Big Apple Film Festival - The Day My Mother Screamed
On the day Maria commands her six-year-old son not to scream, John begins to perceive his mother’s suppressed pain, as well as her intolerance for weakness. Ten years later, a shameful secret of John’s will cause Maria to break her own rule.
Interview with Writer/Director David Jaffe
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
This film was like therapy for me, but I didn't realize it until after I had finished.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The homosexual themes in DMMS make it easy for a viewer to dismiss it as a niche film, but the point of the story is actually universal. The first five minutes of the film show the world through the eyes of a sexless little boy, who we see is becoming negatively socialized by the binary, intolerant world his mother personifies. Halfway through, film jumps to ten years later, and we see the mother's affect on her son has caused him to close himself off to himself and others. The film is ultimately about the way we refuse to acknowledge what we find ugly inside ourselves, but how that denial is unsustainable and the reality breaks through in the end.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The film is about denial and the pain of self-realization. I visualized this in the film by tethering the camera to the protagonist, John's, experience during the first two acts of the film so the audience understands the world through his eyes. In the third act, when John's secret is discovered by his mother, the camera breaks from John and becomes this bodiless entity that follows each character's pain. I showed John's connection to his mother by match cutting the actions of John leaving the house and Maria, the mother, crying in her bedroom towards the end of the film. John and Maria are connected visually, even as they separate from each other physically. At the end, John begins all out sprinting from the house, symbolizing a kind of rebirth, where John now understands himself more fully.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I wrote the script two years before filming the project, and it actually changed very little over those two years. The evolution was really more of a deeper understanding of the characters, which came with designing the location (my parent's house) over year leading up to the project and storyboarding the film.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Feedback has been very positive overall. People like the idea of a social thriller, where information unravels piece by piece. Audiences particularly respond to the beginning, which follows the experience of a little boy going shopping with his mother. Since there was no conventional "plot" for this section, I knew I had to keep the audience invested in the presence of each moment. I tried my hand at visual poetry by using evocative camera work, colors and surreal representations of the child's experience.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
It's helped me understand when people will stay with you and when they won't. The middle portion of the film was filmed more conventionally than the first and third act, and that seems to be where the audience's attention slips a bit. Going forward, I feel more confident about what scenes and visual styles will keep an audience invested and wanting more.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
EXPOSURE!!!
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Distributors mainly.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
This film utterly changed my life, my understanding of my past and the way I see myself. I really can't ask more than that, although it would be great if it can reach others as well.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
When was the last time somebody made you scream?
Would you like to add anything else?
Since this was a short film, I approached it much differently than I would a feature. I think shorts can be more poetic and subjective because they require less of the audience's time. It was necessary to leave elements of this narrative loose, so the audience could project their own experiences onto the characters. In my feature work, I create tighter, more conventional narratives because I have more time to develop the themes and characters.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Currently, I work as a freelance production designer and storyboard artist in New York. I have two feature length scripts, which I have been storyboarding and developing on the side.
Interview: November 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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The Day My Mother Screamed
On the day Maria commands her six-year-old son not to scream, John begins to perceive his mother’s suppressed pain, as well as her intolerance for weakness. Ten years later, a shameful secret of John’s will cause Maria to break her own rule.
Length: 15 Minutes
Director: David Jaffe
Producer: Arturo Alanis Garza, Nora Zubizarreta
Writer: David Jaffe
About the writer, director and producer:
David Jaffe is an award-winning filmmaker based in NYC. He graduated with a BFA in Film & Television from NYU and has worked on numerous commercial and independent projects, as a director, production designer or storyboard artist.
David's work has appeared in Tribeca, First Run, the Watersprite Film Awards, the Americas Film Festival of New York, and the Cannes Short Film Corner.
Key cast:
Maxwell Owens - Young John
Rory Byrne - Maria
Ian Bouillion - John
Thomas McNamara - Thomas
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Producers, distributors, journalists
Social media handles:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dmmsfilm/
Instagram: @djaff3
Other: djaff3.com
Made in association with: Thesis film for NYU. NYU specifies they are not affiliated in any way, ahah