Meet our Family of Merry Misfits

Montetré is the founder of LoGoat Pictures, and is quite thrilled to be working to help create CHRISTMAS FREAK, of which he is both the director of photography, and editor! His use of the camera, and his editing techniques derive from a desire to bridge new-age tech with old-school filmmaking. Over the course of his career he has accomplished producing, directing and editing seven of his own feature films. Most of his past and present work can be found at his website. Follow him on social media at LoGoat Pictures.

Pheonix made sure that every inch of the sets told us about the people who occupied the location, the stories of their lives, and the things that they loved. At Rudy's house, from the graham cracker walls, to the popcorn laced paneling, to the red-nosed house! Every chachki, every strand of tinsel, every candycane was carefully selected and placed so that each moment of film unlocked Rudy's imperfect world. She also did hair, make-up and wardrobe!

Check out her website to get a glimpse of her artistry!

Michael Gibson is a production sound mixer in the Portland Metro area. Michael has been working on movies, film, tv, and media since 2018, but has been a lover of movies and cinema since he was a child growing up in Los Angeles. Michael loves nothing more than being on set, working with the Indie film community, and meeting new people to collaborate with.

Molly Wilson is often known as a Swiss Army knife on sets. She has experience in everything from special effects, to directing, to production design. After spending several years studying music, theatre and film, Molly has found her love for film triumphs above all of the arts. As a citizen of the Island of Misfit Toys, she is excited to have been able to contribute to bringing Rudy’s story to life.

Of the many of Perry's responsibilities, getting the call sheet out wasn't a picnic since the call sheet changed by the minute because of delays and inclement weather! He communicated with all the extras, actors, supporting characters - including being Taco/Prancer's wrangler. Not gonna lie, Taco was a diva. Very needy. He shared his expertise and displayed the courage and humility to allow others to share theirs. Check out his website.

Jesse is a filmmaker and actor from Portland, Oregon. He works on editing and producing content out of Desert Island Studio. Currently working with a comedy show called Kickin' It to make videos such as the Jake On The Streets series. He also co-created an obscure food show with Ethan Dutcher. What The Food tries to rid people of their "ick" factor by making repulsive ingredients approachable.

Check it out on youtube!

I (Ashley) was originally hired onto the production as talent for the role of Molly. When I heard that additional help was needed, I jumped on it as I knew that cool people would be on the production.I have always been into theatrics and cameras, so it’s no surprise that I’m here helping out on this film.

IG Photog - @dogeye_ventures | FB Photog -@DogeyeVentures | Website for Vortex Music photos

This was the first film set Matthew had ever worked on! He got an all-hands-on-deck experience learning about everything that goes into making a low budget feature film, and we got a hardworking, caring and earnest team member and new friend! Win-Win! We hope we didn't scare him away, and he learned more do's than don'ts!

Filmmakers live for storytelling. There are so many stories that emerge when making a film beyond the actual story they are telling in the film. Sophie filmed behind the scenes stories of the work that this amazing crew did to build Rudy's perfectly imperfect world and is making a film of the making of the film. Yay, Sophie! #weareallpartofthestory

In 2001, Gemma was a professional jazz singer and actress and was supposed to be in the World Trade Center when the planes hit. Instead, she called in sick. In response, she wrote We Rise a new peace anthem, left her life, gave away all her belongings, released her rent controlled NYC apartment, and began traveling around the world to mobilize a Million Voice Choir to sing it. This was her first foray into filmmaking, when she produced a music video of We Rise featuring peace warriors she met from around the globe who participated - including Jane Goodall, Archbishop Desmund Tutu, Pete Seeger and other amazing people In the 100 cities in 60 countries that joined the movement. Over the next 10 years, she started clean water projects in Asia and Africa after winning the CG Vibes Award from Queen Latifah and CoverGirl for Women Changing the World Through Music. Her work has provided clean water to over a million people in Asia and Africa - and has won international awards at the World Economic Forum, Silicon Valley's Tech Awards and at the United Nations. She dived deeper into filmmaking when she started producing short films capturing her work in Africa. Her personal mantra, 'it takes a single drop of water to start a wave' is her invitation to everyone to recognize how powerful they are. To realize that their every thought, word and action will ripple out and affect those around them. And invite them to use their power for good.

You can learn more at her website gemmabulos.com

Above are just a the few of the roles Sean played during the shoot. In addition to writing and directing Xmas Freak, Sean also co-wrote the music and sang with his musical partner Gemma Bulos as The New Carpenters. A prolific writer, Sean wrote the lyrics for all 6 of the songs on the XF soundtrack and co-wrote the music for 4 of them.

As Taco's daddy, he was also Taco's trainer and handler. Although animals were not harmed in the making of this film, we have some suspicions that maybe Sean was! The magnitude of the information he was tracking, executing, delegating, repeating and reworking would make jack in the box’s head spin. That, along with taking care of the cast and crew to help them unleash their talents in ways they never even imagined they could was a monumental task and he did it with utmost patience, class and reverence.

In film, directors are usually referred to as the captain of the ship. This is not the right metaphor with Sean. In Sean’s case, he is the rising tide that lifts all boats. Every single one of us who was part of this production came out of this experience inspired and uplifted, and Sean was and still is, our ocean. And the best part, we’ve got a damn good movie! Your next favorite holiday movie to be precise!

Read more about Sean and his award-winning films in the 'Director's Notes'.

Jordan gained commercial success with the band, My Brothers And I, in 2014 by being the co-writer and guitarist. Since then the band has landed dozens of sync placements which include: Starbucks Coffee-House Pop playlist, ABC’s Pretty Little Liars, CBS’s God Friended Me and Oprah Winfrey’s Network, Queen Sugar. Jordan released his own instrumental EP, I Wish I Was, in 2020 as well as being apart of a Portland collaboration, SEWN, that focuses on writing music for licensing with Marmoset.

Jordan’s passion for composing to visuals has taken hold the past few years and sparked a new path with music for him. He loves to help carry the emotion and tell a story with music being written to visuals. His ultimate dream would be composing for feature films by writing music that draws inspiration from big orchestral pieces to delicate guitar driven soundscapes. You can hear his work here.

With animations constructed through Super 8mm, 16mm, and digital photographs, Ben's hand-processed films honor the traditions of experimental and underground cinema while continually seeking to create something new. Ben works in the traditions of experimental and underground cinema. A co-founder of the Portland microcinema Grand Detour and Experimental Film Festival Portland, Popp's short films, include: Omar (2000); Dance of the Deviant (2008), featuring his first use of hand-processed black-and-white animation; Sexy Noir (2009), a collaboration of his animation combined with live elements by Kenny Reed; the live-action Devour (2009); Laszlo Lassu (2011), a sweet music film for the band A Hawk and a Hacksaw, about lovers separated by the recesses of space (selected by the Ann Arbor and Northwest Filmmakers’ Festivals); and A Thauama-Tale (2014), which uses digital stills to create animation. View his work here.

Gemma Bulos and Sean Brown, both from Southern California, met while attending university in San Diego. At a vocal recital, Sean heard Gemma solo sing 'Pieces of Dreams' and then back ups during a performance of the 80's smash hit "Take On Me" and knew immediately Gemma was an amazing talent. The two became fast friends and flatmates. G&S began singing together as The New Carpenters in LA in 1987. Christened "The New Carpenters" by underground filmmaker Greg Araki because of the smooth yacht rock sounds the duo produced - they're still not sure if that was a compliment - G&S took LA by storm performing 3 shows before retiring in 1988 when Gemma went solo and moved to NYC. After more than 30 years, G&S are thrilled to reunite on this fun, eclectic grouping of Chirstmas songs for the Christmas Freak soundtrack. Ranging from the zany "Xmas Is The Very Best Day" to the beautiful jazz ballad "Cool Xmas" (listen here), G&S bring these magical soon-to-be Xmas classics to life in a collection you and your family will treasure.

David Snider is a Music Producing, Multi-instrumentalist phenomenon in the mold of Prince, Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix. He has written and produced songs and records in all genres (Pop, R+B, Funk, Hip-Hop, Blues, Jazz Fusion, Reggae, Ska, Smooth Jazz, Country and Soundtracks) for the last 45 years. He has toured the world with many great artists, bands and musicians in every major venue in the world.

David is a Songwriter, Composer, Producer, Arranger and California/New York based musician that has performed on guitars, bass, and keyboards with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Pat Benatar, Kid Rock, Janice Ian, Dave Mason, Dusty Springfield, Pharaoh Saunders, Johnny Johnson, Solomon Burke, Alex Blake, Sally Van Meter and many, many more! He's worked on award-winning TV shows, films, commercials and the like.

He records and produces records in New York, LA and Boulder, Colorado, or your hometown! David Is so amazing, he arranged and played 90% of the music you hear on Xmas Freak and virtually with Gemma since June on Facetime and Zoom! They have yet to meet in person! Learn more about David here.

Gregg Williams has over 25 years of experience in the music industry working as a studio and live drummer, engineer, programmer, producer and mixer. In October 2013, he was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame where, during the induction, it was revealed that he had played on, engineered, produced and or mixed over 250 albums. He worked with Sheryl Crow,

Emmylou Harris, Blitzen Trapper, Pete Droge, The Dandy Warhols, Anya Marina, Quarterflash, Jeff Trott, Nu Shooz, Heartless Bastards, The Decemberists, China Forbes (Pink Martini), Ashleigh Flynn, Oh Darling, Don Dilego, Jessie Malin, Bree Sharp, Eux Autres, Jerry Joseph and The Jack Mormons, Eric Mathews, Uhf, The Bella Faye, to name a few.

He has created innumerable original music compositions for commercial video, television, film and radio including clients such as: Nike, Intel, Sony Playstation, Pacific Power, Bombardier, Seadoo, Evinrude, Yoplait Yogurt. Bissel, Freightliner, Hewlett-Packard, Nautilus, Bowflex, Select Comfort, Sprint, Sunmilk, Phillips, Nintendo, Skechers, Oregon Lottery, Fred Meyer, Big Town Hero, and many many more…

Learn more on his website.