excited to share more of the film as it’s approaching completion- thank you for all of the support so far!

To our Ringling community, make sure to stop by the Best of Ringling showcase to get an early viewing of the film alongside many other incredible films. We’re honored to share the stage! 🎭

#showstopperfilm#shortfilm#animation#film#ringlingcollege

4k

77

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE SHOWSTOPPER TEAM!! ❄️☃️🕎🎁🎄❄️

We hope everyone is having a wonderful time with their families and loved ones.

This is also our FINAL CALL to support our @kickstarter campaign, as there are 24 HOURS left to support the project and collect some of our show-stopping merchandise 🎶❄️ link is in our bio!

Thank you for the incredible support this year, we can’t wait to share ShowStopper with you all next year! 💐🎶

P.S- it’s also both directors’ birthday today! A collaboration that was bound to happen 🎂🥳

#ShowStopper#Christmas#Illustration#holidaycard#showstopperfilm#animatedshort#shortfilm#animation#kickstarter#3Danimation#christmas#hannukah#holidays#happyholidays

3

1

Sharing episode 3 of our series sharing the behind the scenes of ShowStopper with you! 🎼🎶 this time, let’s talk costumes 👗👯‍♀️💐

Consider supporting our Kickstarter to help us reach our stretch goal!
Our goal is to allow us to hire a larger orchestra and submit ShowStopper to more festivals around the world! We’d love your support through the link in our bio, some incredible rewards await you behind the curtain! 🎶🎼

Happy ShowStopper Saturday!! 💐

#ShowStopperSaturday#ShowStopper#ShowStopperFilm#film#animation#3Danimation#ringlingcollege#animstedfilm#shortfilm#shortanimatedfilm#conceptart#cartoons#opera#cartoon#behindthescenes#theater#computeranimation#kickstarter#kickstartercampaign

3

4

This pink lady and green girl have been changed for good.

We are now obsessulated with the new @wickedmovie and wanted to pay a tribute to our own Glinda and Elphaba- Thérèse and Florence! 🫧🧹

Make sure to check out the link in our bio to support ShowStopper, with just 32 days left for the campaign! Every bit of support helps, and we’re extremely grateful for every single one of you. We cannot express our gratitution 🫧

Happy ShowStopper Saturday!

#Wicked#WickedForGood#wickedart#wickedfanart#showstoppersaturday#showstopper#animatedfilm#showstopperfilm#animation#shortfilm#3Danimation#ringlingcollege#characterdesign#Glinda#Elphaba

111

0

Our @kickstarter video is here! 🎉

Head over to the link in our bio to support the film and collect limited edition merchandise, available for pre-orders now! ⭐️

Special thank you to @sarasotaopera for allowing us to film in the building and to @tgalenski4 for being our trustworthy cameraman 🎥

#ShowStopperSaturday

#kickstarter#kickstartervideo#showstopper#showstopperfilm#animatedshortfilm#animation#animatedfilm#shortfilm#3Danimation#computeranimation#ringlingcollege#opera#kickstartercampaign#crowdfunding#

205

35

We wanted to drop in and say Happy Halloween from the ShowStopper team! 💐👻
We decided to dress the girls up and create a crossover that was just bound to happen 🎭

This is also a reminder that our @kickstarter campaign is live NOW in case you wish to support our film and get yourself some merch and signed limited items 💪🏻🌹

#showstopper#showstopperfilm#phantomoftheopera#thephantomoftheopera#animatedfilm#shortfilm#animation#film#opera#conceptart#3Danimation#animatedshortfilm#ringlingcollege#halloween#happyhalloween#cosplay#costume

3

4

The wait is over.

We are so excited to announce that ShowStopper is now officially LIVE on @kickstarter 💐💐🌟 easy access can be found in our stories as well as the link in our bio. Check it out to get a few exclusive glimpses at the film! Limited edition merchandise can also be found within the different tiers of the campaign 👀

Whether you’re able to donate to our film or share our campaign around, every bit of support helps. 🎼

We are so proud of this project, and we can’t wait for you to be a part of it 🎶🌹

Thank you to everyone who supported the film so far, we can’t wait to show you more soon!!

#ShowStopperSaturday

#showstopper#showstopperfilm#animation#3danimation#shortfilm#film#animatedshort#animatedshortfilm#ringlingcollege#opera#conceptart#kickstarter#kickstarterlaunch#kickstarterproject#worldoperaday

162

2

ShowStopper is coming to Lightbox! ✨

We’re so excited to share that co-director @aminaftali is bringing ShowStopper to @lightboxexpo next week! ⭐️

Get an opportunity to pose with our 3D printed figure of Thérèse and hear a bit more about our film during the expo!

And for our next act…
our Kickstarter campaign’s pre-launch page is NOW available on @kickstarter ! You can now find our project on the site and hit the follow button so that you get the notification when the campaign launches in EXACTLY ONE WEEK!! 🎉 link is in our bio and in our stories!

We’re so excited to be one week away from launching our campaign in the middle of one of animation’s biggest conventions (on World Opera Day, too, of all days), and we can’t wait for you to see what we have up our sleeves 💐

#ShowStopperSaturday

#showstopper#showstopperfilm#lightbox#lbx2025#lbx#lightboxexpo#kickstarter#campaign#kickstarteranimation#shortfilm#animatedfilm#animation#short#film#ringlingcollege#opera#conceptart#3Danimation

104

0