FEFE URRESTI
ROLES
Executive Production; Story; Soundtrack; Editorial; 3D Modeling, Layout, Lighting, and Render; Animation; VFX; Sound Design and Mixing
ABOUT
Short 2D animation thesis film. After witnessing the murder of a famous actress, Mateus Santos, a young intern, has the chance of a life time to join the renowned journalist Miriam Matos in her investigation. Together, they question the three suspects of the case, analyzing their statements to find the truth.
PERIOD
August 2023 - December 2024. Released in April 2026
GENRE
Mystery, comedy
Color - Digital - 13min
SOCIAL
Press kit
Final Act was our thesis short film of Film and Animation major at FAAP. The project was conceived with the purpose of exploring a myriad of techniques and visual languages, and the story became a reflection of the period the direction team found themselves in life, young adults entering the labor market.
Heavily inspired by Rashomon (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1950), we decided to tell a murder mystery in which the investigation advances through the subjective accounts of the suspects. Each flashback pays homage to different animation styles (experimental techniques with watercolor, cut-out, and limited animation), combining with each of the characters that tell their version of the facts. As for the method, we mixed rigged with full animation, making great use of heads with master controllers.
This was the biggest production of our academic careers, working through 9 months straight with more than 90 collaborators of different areas. Organizing the production efficiently was crucial to meet with deadlines and submit a final product with much quality to the Thesis Defense Committee. We graduated with honors, as the thesis film with the highest grade of the program as of present time.
FINAL ACT
ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
Final Act's Original Soundtrack was a very interesting and challenging process for me as an musical artist. It all started at the very beginning of pre-production, in an afternoon walking to campus listening to music, when inspiration hit me with what would become the main theme of the film.
Using leitmotivs, the intent was to give more clues and expand the subjective and emotion side of the characters. Although that, in theory, it should be a simple process, due to my major production responsibilities, the soundtrack only came out too close to the deadline. Despite the stress, I believe that the anxieties I was living with helped, especially with the final tracks, which tell about the anxieties the protagonist goes through his journey and his entry at the job market.
Skipping to 2025, I had the opportunity to participate in the workshop "Creating an Phenakistoscope" with Luiz do Futuro. One of the examples that demonstrated the optical toy were vinyls. So I decided to make an animated album cover. You can see it moving, as well as its side B, at the official YouTube playlist or at the Spotify canvas.
Since this time I couldn't count with the digital distributor I was working with previously, the crew agreed to make a raffle to gather funds not just to release the soundtrack, but also for festival submission fees for the film. We were able to sell out all 200 numbers, which showed how many people are interested and believe in our project. There are not enough words that can express all my gratitude, it really means a lot all the support our short film has been receiving.
You can listen to the soundtrack in other digital platforms, besides Spotify.
3D BACKGROUNDS
Since our goal with the project was to explore and expand our skills in many techniques, we chose to make all backgrounds taking place in the present time of the story in Autodesk Maya and render them with Arnold to achieve a 2D look.
To get the expected results, at first we used the basic tools of the shader aiToon with final touches with Photoshop. However, during the sequence of Mateus's epiphany, one of the backgrounds had to be rendered in video because of the camera movement proposed by the storyboard, and for that we turned to Substance Painter for texturing and PaintFX for the outlines. We used this technique for every background of this sequence to keep the art direction equal.
CREDITS & FESTIVALS
Directed by BABI ASTOLFI, LISA SOARES
Executive Producer FEFE URRESTI
Writers BABI ASTOLFI, FEFE URRESTI, LISA SOARES,
REGINA AKIYAMA, VINÍCIUS ROMAN
Starring IGOR BLUNDI CORONA, ADRIANA MENDONÇA, GABI PAPARELLI, CELSO SOLHA, ENZO BUZZATTI, MORGANA DRUZIAN
Art Directors VINÍCIUS ROMAN, JU HOGATA
Background Director GABRIELA SUGUINOSHITA
3D Director JOÃO PEDRO RICIOPO
Animation Directors BABI ASTOLFI, LISA SOARES,
LUCCA VENDRAMEL, REGINA AKIYAMA
Editorial, original soundtrack and sound director
FEFE URRESTI
AWARDS
2026 – 15th International Animation Festival CHILEMONOS (Santiago, Chile); Honorable Mention
2026 - Short Way International Short Film Festival (São Paulo, SP); Best National Short Film Made by Students and Best Direction for National Short Film Made by Students
2026 - 5º Curta Cuité – Festival de Cinema de Cuité (Cuité, PB); Popular Jury Prize - Women in Action Showcase
2026 – 2o Prêmio Cine Forum (Dourados, MS); Best Fiction Short Nominee and Best Screenplay Nominee
2026 – 2o Festival Batata Doce Universitário de Animação (Pelotas, SC); Best Comedy Finalist
2026 – Inland Independent Film Festival – IIFF (Araraquara, SP); Best Student Short Nominee and Best Brazilian Short Nominee
2026 – Electric Film Festival (Bournemouth, Reino Unido); Honorable Mention
2026 - Urbanite Arts and Film Festival (Peekskill, NY, EUA); Honorable Mention
FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS
2026 – IX Mostra de Filmes Universitários Educavídeo - Festival de Cinema de Gramado (Gramado, RS)
2026 - 2ª Mostra Universitária de Cinema e Audiovisual MUCA (São Paulo, SP)
2026 - II Festival Curta Aparecida (Aparecida de Goiânia, GO)
2026 – AnimaSul Bahia (Itabuna, BA)
2026 – Festival de Cinema de Votuporanga (Votuporanga, SP)
2026 - SCC Autumn Short Films Festival (Somerset, Kentucky, EUA)
2026 - Cinefest – Cinema ao ar livre (Viana, Luanda, Angola)
2026 - Cine Jardim - Festival Latino-Animericano de Cinema de Belo Jardim (Belo Jardim, PE)
2026 - Los Angeles Fantasy Fest (Los Angeles, EUA)
2026 - Animare - LAFF - Licata Animation Film Festival (Licata, Sicília, Itália)
2026 - Almaty Animation Festival (Almaty, Cazaquistão)
2026 – Caribetoons Festival Internacional de Animación (Santa Marta, Colômbia)
2026 – Santos Film Fest (Santos, São Paulo)
2026 - 3rd Annual Santa Paula Film Festival (Santa Paula, EUA)
Last update: July 24th of 2026