Exploring the Technical Filmmaking and VFX Techniques Behind This Insane SXSW Short

While we all love SXSW for a plethora of reasons that range from the diverse films to the hungover breakfast tacos sought out after a night of premiere parties, industry mixers, and indie shows, the best feeling part by far might simply be stumbling upon a pure, new, raw-voiced film project which feels wholly unique and like something you didn’t ever conceive of existing ever before. SXSW 2026 has lots of great films which might fit this bill, but one we’d like to highlight is the odd, midnight short film Mantis Stream! Like & Subscribe, which is about as off-the-rails as they come. Created by filmmakers Sarah Maerten and Lincoln Robisch, who work under the shared title of “Clusterf*ck!”, the duo pulled off an impressive and very insane, “oner” style comedic short film that has a little bit of everything you never thought you wanted to see. Here’s our convo with the duo about how they pulled the SXSW Vimeo Staff Pick Award-winning project together. MANTIS STREAM! LIKE & SUBSCRIBE NFS: Tell us a bit about CLUSTERF*CK! and how y’all came to work in filmmaking? Sarah Maerten: Lincoln and I went to high school together in the middle of a
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