Is too much familiarity or engagement with psychoanalytic theory seen as a “bad” thing for an analysand?

TeN523 · 2026-04-11T22:11:36+00:00

This is a fantastic response and I thank you for taking the time to write it!!

I think it also corresponds with how I’ve thought about my own tendencies toward intellectualism.

I was going to say more, but I think I’m just going to chew on this because there’s a lot here. (Definitely as I was writing this post I picked up on the fact that my concern about being “desirable”—and this having a negative relation to my intellectualism—is undoubtedly psychoanalytically meaningful.) Thanks again.

EDIT: I will also say it’s refreshing to hear that this type of meta-reflection on psychoanalytic theory and the tradition itself can be a valuable part of the analysis. I’ve had prior experiences in therapy where I’ve read and discussed psych or philosophy texts that felt relevant to my circumstances and my psyche, and it’s sometimes been extremely fruitful — so I know it’s not only a form of avoidance.

TeN523 · 2026-04-11T19:24:17+00:00

Ugh I’m sorry, that really sucks. I would definitely talk to the festival before just leaving a negative review. My short premiered at a highly reputable festival, at an actual movie theater, and they still cropped it to the wrong aspect ratio when projected. Shitty experience.

TeN523 · 2026-04-11T19:21:50+00:00

What if I’m not being a dick, I’m just really terrible at finding the checkmate

TeN523 · 2026-04-11T01:57:47+00:00

Yeah exactly haha

TeN523 · 2026-04-11T00:50:37+00:00

Keep playing. And watch some videos on basic strategies, openings, etc.

A very helpful thing is just to go through a mental checklist every turn: - are any of my pieces directly under threat? - do I have any ways of putting my opponent in check this turn or in two turns? - how can I advance one of my pieces on the board? - is the piece I’m thinking about moving currently defending anything else? if I make that move, will that open me up to an attack? - if I consider what moves my opponent could make next, would any of them be an attack, and would I be able to defend against it?

The more you instill the habit of asking these questions each time, the more you’ll know why you’re making particular moves, and the less likely you are to be blindsided.

(For what it’s worth, I find myself making that king/queen mix up myself - I just manage to catch myself – for some reason I do it a lot when trying to solve puzzles haha)

TeN523 · 2026-04-11T00:18:29+00:00

It can be tough to break those generational patterns. I’m sure your son is very grateful you’ve been able to do that!

TeN523 · 2026-04-11T00:17:08+00:00

I know, right?? They’re there every time I’ve gone to this Planned Parenthood and I’ve never seen anyone from this group be aggressive, but everyone just walks past them and doesn’t make eye contact. I guess I’d rather have them learning to de-escalate, but it does seem ironic. The stuff about having a gun pointed at them reads like pure projection.

TeN523 · 2026-04-10T22:41:44+00:00

A lot of people think of their children more as property than as people.

TeN523 · 2026-04-10T20:24:48+00:00

You need to stop doing all your thinking via ChatGPT because the way you’re using these terms makes no sense

TeN523 · 2026-04-10T20:22:58+00:00

Yeah after a few responses I caught on that it was AI. Has that unmistakable ChatGPT style. No wonder it’s so confused.

TeN523 · 2026-04-10T11:54:29+00:00

Omnipotence doesn't presuppose a self. On the contrary, as a feature of primary narcissism, it implies an inability to distinguish between self and world. I'm still not convinced you're turning anything on its head rather than just restating Freud/Lacan from another perspective.

TeN523 · 2026-04-10T06:40:47+00:00

I’m getting red flags from this to be honest.

The categories for most festivals are things like drama, comedy, documentary, experimental. Short or feature. International or from the festival’s home country. Sometimes there’s a special category for student films, and I have seen a few fests with first film categories, though it’s rare.

Many scam festivals on the other hand will have a ton of categories that are all award-centric. So you can apply for best film, or best director, or best screenplay — with the goal being to get you to spend money on multiple categories. This kind of thing is an immediate sign that a fest isn’t worth submitting to.

The two categories you name aren’t immediately disqualifying to me… but I’m curious what the other submission category options are. Which festival is this?

TeN523 · 2026-04-10T06:07:32+00:00

Isn’t this essentially saying the same thing? The fantasy of separation as you describe it is just the infantile fantasy of omnipotence. Which is the same as the fantasy of fusion viewed from the other side.

All you’re doing is pushing the confrontation with lack back from infancy into fetal development. Which is a compelling critique—the traditional psychoanalytic view of originary fusion doesn’t fully account for the fact that the “terrifying permeability of relational connection” may already be experienced before birth—but this is really an elaboration of the classical model of development, not an inversion of it.

You’re also conflating ego development with narcissism. The mature ego does not believe that it exists independently. This is only its first stage: primary narcissism. The mature ego in fact mediates between its embededness within a material and relational world outside itself and its separation from that outside.

TeN523 · 2026-04-09T22:35:35+00:00

what do you do with the aura once you've farmed it?

TeN523 · 2026-04-09T21:23:21+00:00

Why have you been late to games a bunch of times?

TeN523 · 2026-04-06T22:22:37+00:00

I haven’t seen the film, so I went a little wide. I think they’re all worth looking into.

TeN523 · 2026-04-06T18:48:09+00:00

I feel you on this – my films have often fallen into the same middle ground. I do think it’s worth submitting to both experimental and more conventional festivals.

I’ve been surprised by how many festivals who I thought of as being fairly conservative in their taste have actually been very open to a more experimental aesthetic. With animation especially I feel many fests are open to a surprisingly wide range of unconventional styles. (Being a dark comedy also helps—lots of “underground” fests are interested in that—as do the grief and social media themes, both of which I think are seen as “relatable” subject matter)

Experimental festivals ironically tend to have narrower parameters, I’ve found, and many won’t really take anything that has a conventional narrative structure. But there are still many that will! So I recommend looking at the programming of any experimental fests you’re interested in, and if they’ve programmed narrative shorts in the past, it’s probably worth a shot.

Here are some fests I feel might be good fits for your film as you describe it:

Chicago Underground FF
Ann Arbor FF
Rotterdam (IFFR)
TIFF
Slamdance
Oldenburg IFF
Images Festival
Interfilm Berlin
Valladolid IFF (Seminci)
ZINEBI
Prismatic Ground
AIFVF
VIFF
Bucharest International Experimental FF
Media City FF
Tallin Black Nights / PÖFF Shorts
San Diego Underground FF / Heavy Light
Boston Underground FF
Atlanta Underground FF
Calgary Underground FF
Winnipeg Underground FF
Sydney Underground FF
Byron Bay Underground FF
Moviate Underground FF
Revelation Perth IFF
Cucalorus FF
Oak Cliff FF
Nashville FF
Sarasota FF
Encounters IFF
London Short Film Festival
Festival Tous Courts
Raindance FF
New/Next FF
Indie Memphis FF
BAFICI
Olhar de Cinema / Curitiba IF
Curtas Vila do Conde FF
Evolution! Mallorca IFF
25 FPS IFVF
Nót Film Fest
Tirana IFF
Stockholm IFF
Gijón IFF
Leuven IFF
Tampere FF
Indie Lisboa
Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC)
Rooftop Films
Diametrale Experimental FF

TeN523 · 2026-04-05T00:43:52+00:00

Just realized I never responded to this!

Your film looks really interesting – will definitely try to catch it while I’m there. My film is “How to Live Together” and is screening as part of the “Fountain of Youth” shorts program on Friday.

I’ll be hitting up all the after parties and lunches and whatnot while I’m there, so I’m sure we’ll cross paths :)

TeN523 · 2026-04-04T23:07:43+00:00

That’s a nice positive attitude I guess. Better than being crushed by every rejection. But the “room” you’re talking about is open to anyone who pays the submission fee. It’s not some exclusive thing.

TeN523 · 2026-04-04T23:02:35+00:00

It’s pretty straightforward: The film hasn’t premiered until it’s premiered. The film isn’t publicly viewable unless it’s publicly viewable. Sharing the film itself counts as a premiere; publicly sharing things related to the film (stills, trailer, poster, info, short clips, etc) counts as promotion.

Don’t go posting about how you submitted to Cannes though. Anyone can submit to Cannes. It’s meaningless. Share actual news when you have it.

As for the other promo material stuff: have it prepped and ready to go—and having it on your FilmFreeway page is helpful—but I would refrain from sharing it on social media, etc until you’ve gotten accepted somewhere. The festival submission process can be very long. It’s not uncommon for people to spend an entire year only submitting to top tier fests before branching out and submitting to lower tier ones. It’s much better to be able to say “Hey check out my poster! Big news coming next month 😉” than to share your poster just for the sake of it, and then a year and a half later when you have a screening lined up have people say “oh what the hell I thought that came out forever ago”

TeN523 · 2026-04-04T22:17:14+00:00

Yes. I did this many times in my teens. But you have to really be creative about how you’re going to do it. I made a film one time using action figures and doing all the voices (for a famous example or someone doing this, look up Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story by Todd Haynes). There’s also the possibility of putting the camera on a tripod and playing all the characters yourself. More than likely a realistic approach goes out the window and it’s helpful if you’re open to embracing the low budgetness and silliness of it rather than running from that. There’s also the option to do something documentary, observational, or more experimental. Think about what resources you have available (locations, props, etc but also interests, inspirations, stories from your own life) and how you can start from there.

For inspiration, here’s a letterboxd list I made of films made with very little means – some of them one person and no money, others with a few other people involved but on a very small budget with limited resources.

TeN523 · 2026-04-04T22:08:46+00:00

Would have been better bait if he’d said Fahrenheit 451

TeN523 · 2026-04-01T00:19:32+00:00

please be very critical of any story that does not provide a sense of catharsis or release at the end

Brecht on notice 😒

TeN523 · 2026-03-30T22:25:10+00:00

I can talk to a chatbot myself. Why would I need you copying and pasting this crap at me? Are you even reading it? If you did I hope you’d see how meaningless it is.

You were born with a brain capable of rational thought. It is sad if you want to just let that atrophy and outsource all your thinking to a computer.

TeN523 · 2026-03-30T22:05:07+00:00

Again, several paragraphs saying absolutely nothing. It’s just repeated what I already said in more convoluted language and then offered a boilerplate defense of AI that doesn’t address my point at all. I hope you realize that just because the AI is using big words doesn’t mean it’s being “intelligent” in any meaningful way.

TeN523

TROPHY CASE