Silver Screamers (2025)

Mike: I wanna know more about you, Sean. Tell me kind of your history of filmmaking, because you've been doing this for a while now.

Sean Cisterna: Yeah. My first gig out of university there was a kids show filming on campus, and it was a PBS kids show, and they put postings up all over the film department for students to work on this production. I ripped down all the postings so nobody else could get the job, so I cheated my way into the industry. But the producer who worked on that kids show for PBS went on to produce a couple of Netflix movies and brought me on as a director. So I worked on a movie called Kiss and Cry. It was a Netflix romantic drama. Did a movie called Full Out with Jennifer Beals. It was a g-gymnastics movie that ended up being pretty popular.

And yeah, I just saw I've had a wild and varied career. Then we went to Italy and did a movie with Joe Pantoliano from The Sopranos, and that was a movie called From the Vine that Samuel Goldwyn Films picked up. So it's been a diverse sort of slate of different working across different genres and yeah, all the way up to Silver Screamers, which is my latest project.

Mike: Yeah, I was kinda surprised to see some of these titles on here that They kinda… I'm getting like a Hallmark Channel vibe from some of them. Is that, where some of these are showing?

Sean Cisterna: Yeah we, I live in work in Canada, and we, the, a lot of those projects come up here, and that's kinda like our bread and butter as filmmakers. We get to practice the craft of working on narrative projects with larger crews and cause tho- those are the networks that have the infrastructure to shoot here in our on our side of the border. And they're fun projects to work on. I wouldn't say it's my passion necessarily, but it's definitely a great way to make a living and yeah and practice the art of filmmaking.

Mike: Yeah no shade on any of that stuff. I kinda love those movies, and I now need to see Daddy's Little Secret and Little Girl in the Window.

Sean Cisterna: Yeah, those actually are pretty darn good, yeah. The titles m- might need a rethink. I… They always send us the scripts with different titles that sound amazing, and then for some reason, someone along the way re- re-changed the names to those movies to make it sound like Okay, I know what I'm gonna get when I turn this on." But I like a little more nuance in my titles, but no it's all fine.

Mike: I wasn't sure exactly what Silver Screamers was going to be when I was approached to watch the movie. I was "Oh shit, here's a horror movie with a bunch of old people. What kind of gimmick is this?" And then it ends up being one of the most delightful films I've seen in probably years now. I had such a great time with it.

Sean Cisterna: You must have a big heart yourself then, Mike, 'cause yeah, it tends to attract those type of people. You know what? The strange thing is, when w- I went to, we premiered this movie at Fantastic Fest last year, and I was so nervous in the audience 'cause I thought, "Here comes a crowd that's loves genre, loves blood, loves gore," and I'm presenting my documentary about s- a group of seniors m- coming together to make their own horror movie, and they just, they fell in love with it as well. I should have put my fears aside. The genre community has such a big heart themselves, that, that's kind of what I loved about it.

Mike: It just it's so nice that you don't put yourself at the center of this either, that you are there, you're present, and you feel you through this whole thing. But it is so focused on the people that are making this movie. It's wonderful in that way.

Sean Cisterna: Yeah. I'm camera shy myself, so I try to cut myself out as much as possible and let protagonists, take over. They were definitely the heart of the production yeah, watching them fail and succeed and fail again and succeed again is, you know, the rollercoaster of any good, narrative movie, only this happens to be in documentary. But we tried to stick to that sort of storytelling format and yeah just watching our seniors kinda struggle as they learn to use cameras and lighting and fake blood and fog machines, all that sort of stuff. It's a really, It's a, like a blueprint if anyone who's interested in making films.

This is a movie that kinda shows you the step-by-step process, only our protagonists hap- happen to be in their 70s, 80s and 90s I.

Mike: Where did the idea come from?

Sean Cisterna: Was looking for money for a horror project. I wanted to make this short horror film called The Rug, and kept getting rejected by all the film funders. It's kinda like the story of every filmmaker. We apply for funding, and if we don't get it, then the project either dies or you try to find some other creative solution to make your film. And at s- at some point, I got a letter in my mailbox s- from a local government official saying, if you're interested, apply for the New Horizons for Seniors program," which is a fund meant to get seniors in the community off their couches and doing something unique or active in the community. It could be hosting a bingo night or a quilting club.

Only I just took those failed horror film applications and spun it into a more of a filmmaking workshop for older adults. And it was those funds that we procured from this fund that we made our horror movie with. So it was a backhanded way getting g- getting the funded, funding I needed to make the movie. Just the only caveat was my crew had to be from the retirement community.

Mike: That's fantastic though. And it's so smart that you were able to spin this in such a way that you were able to get these people off their couches or out of their retirement homes, and having them feel like really valuable members of the community, and actually having either skills that they had when they were kids or young people. And then also just teaching folks new things and the pride of work that comes with that is amazing.

Sean Cisterna: That's one thing we definitely found, yes. When you entrust someone who may not have worked on a film before, and this is whether it's in their… If people are just kinda starting out, newcomers in, into the film world. But when you give them the responsibility and they have to show up on shooting day and make sure they're in the case of David, who's our special effects guy, if the… He had to make this rug kind of come to life through some creative way, and he devised this marionette system where he could move the rug to s- stand up and sit and crawl.

To see the pride on his face as he kinda made it come to life was inspiring for the rest of us as well.

Mike: One of my favorite things in movies is the bringing the team together type of montage, and you have that. You've got that, the whole beginning part where you've got people reading off that Hey, come out and join this film," all these things. I love that, and then the very hesitant hand raise here in the back. It's so wonderful. Did you literally get all of your people through that type of outreach?

Sean Cisterna: It did, yes. I feel like I went to 12 or 13 different retirement communities and senior centers and church groups even. I just went everywhere looking for seniors for this project, and I got a lot of blank stares. It was like very much like pulling teeth. Nobody wanted to participate in this project, and it wasn't until this one 96-year-old raised her hand and said, I'm-- I'll do this." I-- she didn't have a lot of family nearby or any friends at her retirement community, so this was an opportunity to be the first to say yes to the project. And from there once someone signed on, like it gave confidence for the other seniors to come on board and participate in the production.

Mike: When they just I, how can I best put this? You need a special part of your personality to be able to volunteer for things, and to put yourself into a situation where you just don't know exactly what's gonna happen. But did they share other qualities other than that one particular spark?

Sean Cisterna: The qualities they share? These were The individuals that said yes were I guess kind of all lacking, I guess, in something in their life. Maybe they had lost somebody recently or were dealing with some sort of ailment that kept them at home longer than they would have normally liked. And, so I guess they just jumped on the opportunity to participate in something as a community. Nobody knew each other beforehand. Maybe one or two of the seniors kind of knew each other. For them to, you know, just get outside of their comfort zone and dive, wholeheartedly into horror filmmaking it was just a story that they wanted for themselves.

Mike: And so many people that were "No, I don't like horror movies," but yet they're making one.

Sean Cisterna: Yes. A lot of our seniors did not like the genre, of course. They wanted to do something in the ro- more the romantic side or even a Western. But the thing about genre, about horror is that we were able to expose them to something that they would definitely otherwise say no to. So this was, forced an experience on them that they wouldn't have normally get, and that's what I kinda loved about the project. It got them outside of their comfort zone and getting to tell a visual story through the cinematic medium and use all the tools and tricks to go along with it and use visual storytelling to convey something spooky.

Mike: Touch with hundreds of filmmakers, and it's very rare that I talk with somebody who goes, "Oh, yeah, everything went fine. We had funding. We had no problems on set. Everyone got along." you are playing with fire with this where you've got pressure of filmmaking, having a crew that's very inexperienced, and probably some very set-in-their-ways personalities. What were some of the biggest challenges you had doing this movie?

Sean Cisterna: I would say the biggest challenge is like the disbelief from the outside world. Our insurance provider denied coverage. We weren't able to rent equipment because they were concerned that someone in their 80s shouldn't be operating a camera or carrying lights, that sort of thing. At some point we had to cave and say, "Okay, we'll bring on some younger bodies to help carry the heavy equipment up the stairs," which is fine. I totally understand from the insurer's point of view. And but it was that initial pushback from the insurers we were forced to bring on some younger bodies, but then it kinda became this kind of intergenerational tale where the younger crew members who had more experience were teaching our senior protagonists.

But our seniors were also teaching our younger filmmakers how they would tackle problems. And to see both generations kinda learning from each other and that was pretty inspiring. You never, you n- you don't realize how set you are in filmmaking in a certain way set in your mind in a certain way of filmmaking until these people with much more lived experience kind of tackle problems in a unique and different way.

Mike: That must have been really inspirational to see.

Sean Cisterna: Yeah, it was definitely unique. Like I, our production obviously took a little longer because we were training our seniors as we were going along and making them feel comfortable with the, you know, the lighting and the equipment and the special effects and the makeup. You know, that was the rewarding part about the project as well. We were able to share and kind of learn from each other.

Mike: A lot of these folks, it seemed like they just took to things like fish to water when it came to e- especially I would say, and I could be completely wrong, but Sonny, the camera operator, just felt like he just clicked with this whole thing.

Sean Cisterna: Absolutely. Yeah, he's grown up with cameras his whole life. Prosumer cameras, of course. He started out in this Super 8, then 16 millimeter, then Hi-8, and Digital 8, all these different mediums that he would pick up at his local, hobby store or electronics store. But he's never had the chance to work with a, an Alexa camera, like the cream of the crop in cinematic storytelling, and these interchangeable lenses. So he was just fascinated by what we could pull off with just the, you know, the grip and electric gear, and then the camera gear and lenses, and it was all just, a visual dream come true for this person who's loved film his whole life.

Mike: And how did the rug itself, not the actual laying on the floor rug, but the story of the rug, how did that change as you were making this movie?

Sean Cisterna: Oh, that's a good question. I think, I'd say the story itself when you read the, you know, the sch- it's part of an anthology by a horror writer named, Edo van Belkom. So Edo wrote a chilling horror story that has, a lot of you darkness and drama and horrific elements to it. But I think just by the nature of these, seniors that came on board to make the film, somehow I guess through our writing sessions, and just the overall tone vibe of the people in the room making the film, it became a little bit more, I don't know, there was more heart to it for some reason.

And it's strange to say that there's heart in a horror movie, I think it just kind of bleeds on screen, like when the creators of the short are in their 80s and 90s you have a lot of heart and warmth to give, and I think that's what they brought into the making of the Horror movie. So yeah, that's how I'd say it changed. You know, it's still gives the chills. The Rug online. You can watch it on YouTube now. It's kind of like a companion piece to Silver Screamers, and, our hope is that if you find that one online it'll lead you to the documentary and kinda learn more, so you can Kinda judge for yourself.

And when we screen at different film festivals around the world we'll often play The Rug first and then the documentary so people can, experience both.

Mike: I was wondering because it reminded me of when I, saw American movie the first time and they showed Coven right afterwards and I was "Oh, this is really nice to be able to see the kind of the making of," and then the short film right afterwards. It's interesting you doing it before, but it's nice that you're using these companion pieces.

Sean Cisterna: Yeah, I think so. I think any sort of, unique opportunity to draw attention to e- each other is a good thing. Yeah, if we have to make one available, for free online that a- anybody can watch, that helps, discover the documentary, then that's, it seems to be, a marketing tactic that kinda works. So, kudos to our distributor who suggested that top, that release strategy.

Mike: When did you actually shoot this?

Sean Cisterna: This was filmed in, 2024. We made The Rug, and then yeah, we were we, basically chronicled the activities of our seniors over the course of that year as they learned filmmaking. And, we did it on a delayed schedule, so we basically got together once a month and did something to push forward the production or post-production of the, their horror film. And, yeah, so it was basically a year-long project that wrapped in about March or April 2025, and then we were doing the festival circuit that September. Yeah. And now it's a year later from our festival run and, we'll start to be, released across the US starting in a couple months.

Mike: The screening that's part of the movie itself, is that the first time that they all get to see The Rug together?

Sean Cisterna: It was yes. So they were-- They just wanted somebody to come and Support their work. They were nervous that nobody would show up, and then, somehow word spread in the community where we shot this thing and, yeah they sold out The venue. And it was, remarkable. They were all kinda teary-eyed that day and just marveled that people showed up and wanted to check out their film. They thought it would just be, close family and friends, but, no, the entire community came out and supported them.

Mike: That's amazing. Yeah. It- when somebody is "Oh, 20 people will be out there," and when you cut that nice hard cut to the audience, it's wow, this is terrific. And that's exactly what I was hoping for, so thank you. When do they get to see Silver Screamers for the first time?

Sean Cisterna: We, Had our, So I live just north of Toronto, so we're close to there. So they all came to the Toronto After Dark, festival last, October and as a group and watched it for the first time, with, a group of about 400 other audience members. It was a sold-out screening. And, yeah, that's when they got to see the, hard work kinda pay off, that they're from. So, thankfully, yeah, the audience, gave them a wonderful standing ovation and they, yeah, have, had a very long Q&A session afterwards.

And now they all think they're major stars because they star in a documentary and they s- they sign autographs now, so it's wonderful to see their personalities just shine on these, red carpets that we take them to, and yeah, that's, really heartwarming to see.

Mike: Oh, I love it. I can't remember the name of the gentleman who's got the glasses, but it just seems like he would eat that up with a spoon.

Sean Cisterna: Yeah absolutely. Yes, there's, Anthony, he's like the rock star guy, and, yeah, and David, our special effects guy. So they're all just wacky, wonderful characters, and I think they all have the filmmaking bug now. They're bugging me for a sequel, which is good. I think our next plan is to make an action movie, stick around in a couple of years and you'll see, a vengeance for blood and adventure and jumping out of airplanes, that sort of thing.

Mike: I've already got the title for you, Never Too Old to Die.

Sean Cisterna: There you g- oh my God. I'm trying to think of a great title. Mike, you just came up with the, a winning one, so when you see that on a poster, know it's because of you.

Mike: All right, fantastic. Thank you. So are you done with your festival run for this one?

Sean Cisterna: We are, yes. I, yeah, we've been to like Australia, Mumbai, all over Canada and the US, all over Europe. So it'll be nice to actually hit some cinemas coming up with our, distributor, Antenna Releasing. We'll put the film out in theaters in the US in starting in November. We're also opening the Gerontology Society of America's annual conference in Washington in a couple of months, so we'll be able to debut this film to the gerontology community, people that work with seniors and do programming for seniors. And, I'll be there presenting the film and, doing some filmmaking workshops for older Adults as well.

Every time I get to go to a new city I'll try to, book a local library and offer a free filmmaking workshop for older adults, and they get to learn how to use cameras and lighting and basically use the cinema as a way to tell their stories visually rather than through, written word or whatnot, any other… I think cinema has its own unique art form, and its own way of tackling, narrative, through ima- imagery.

Mike: I think 20 years ago, would you have ever thought you were going to be in that type of position?

Sean Cisterna: No, and that's the beautiful thing about the film industry is it takes you on this, amazing rollercoaster of life experiences. And a previous film I did was centered around, gymnastics, so I was doing all these gymnastics traveling around the country with different gymnastics clubs. So we did a horse-based movie, and that took me to these equestrian clubs from, North America through to South America, and, ended up going to Brazil and shoot, presenting our film at a Rodeo. So it's, Film takes you to these bizarre places de- depending on the theme of, in which you're working. But, it's never been a more rewarding experience working with seniors.

And I think that, if I have to convey one message, that I wanted to with the film is that imagination doesn't retire and creativity doesn't expire. So that's the, that's like the message of the film.

Mike: I don't even know where you would find time to Even put this one together. You had, I think, six movies come out in 2025. That's insane.

Sean Cisterna: Oh no, some of them are like television projects that I have kind of nothing to do with. I'll be a director for hire and then someone else takes over. So I'll do my, whatever, two weeks, 14 days of shooting, and then it goes to an editor, and sometimes I won't even get to, see the final Product sort of thing. It's only the rare ones that I get to do for myself every, few years are the ones that I, have a little bit more control and say of, and I want to shepherd into the world un- under, some guidance and 'cause I feel m- most passionate about those projects.

Mike: Oh, that's fantastic. It's kind of that Soderbergh model, one for me type of thing.

Sean Cisterna: That's essentially it. Not to say that I don't love, every project I work on. There's something I do. There's a quality about them that I, well, I choose to work on the project because of. But, it's the- these rare projects that, I really love and, want to travel with and share our story, to audiences where we can in theatrical settings and community settings and virtual screenings. You know, the AARP, saw the film as well, and they're gonna do a virtual watch party for us in a few weeks. And that goes to whatever, six million Americans who have, signed up with the AARP.

The, And they're gonna get to see an early cut of the, early screening of the film before it's, released to the public as well.

Mike: Oh, that's fantastic. I'm so glad that you are getting this kind of recognition because the movie just deserves all the credit and all the praise that people can throw at it.

Sean Cisterna: Oh thank you very much. Yeah, it's I think everybody has an older adult in their life, whether it be a parent or a grandparent, and there's so much, wisdom and curiosity there at the same Time so that it's, I think ev- everybody can relate to this film.

Mike: You talked a little bit about what's next for the movie, but what's next for you?

Sean Cisterna: Oh, yeah, like I said, I'll be like touring the US over the next few months and, I'm so excited to be able to do these workshops and talk about the film at different universities across the country as well. So, you know, I've been booked in Minnesota in a couple of, months to go present the film there. And there's all these things called these age-friendly universities. So they're allowing seniors to come into universities and study with younger students. So there's a certain designation a university might have or a college that is age-friendly, and we're touring those campuses, with our film and so to have those conversations with, Americans across the country is something I'm really looking Forward to.

Mike: If you come down here to Wayne State or University of Michigan or anything, just give me a call 'cause I'd love to see this with an audience and I would love to, buy you a drink.

Sean Cisterna: Absolutely. I can't wait, Mike. Thank you very much for the offer and, I'll take you up on it for sure.

Mike: Sean, is there a good place for people to keep up with you and with Silver Screamers?

Sean Cisterna: Sure. We're, pretty active on our Instagram account. It's just @silverscreamersdoc. Same with Facebook. And, if you wanna follow me I'm happy to take any, answer any questions from anybody out there. So it's just my name @seancisterna. And that's on Instagram or Facebook, whatever method you Choose.