Rob Munday
Serving on a film festival jury is an incredibly rewarding experience. Not only are you generally well looked after by the event team, but you also get the opportunity to discuss short films with other like-minded, passionate people. The one real downside, however, is that films you champion don’t always make it onto the winners’ list. For me, Freddie Gluck’s remarkable documentary, Gatorville, was one such film.
“We are all just animals, the same as those who slither into the weeds undetected”
A striking portrait of a young family coming of age in a Colorado alligator sanctuary, Gluck’s 19-minute documentary initially draws us in through the particularities of its unusual setting and the lives of its subjects, before revealing a more universal appeal through its portrayal of childhood nostalgia. Few of us will have experienced an upbringing quite like that of the children in Gatorville, but their candid observations and little snippets of wisdom have a way of prompting us to reflect on our own adolescence and perhaps recall a time when life seemed a little more innocent.
This contemplative quality is clearly something Gluck had in mind when making the film. He hopes its “story prompts us to reflect on our past”, while candidly acknowledging that it “answers nothing”. Instead, he sees it as a work that “allows the observant viewer to question their makeup”, adding that, as humans, “we are all just animals, the same as those who slither into the weeds undetected”.
“Gatorville becomes a catalyst for a story beyond its characters, one that’s told through and by all of us” – director Freddie Gluck on his aims for the film
While this invitation to reflect is encouraged by the documentary’s observational approach, much of Gatorville’s appeal lies in its immersive quality. As the camera wanders around the sanctuary, we experience the world from the children’s perspective, gradually becoming familiar with their routines, relationships and surroundings. There’s an intimacy to the filmmaking that makes it feel as though we’ve been welcomed into the family, almost becoming an honorary sibling to this trio of children as they share their thoughts and experiences. That sense of access is no accident, as Gluck explains when describing the process of building a relationship with the family and allowing the camera to become a natural part of their lives:
“The way we approached working with the Young family and telling their story was through steady, genuine time together sharing dinners, going to the hot springs, and volunteering at their annual Halloween haunted house . . . We then filmed over the course of three separate trips, allowing us to immerse ourselves in the individual worlds of Lily, Bodhi, and Jay, and better understand how each of them experienced and understood their upbringing at the alligator farm. Through this time together, we gained a more intimate perspective on their relationships with one another, the place they call home, and the ways their lives have been shaped by such an unconventional childhood.”
Having first encountered Gatorville while serving on the jury at the 2026 Ouray International Film Festival, although we weren’t able to give Gluck an award on that occasion, I hope featuring the film on Short of the Week goes some way towards making up for it. If this documentary is anything to go by, though, I suspect it won’t be the last time we have the pleasure of sharing Gluck’s work on our pages. He already has his next film, exploring the world of life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, completed and is currently working on another project about plants – “vines, to be more specific”.