Patricia Beckmann Wells isn’t here to give you your typical sanitized, algorithm-approved AI-generated fluff piece. Nope, her latest creation, Mombomb, Part 1, is a feminist, blood-soaked, Grimm-style fever dream fueled by intergenerational trauma, weaponized Girl Scouts, and enough AI tools to make a Silicon Valley bro short-circuit. Fresh off its explosive West Coast premiere at Slamdance—where the real indie filmmakers flex, far from the suits at Disney and Amazon—Mombomb is heading to South Asia for its Nepal International Film Festival (NIFF) debut.
Running March 20-24, 2025, NIFF has tapped Mombomb, Part 1 as an official selection in its AI category, making it one of just five films squaring off in this brave new digital frontier. Catch it on March 21 at the QFX Chhaya Center, where the killer trolls, trauma, and sardonic humor will spill off the screen.
So, what’s Mombomb about? Imagine growing up in 1970s Toledo, Ohio—a breeding ground for serial killers—armed with nothing but Girl Scout cookies, your immigrant mom’s WWII horror stories, and a creeping sense that Sesame Street ain’t gonna save you. Beckmann Wells channels her real-life brush with actual serial killers and spins it into a dark, funny, AI-infused modern fairytale. The 12-part series (yep, a feature version is also in the works) smashes together comedy, horror, and family dysfunction with the precision of someone who’s survived the worst and turned it into art.
“…armed with nothing but Girl Scout cookies, your immigrant mom’s WWII horror stories, and a creeping sense that Sesame Street ain’t gonna save you.”
Created through a mind-bending AI pipeline utilizing over a dozen different programs, Mombomb is part autobiographical catharsis, part absurdist survival guide. Girl Scout Pez, the protagonist, isn’t just earning merit badges—she’s figuring out how to take down the boogeyman when the adults refuse to believe he exists. Think: cookie-fueled revenge fantasy meets post-war immigrant trauma, all filtered through the lens of cutting-edge AI animation.
Patricia Beckmann Wells, no stranger to disrupting the animation and tech worlds, brings a pedigree that should make any corporate studio sweat. Formerly at DreamWorks SKG, Disney, and Warner Bros., she’s now running her own indie ship, Bunsella Films, pushing the boundaries of AI-enhanced virtual production while keeping the storytelling raw, real, and personal. She’s already racked up hardware across the globe, including Best in Creative AI at Qld XR (Australia), Best Animated Short at STUFF MX (Mexico City), and Grand Prix at Courant3D (France). Now, Nepal gets a taste of her unique madness.
In Beckmann Wells’ own words: “I survived because my mother told me stories from The Brothers Grimm. Other kids got Sesame Street. I got trained to expect the boogeyman.”
Mombomb, Part 1 is also riding high after being selected at the Austin AI Festival and RPM In Motion Festival in Boston this month. With one convicted killer already released and another facing a hearing this March, the real-life horror behind Beckmann Wells’ AI-laced nightmare couldn’t feel timelier—or more unsettling.
One thing’s for sure—Mombomb isn’t just an experiment in AI storytelling. It’s a declaration that indie filmmakers still know how to swing the sharpest axes, and they’re not waiting for studio permission slips.
