My name is Felix Milionis, a writer/director and San Francisco native shaped by the stark juxtapositions that define this city. From hustlers at 16th Street BART selling stolen shampoo off blankets to billionaires perched atop the Salesforce Tower, San Francisco exists in constant collision. I’ve grown up inside that chaos, witnessing overdoses on the street, attending underground sewer raves, and passing by the downtown high rises in a Levis denim wingsuit.

I’ve been making films since I was seven, trying to capture even a fragment of this energy. In some ways I have, but it wasn’t until I discovered sideshows that I found a medium capable of encompassing it all. A structure that abandons structure. An organized mayhem.

I first stepped into this world while making a previous short film, Peripheral. We needed a crowd we didn’t have, so we went to a sideshow. Two hundred unsuspecting people became our extras. In the middle of it, our actors performed a choreographed boxing match, convincing enough that it later became the subject of Fox News coverage about crowds gathering in the streets to watch a boxing match. That night opened my eyes to a space where anything could be interchanged with that boxing match.

A sideshow turns anything within its orbit into an act. It is a public stage, an urban coliseum unfolding in the streets, created by the streets. The moment that clicked, I knew I had to follow it.

Sideshow Surrealism throws the city’s most absurd and electric elements into that arena, blending Victorian-era San Francisco with the present day, where chandeliers hang from drifting cars, and history slides against the asphalt.

Featured Scene: “Tumultuous Abode” Music Video

Synopsis

Sideshow Surrealism is a feature film that blends the remnants of Victorian Bay Area décor with the fast-paced spectacle of present car culture. The project is divided into six theatrical acts, each centered around vehicles performing elaborate stunts at the sideshow/street takeover — ranging from a hibachi restaurant inside a box truck performing donuts as food fills the air, to a Victorian house mounted on a monster truck chassis. Each act flows into the next through shared objects or lines of dialogue, immersing viewers in a shifting, chaotic rhythm that mirrors the instability of a real sideshow.

The film collaborates directly with Bay Area youth, artists, and community members, reframing a practice dismissed by the media as vehicular misconduct or criminal as a legitimate form of expression. Shot guerrilla-style during live, planned events, the project lays the foundation for a practical, legal alternative to sideshows by using film as a catalyst for shifting cultural perspectives — including those of the participants themselves.

Acting as a connective force, the film aims to bridge the divide between those who want these events abolished and those who want to preserve them, proposing a compelling artistic middle ground. In doing so, it reimagines sideshows as a kind of contemporary circus, echoing the original meaning of the word “sideshow.”

Logline

Project Status

Sideshow Surrealism is currently in active production, with three of seven scenes completed. Each sequence is highly involved and is being approached one at a time to maintain control over scale, safety, and creative precision.

The most complex sequence to date — a large-scale drifting set piece — required six months of preparation to develop a safe and viable approach in collaboration with a drifting community. We ultimately partnered with Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, California, which sponsored the shoot by providing insurance coverage and access to a dedicated drift pad. Driftmaybe, a drifting team and school, supported the sequence and continues to oversee vehicle-based production needs, including drivers and cars. This shoot completed all principal drifting material for the film.

The next completed sequence took place in Chinatown, San Francisco, inside the historic Sun Sing Center, a venue previously used for Orson Welles, The Lady from Shanghai. The set was transformed with a three-story interior structure, a live clarinet performance positioned above the space, and a staged cocktail party populated by over 100 participants.

Together, these completed sequences have established a visual and operational framework for the remainder of the film. They define the scale, safety protocols, and production methodology required to continue executing large, complex scenes within the constraints of the project’s budget and team. These scenes now form the foundation of the film’s visual and thematic language.

Direct-to-Audience Release Strategy

Sideshow Surrealism will be released through a dedicated, owned platform where audiences can access the film via a paid viewing model. Rather than relying on traditional streaming platforms or festival gatekeeping, the film will be distributed directly through our own website and exhibition infrastructure.

This model prioritizes control, longevity, and community access. The audience built during production—including participants, collaborators, and adjacent underground cultural communities—will be directly activated as the initial viewership base, ensuring the film reaches the people who helped shape it.

Our strategy focuses on search-driven discoverability and digital visibility through SEO, paid search campaigns, and platform optimization. The term “sideshows” functions as a recurring cultural search phenomenon, with interest spiking in response to viral street footage, media coverage, and real-world events. This reflects an existing, cyclical audience already engaging with this subject matter online.

This approach is aligned in spirit with filmmakers such as the Duplass Brothers, who pioneered direct-to-audience digital release strategies, as well as contemporary collectives like Harmony Korine’s EDGLRD, which explore alternative distribution models outside traditional studio pipelines.

Investor returns are structured to prioritize investor participation at the top of the revenue cycle. All net revenues generated through the film’s direct platform and experiential screenings are first allocated toward investor returns, with the intent of returning capital and preferred returns as early as possible. Once investor thresholds are met, remaining revenues are split according to the agreed profit participation structure between investors and the production company.

In this model, revenue flows directly through owned digital access and curated screenings rather than traditional licensing or streaming systems, allowing returns to be distributed over time through the project’s investor structure.

1. “Special Thanks” credit in the film
2. Behind-the-scenes production updates (exclusive investor updates)
3. Our deepest appreciation

1. “Special Thanks” credit in the film
2. Private digital screening link before public release
3. Invitation to a private online rough cut / work-in-progress screening
4. Behind-the-scenes production updates

1. “Special Thanks” credit in the film
2. Copy of the script, signed by the team
3. Private viewing link to the completed film
4. Personalized thank-you card from the team
5. Behind-the-scenes production updates

1. “Co-Producer” credit
2. One-day visit to the set (travel and lodging not included)
3. Limited edition poster signed by the director and principal cast
4. Copy of the script, signed by the team
5. Private viewing link to the completed film
6. A custom crochet ski mask used in the film
7. Personalized thank-you card from the team

You will be brought onto the project as an officially credited Co-Producer, with IMDb credit. You will be part of the team and invited to all premiere screenings.

Perks include:

1. Complimentary access to all screenings
2. Official on-screen “Exacutive Producer” credit
3. Invitation to visit the set during all productions (travel and lodging not included)
4. A custom racing helmet used in production, designed with either a crocheted top hat or antlers
5. A signed copy of the script from the team
6. Private viewing link to the completed film
7. Personalized thank-you card from the team

About Us

Felix Milionis (Director, Producer, Editor) :

Felix Milionis is a filmmaker based in San Francisco whose work spans narrative and commercial production. His short film Peripheral has screened locally, including at the Balboa Theater and at regional festivals, while his follow-up film Stop Request—which documents traveling every public transit line in the city within 24 hours—was picked up by San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and screened during Transit Month programming. Alongside his narrative work, he has directed and produced commercial campaigns for brands such as Manscaped, Swarovski, and various tech companies, with projects collectively generating over 3 million views. His filmmaking approach blends structured planning with improvisation, often placing cast and crew into loosely defined scenarios to capture natural performances, and through projects like Peripheral and Sideshow Surrealism, he has developed experience producing large-scale shoots, coordinating crews, and organizing public-facing productions that draw crowds of over 100 people.

Jonathan Englander (Producer) :

Jonathan is a senior partner at GPS Legal, where he leads the firm’s Entertainment Practice, specializing in transactional and litigation matters across contracts, commercial law, and regulatory compliance. Since 2007, he has advised production service companies on more than twenty major series, feature films, and documentaries produced in Thailand by international studios and filmmakers, handling a wide range of legal and business matters including clearance, tax, insurance, labor, and compliance with anti-corruption frameworks such as the FCPA and UK Bribery Act. His credits include high-profile productions such as Thirteen Lives (MGM), Ms. Marvel (Disney), The Serpent (Netflix/BBC), and The Hangover Part II (Warner Bros.). In addition to production counsel, he represents foreign filmmakers in rights negotiations with Thai counterparties and advises local talent in their relationships with financiers, studios, distributors, and agencies. Jonathan is admitted to practice law in New York State and graduated with honors from the University of Michigan Law School, beginning his career as a commercial and civil litigator in New York City before relocating to Bangkok in 2004.

Celine Arreola-Pilarte (Art Director) :

Celine Arreola-Pilarte is a multidisciplinary artist based in San Francisco whose work spans prop making, costume design, collage, textiles, painting, murals, and installation. Raised in a creative environment through her mother’s gallery, Spanglish Arte, her work draws from visual storytelling and her cultural roots in Mexico and Central America. She studied visual language and art direction at UCLA before working on projects in Los Angeles and later relocating to San Francisco. Her work has been exhibited at galleries including Galería de la Raza and Birdhouse Gallery, and she continues to work across film, design, and installation.