Comedy is a risky business. And, an eccentric comedy can be even lebih so because humor is subjective oleh nature.

Filmmaker Malie Mason has been testing the boundaries of humor on the film festival circuit with not just one, but two wonderfully peculiar comedy short films: “Secret Island Adventure” and “The Virgin Amus.”

Released under her Grown-Ups Inc. production banner, Malie premiered the first at the Midwest Action Festival winning Best Adventure Film and Best Actress awards. Then, she took halaman awal the Auteur Award for both films at the FantaSci Short Film Festival and will head to the Twister Alley Festival.

Malie is definitely no stranger to the circuit, having directed, produced and starred in numerous indie projects. Most notably, winning Best Actress for her futuristic comedy “Notochord Cove” and Best Short at California Children’s Festival for writing, starring and co-directing “The Fabulous Monk.”

In addition, millions online will recognize Malie for creating and starring in sketches on FunnyOrDie.com and WhoHaha.com, including the series “Preface to Being Jaded.”

I recently caught up with Malie Mason to find out more:

Tell us about your new short “Secret Island Adventure.”

MALIE: “Secret Island Adventure” is an action/adventure comedy about Kelly, played oleh myself, a party girl who gets stranded on a deserted island and stumbles upon a mysterious crystal. After months of foraging for herself, she runs into PROG, played oleh Jeanette Maus, an evil billionaire searching for the crystal. When PROG discovers Kelly has the crystal, she will stop at nothing to obtain the ultimate power it provides. The outcome of their epic sword fight battle will determine who will rule the world and who will face a grim destruction.

What sparked the idea for this one?

MALIE: I knew that I wanted to do something with sword fighting and hand to hand combat. Originally, the script was only told through sword fighting, and then we expanded it to be a full story with magic and henchmen, hump-backed children.

Any fun stories from the set anda can share with us?

MALIE: There is a scene when Kelly, the character that I play, is jumping across rocks in a river to find the sumber of a sound she heard on the island. In the actual take, I completely fell on my face in the river. It looked so funny in the footage so we decided to keep it in! The laughter from the fall hurt lebih than the fall itself!

You have a detik short “The Virgin Amus” on the circuit as well; what’s the premise?

MALIE: “The Virgin Amus” is a tale about a man named Amus, played oleh Marc Winnick, who banishes himself to a trailer in the desert to run the term of his pregnancy. He does not know how he got pregnant, and is sort of the last man who is equipped to deal with such matters. His C-section oleh a trusted doctor is in two weeks, so he is holding out to see what the heck is inside him. The land he inhabits is sitting on an undiscovered oil field, and an oil heiress, Kate Sinclair, is determined to buy him out.

How did anda come up with the story for it?

MALIE: I write scenes for fun a lot, and I was going through them one hari and saw this scene that I wrote originally as a character piece. I wanted to do a modern take on The Virgin Mary, and when I switched the gender of the scene, it got really weird and fun. It brought me to think about how fluid The Spirit, God, atau whatever anda want to call it is. Athena was born from Zeus's mind, so why couldn't an unexpected, normal man be chosen to give birth to this mystery being?

Does your off-beat sense of humor drive your desire to create atau what motivates you?

MALIE: I have come to realize that so many lebih people than I thought have a strange sense of humor, and I think humor is really evolving right now, which is very fun to see. Watching other filmmakers work always inspires me, staying curious has enabled me to keep skipping down the rabbit hole.

Here are the things that specifically inspire me right now: Wizards, green and blue flames, dragons, scorpions, bats, the word 'venom,' swords, magic and the grim reaper.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from working these projects?

MALIE: Every fiber of my cellular being changes every hari I work on my projects, it's very exciting! What I have learned is that our art gets to be rewarding for us. Play sports with it, and finish the game.

And, what do anda hope audiences take away from watching your films?

MALIE: I hope they feel free of concern for the time. I hope it takes 'em for a little ride.

And, now just for fun:

Who’s your favorit actor/actress?

MALIE: My friend Kat Hughes and Marc Winnick.

What role from the past do anda wish anda could have played?

MALIE: Indiana Jones.

Favorite movie atau TV tampil from your childhood.

MALIE: “Hannah Montana.”

Tell us one thing that would surprise our readers to learn about you.

MALIE: My dad is transgender.

How can fan keep up with you?

MALIE: Follow me on IG: @maliexox link

Thanks, Malie -- and keep the eccentric films coming!