Cassie Llanas

Cassie Llanas is a queer Latinx award-winning filmmaker currently based in Chicago. ? In another life, they are a working actor in New York City. In another other life, They're saving tigers and other large wildcats from extinction. However, in this life, they have major stage fright and enough scratches on their arms from trying to tame their house cat. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Cassie is the youngest of eight children. Yes. Cassie has seven siblings and YES they have a complex about it! They grew up making webcam videos with their friends starring their Beanie Babies and Star Wars action figures. They watched movies that were WAY too scary like Night of the Living Dead and Scream, but it was the only way to spend time with their older siblings whenever they were home. That fear of horror movies developed into a stockholm-esque relationship where now, Cassie can't get enough of them. After studying Cinema and Media Culture in Minneapolis, MN, Cassie moved out west to Los Angeles with dreams of working in Hollywood. For seven years, they worked in Television and Film production on shows like How to Get Away with Murder, Transparent, Twenties, etc learning from amazingly talented people. Their love of filmmaking only grew and over the years they knew they wanted to be a director but didn't have the time or money to build their portfolio while working in production. When the pandemic hit, productions stopped and Cassie, like everyone in the film and television industry and most people around the world, found themselves out of work and knew it was time to make a move. They moved back to the Midwest to be closer to family and started attending the DePaul Film and Television Directing program as a Masters Candidate. Their experimental documentary Hello Depression won the DePaul Premiere Film Festival and has screened around the world. Their other short films: Lavender and Phantom Heart have gone on to win and screen at several festivals around the United States including the Milwaukee Underground Film Festival. Their latest short, Lost Boys Pizza, is making the festival rounds having screened with Mórbido Film Fest, Wisconsin Film Fest, Minnesota Film Fest, and soon Chicago Horror Film Fest. Cassie now teaches editing and creative producing at both Elmhurst University and DePaul University and has several projects in development. As a filmmaker, Cassie enjoys crafting cartoonish worlds that make you laugh one moment before ripping your heart of your chest, throwing it on the ground, and crushing it beneath the heel of their boots the next….before making you laugh again through the pain. They call it Traumedy?