Why My Short Film Took 2 Years to be Released

Back in September 2023, I wrote and directed an 8-minute short film called "Echoes of Delusion". It was finally released in August 2025... almost TWO YEARS later in August 2025... 👀 WHY, you may ask? Ooooh, there are sooo many reasons and here are a few!! (The last one is the most important 🥺)

1. I overestimated my post-production skills

I decided that I wanted to edit the film myself because 1) I didn't have a budget for an editor and 2) I didn't know any editor who would do it for free 😅 Plus, I had a YouTube channel back in the day, and I do freelance 2D animation so I know my way around After Effects and Premier Pro.

However, I had never edited an official film before and had to learn A LOT along the way. I don't regret editing the film at all, but it would've definitely helped to have someone edit it for me. Which leads me to my second point:

2. Rookie mistakes

I was so excited to start editing that when my cinematographer, Mihir, passed me all the footage, I started renaming all the files according to their scene & take number to handle them better in the edit... I'm a very organized person, and this made total sense to me at the time...

It wasn't until I had to transfer my final edited file to Mihir for color grading that I realized my big mistake. Nothing was syncing on his side because he only had the original names of the files, which meant we had to either re-edit the whole thing, or sync up the tracks manually... We went with the latter, and I cannot tell you how time-consuming this actually was... I learned my lesson and never again will I change the name of ANY footage 😭

I also switched to editing in Davinci now, and it's made the back and forth of the project files A LOT simpler, so I definitely recommend it.

I see filmmaking as a means to give myself the acting opportunities I want.

3. I focused on my acting career

2024 was a great year for me, acting-wise. I got my first supporting role in a TV show, and filmed two other shows as a day player. Along with that, I went to improv courses and acting workshops, and developed my monologue practice, and all of that is very time-consuming.

I'm an actor first, and I see filmmaking as a means to give myself the acting opportunities I want. (Like in "Echoes", I play the romantic lead 🤷🏻‍♀️). Therefore, throughout 2024, I had to choose if I should focus my energy on acting or filmmaking, and this is a decision I've been having to make a lot lately, and I'm getting better at balancing it.

4. The festival circuit

Once the film was done, around October 2024, I started submitting it to festivals. Some of these festivals had clauses that the films could not be available online or could not have had a public release yet; therefore, we waited.

As more rejection emails from festivals started coming through, I decided to take matters into my own hands and do a private Premiere of the film to celebrate it and give it the star treatment it deserves as my directorial debut film.

Throughout the months, we have seen some traction with "Echoes" being a part of various online small film festivals, and we are waiting to hear back from more submissions we've made, but none of them require the film to not be online, so why not release it to the public now!

My brain was keeping me from finishing the film due to unresolved emotions.

5. Emotional unavailability

And finally, the most difficult of them all... the reason for all the excuses above...

This film is very personal, and as funny and insane as it is, it comes from a place of hurt. I wrote this film to be able to cope with the feelings I was having, and produced it to be able to make art out of my jumbled-up emotions.

Therefore, every time that I would sit to work on this film, it would sub-consciously remind me of everything that inspired this film in the first place, and it's not all good things. My brain was keeping me from finishing the film due to unresolved emotions, which I do see as a form of self-sabotage. However, I think all things work together for good, and the fact that this film is being released now is not a coincidence. It's the end of a chapter film-wise, but also life-wise, cause I'm finally ready to move on.

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After going through ALL👏🏼OF👏🏼THAT👏🏼... I finally managed to get "Echoes" out of my computer and onto the internet, along with a very complete social media release campaign that I'm quite proud of (check out all the Instagram reels 😏).

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has been with me through this process.

Specifically, Mihir Kulkarni, my incredible cinematographer and color grader, who literally sat by me as I tried to make my way through film editing for the first time 🙏🏻

Josh Reid, our sound editor, who had all the patience in the world and did such an incredible job with this film 🔉 This is the one area I never had to worry about!

My friends who have heard me speak about this topic for more than two years now 😆, and the amazing crew that worked on this film with us for their trust and patience. Filmmaking is a collaborative art form, and I'm so grateful to have such incredible collaborators by my side.

As this chapter of "Echoes" comes to a close, I am taking on new projects and new challenges in filmmaking, and I keep the MZC Inner Circle updated weekly about these endeavors. If you would like to stay in the loop, do sign up! ✨

Thanks for reading & I'll speak to you soon 💕

Adri 🫶🏼

Adri Méndez is a Costa Rican actress and filmmaker based in Prague, Czech Republic. With a background in visual arts and design, she tells bold, visually striking stories through Méndez Co. Productions, where she creates both films and commercial work with an eye for detail and heart. Where vision meets excellence.

Adri's work