American Felt Building

American Felt Building is a surrealist comedy about a first-time unpaid intern trying to survive her first day at Feltaco Industries, the premier American felt manufacturer staffed by living puppets. There she must decide whether her dream of working there is worth the torture she endures.

  • Cole Serpico
    Director
  • Cole Serpico
    Writer
  • Cole Serpico
    Producer
  • Jenny He
    Producer
  • Angie Urrea
    Producer
  • Polina Buchak
    Producer
  • Priya Kiran
    Producer
  • Leanne Gadow
    Key Cast
    "Sage Anderson"
  • Kelsey Nash
    Key Cast
    "Feldspar Von Johnsoft"
  • Stephanie Bacastow
    Key Cast
    "Erin Greene"
  • Violet Morrison
    Production Designer
  • Gretchen Cash
    Production Designer
  • Emmet Luciano
    Cinematographer
  • Nathan Rodriguez
    Editor
  • Project Type:
    Student
  • Genres:
    fantasy, thriller, comedy, satire
  • Completion Date:
    January 31, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    22,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Director Biography - Cole Serpico

Cole Serpico is a New Jersey born, Los Angeles raised filmmaker, who has directed several short films in the surrealist comedy genre. He is constantly looking for new ways to expand the definition of what a comedy film can be and is always looking to challenge himself with his next project. Currently he is in post-production on a Super 8mm feature film, which was shot with only one take per shot (because film stock is expensive!) Outside of film, he is currently taking applications for new hobbies.

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Director Statement

American Felt Building is a dark comedy puppet film I wrote and directed in my final year of film school in order to discover my directorial style. What it ended up becoming was what I consider to be my most complete work, a film that fully realized the deeper ideas I was wrestling with at the time. At its conception, I knew that I wanted to create something tactile and fun; I wanted to go wild in the world of production design and I drew heavily on media from my childhood that featured colorful sets and puppets, like Sesame Street and Barney, as I crafted a Willy Wonka-esque story about a felt company. Simultaneously about to graduate, the slow creeping dread of going out into a world that didn’t care about fostering your personal hopes and dreams weighed heavy on me. What resulted was a marriage of this loss of innocence that comes with that transition into a capitalistic world, with the nostalgic look and feel of children’s media. I have a lot of trouble trying to figure out what genre my film fits into, because at the end of the day it has facets of everything I love about movies: laughs, screams, tangible filmmaking, and yes, puppets. I love it, it’s everything I wanted it to be, and I hope as a viewer you’re able to find something in it to love as well.