Rediscovering Wonder: Inside Costa Karalis' Frogtown

Atlanta FIlm and TV caught up with Costa Karalis at the 50th annual Atlanta FIlm Festival. Karalis Is the writer/director of FROGTOWN, a feature which premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival.

"Frogtown is an oddity of a film that blends fiction and reality to show a side of the southeast not often seen, one that is as strange as it is wonderful. "

-Costa Karalis

Atlanta Film and TV: What drew you to telling this story through that “what’s real vs. what’s not” lens?

Costa Karaliis:  I think as people age, they become very comfortable in their routines and start to think they know everything there is to know. We develop clear divisions between reality and fantasy. I became fascinated by the idea of creating a piece that blurs this line and hopefully encourages people to reconsider what's possible. Also, I hadn't seen a movie quite like this before and the artistic challenge interested me.

Atlanta Film and TV: The film centers on holding onto childlike imagination. Was there a personal experience or moment that inspired that theme for you?

Costa Karalis: When we're children we can tap into some sort of unfiltered way of thinking. Imagination is so pure and wild when we're young. When I was conceptualizing this film, I found myself in a period of deep lament for my loss of wonder. I began to feel as though there was nothing new left to see. I think this resulted from a combination of my routine at the time and being overstimulated by constant image and video bombardment online. The final piece of the puzzle for me was watching old home videos of myself as a child, where I could see a stark difference between my imagination then and now. I wanted to discuss this strange conundrum with people. That's where Frogtown started.

Atlanta Film and TV: How did you balance making the protagonist both relatable and a little unsettling?

Costa Karalis: Kathleen is a very interesting person. She has big beliefs and truly puts so much stock in them. She's a dreamer. Some people might find that endearing while others might say she takes it too far at times. I think we must strike a balance between the two. 

Atlanta Film and TV: The story of Frogtown takes place in a small Florida town. How did that environment shape the tone and characters?

Costa Karalis: Frogtown was always going to be set in a small Florida town. It was the only place to tell this story. Every person we met while interviewing in town (even those who didn't make the cut) slowly shaped this movie into what it is. We really wanted to capture a certain melancholy present in small towns. The environment is also a significant part of that. For people from North Florida, this is home. For those watching the film elsewhere, this setting may be new to them. The panhandle is rarely the first place that comes to mind when people think 'Florida'. It made perfect sense then to show people a new place while asking them to think with a fresh, childlike mind.

Atlanta Film and TV: What does it mean to debut Frogtown at the 50th annual Atlanta Film Festival, and how do you hope audiences walk away feeling?

Costa Karalis: I've been in Atlanta for over five years now and have truly found a wonderful community of filmmakers here. Many of my colleagues have shown their work as part of ATLFF previously, so having my first feature screen as part of the fest is an honor. We sold out our first screening and our encore is on track to do the same. I'd like to thank the wonderful film-going audience present at ATLFF and in Atlanta in general for making that happen. I hope they leave the film inspired to talk with their friends about those odd and absurd childhood memories they might have forgotten otherwise. 

You can now stream Frogtown online via the virtual Atlanta Film Festival from Monday, May 4th - Sunday, May 11th, 2026.