Leonardo Verkoelen
January 14, 2026
Hello Sava! It’s incredible to have you here on our Artist Spotlight. Could you please introduce yourself?
Thanks for having me, I haven’t done this in a while so I hope the readers will find any of my ramblings informative and hopefully helpful in some way. I’m a director from Belgrade, Serbia, working in CG Animation, mostly on high end video game trailers and cinematics, if you’re a gamer you might know some of my work on Destiny 2, Dead Island 2, Diablo Immortal, Gears 5, Outriders, Avowed and many more.
I’m self taught, I’ve learned both the filmmaking and CG principles by making my own independent animated short films with a tightly knit group of friends and collaborators over the years. I’m typically drawn to darker themes, often existing within a sci fi setting, as for why that’s the case I leave that up to the viewer:) I’ve recently relocated to LA to work on a very exciting project, but that too will have to remain shrouded in mystery for some time:)
You have recently shared your latest short film, NIMROD, an incredibly atmospheric piece!
I’ve read that you’ve wanted to go back to the roots. To enjoy the process. To be working with friends and to create something out of nothing.
That’s such an important drive. What were some of the biggest lessons you learned from creating NIMROD?
I think the biggest lesson was to just re-learn to let go and not overthink and just create a sandbox environment in which you can play, in all aspects, from worldbuilding, to staging and cinematography. It’s something that came naturally in a lot of my early work but was then lost for whatever reason later in bigger commercial productions.
It also happened around the time when I was 2 years into my feature film development and other commercial work when I realized that I haven’t made anything with my own hands in over 2 years. NIMROD was a way out of that creative rut in a way, and a very fun one at that.
NIMROD, Beckoning and Irradiation each have an incredibly rich and detailed setting. Do you spend a lot of time world-building the ideas you have?
With NIMROD as mentioned above, worldbuilding was a part of this larger, sort of messier sandbox process where everything happened almost in unison, often overlapping and stacking on top of each other. It was definitely NOT my typical process, but that was a big part of the fun of it all and WHY I wanted to do it that way in the first place.
Irradiation and Beckoning in particular went through a more traditional process of spending a lot of time in the “writing room” where I would explore all of these ideas and characters, and subsequently the world, on paper long before anything gets physically (or in my case mostly digitally) made.
In my early films I would rush through this process because I wanted to fast track myself into the making part because that was my comfort zone and what I enjoyed doing the most. But over the years my focus shifted more and more to this initial writing stage, it’s some of the most fun aspects of any film where it all feels like you’re exploring this uncharted territory and the sky is the limit.
It really is. Nothing beats pure imagination.
What’s something you absorbed visually as a child that still shapes your storytelling and filmmaking today?
I always attributed my heavy use of fog to growing up in Serbia, which is interesting because we do get proper 4 seasons, blazing hot summers, icy winters and everything in between, so I'm not sure why fog in particular stuck with me. My family loves the mountains and we spent a lot of time on them so maybe that’s why. But if I were to really scratch beneath the surface the darker themes and fog is probably more connected to growing up in the 90s amidst the political turmoil in Eastern Europe, some of it still lasting to this day. That stuff tends to stick.
How much do you tend to conceptualize an idea before committing to it?
Depends on the idea and scope naturally, but in general you never know with these things, I certainly don’t have a formula. Some ideas need a lot of time to flesh out and it feels like they’re constantly slipping out of your grasp, while others feel effortless as if they appeared out of thin air. I do tend to front load a lot of conceptualization. I find it very useful as a part of the initial worldbuilding process which can influence the writing in unexpected ways.
Yes, once you start "living" inside of that world there's usually a natural course of action for all the events that will take place.
Going through your entire filmography, a few core themes jump out. Memory, distortion of time and reality, fear of the unknown.
What is it that speaks to you about these themes?
I wouldn't say those were the exact themes I was going for but I do very much appreciate your take on it!:) I will say that the themes I explore in my films are usually connected to some facet of my life’s experience. Write what you know, as they say, I took that lesson fairly seriously early on and it stuck. I also acknowledge that this answer completely dodges the question but I do want to leave the interpretation to the viewer here:)
Haha that’s completely fair! Maybe I’m projecting.
As a director, between working on personal films and cinematics for clients, is there a difference in how you approach storytelling and artistic expression?
There was a difference at first but over the years the processes merged together as I was learning from one and pouring into the other and vice versa. I think the main difference for me is time, with commercial projects there’s always this looming deadline and that bears a set of challenges naturally.
Big productions come with big budgets and one has a lot more resources on their hands than with independent animation, but time is rarely one of them. No matter how many hands you put on any given task, sometimes you just need that time to let it all sit and ferment for a bit before you make a decision. In independent animation you do have that luxury, and I really value it.
Interesting. That puts things in perspective...
Your work always has a wonderful understanding of the Kuleshov effect. With little to no dialogue you’re able to convey lots of meaning and subtext through the sequence of imagery.
What is your approach to expressing what you want to say in a piece?
I’m at my happiest If I can express an idea with just picture and sound. Purely visual storytelling is something that fascinates me the most and where I find most of my inspiration. Not only in film, but photography, illustration, sculpture, you name it.
Are you quite selective about the collaborators you work with?
Yes I absolutely love working with passionate, like minded people. My collaborators are some of my closest friends in life, people I grew with and learned with in unison, and our shared experience is something I treasure the most in my career.
Looking across your entire creative process, what’s the smallest technical habit that’s made the biggest impact on your work?
Not really technical but I love a standing desk:)
That’s a good one! It’s definitely something I’ve been considering.
Sava, in your opinion, what are the most important components of getting a 3D animated short film off the ground? And what is one area that is often overlooked by others?
This is a big question. Story comes first, always, I’m a firm believer that a good story will cut through the noise, regardless of visuals, and it will find an audience. But planning for a release, festival run or online, is absolutely imperative and I do feel a lot of people see that aspect as something that can be done quickly at the end. It’s a herculean task in its own right, it is massively important and is quite often overlooked.
Distribution will always be an essential part of the process. Thanks for sharing that. It’s so crucial to not be overlooked.
Do you ever feel haunted by an idea you haven’t yet executed?
I wouldn’t use that word necessarily, but yes, there’s always a few that are lurking in the back somewhere, waiting for their turn:)
And we’ll be waiting to see them come to light :)
On a more personal note, have you ever felt like an outsider in your field?
A lot of the time, not to go all therapeutic about it, but I do feel it’s an absolute blessing getting to do what I do, and sometimes that can be overwhelming, especially when you meet and get to work with your heroes.
Looking ahead, what’s next for you Sava? What ideas or projects are most pulling for your attention right now?
Getting my debut feature Beckoning made, and that mystery project I moved to LA for:)
Incredibly exciting. Best of luck with that!
What kind of advice would you give to someone thinking of a career in Filmmaking? There is always a new generation taking their first steps into this adventure.
Learn to write, no matter which aspect of filmmaking you’re interested in, writing is the foundation upon which everything else is built, and understanding it will help you in more ways than I can ever express.
Be patient, filmmaking is a long game, and even with the latest technological advancements developing your language and style takes years. But above all else, don’t be afraid to experiment and have fun:)
Wonderful advice. And that’s already it Sava! Thanks so much for being a part of this!
As always, we like to end the Artist Spotlight with a personal recommendation from the artist. Any good films, books, habits, or anything else you’d like to recommend to the reader?
I rewatched Scavengers Reign recently, this is common knowledge but it’s an incredible show that desperately deserves another season, here’s my attempt at keeping the flame alive:)
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