Chicago Feminist Film Festival / TIFF KIDS - Scrap Dolls
On the east side of Detroit, Jason, mourning the loss of his best friend Flora, meets an artist creating artwork out of discarded objects. Can they teach one another how to face their fears?
Interview with Writer/Director Aude Cuenod
Watch Scrap Dolls here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
While I was studying film at Wesleyan University, I met a 70-year-old artist in Middletown who made beautiful sculptures out of found objects. I was moved by his art and the idea that an artist can recycle objects that others have thrown away and transform them into something beautiful, something with new meaning and value. I became friends with the artist and later learned that he had once helped a young boy from a broken home by teaching him how to make art out of found object. The artist brought the boy back towards a sense of hope and possibility through art. I found this story of their friendship and connection through art touching and meaningful and wanted to bring it to life in a fiction short film.
This intergenerational friendship inspired me and was the spark from which I made up a completely fictionalized story. When I first scouted Detroit in 2014, I instantly knew that it was the perfect place to set the film because of all of the artists in the city who were making art out of found objects and who were actively transforming their neighborhoods through art such as Tyree Guyton and Olayami Dabls and many others.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I hope that “Scrap Dolls” is a film that encourages audiences to think about what role art and the imagination might play in our lives, especially in helping us heal after losing someone we love. It’s also a film about the magic of intergenerational friendships and how human connection and understanding can also help us to heal after loss.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
“Scrap Dolls” is a story about an 11-year-old boy coming to grips with the loss of his best friend. One of the things most human beings have to face is loss and how we continue to find meaning and connection in life after loss. I think art has the power to transcend everything and I believe it can bring us back towards a sense of hope after loss.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I wrote a feature screenplay with the same characters and setting, which I workshopped in the 2014 Cine Qua Non lab. I knew after the lab that I needed to make a short film about the story to explore the characters and setting more. So I moved to Detroit for 6 months in 2015, found a wonderful producer, Ben Friedman, and together we put together a cast/crew. Many of us on the team wore many hats during pre-production and production to make this film happen and we filmed over the course of 3 weekends as the young actors were in school during the week. Although I was making a short film adaptation of a feature film script, I started from scratch when I got to Detroit.
I attended the wonderful Allied Media Conference (https://www.alliedmedia.org/amc), met as many artists and filmmakers as I could and spent a lot of time exploring neighborhoods, meeting people and learning as much as I could about Detroit’s history and story before I sat down to write the short film script. Living in Detroit for several months before writing the script allowed the story and characters time to evolve. Once the film was shot, because of our tight budget, Carmen Morrow and I edited the film over the course of several months. We made many different versions of the film during the course of those months and having a lot of time to think about the film, I believe, helped the film ultimately settle into its shape.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I have been very moved by the feedback we have received for the film so far. “Scrap Dolls” premiered at the 2017 San Francisco International Film Festival and I had the opportunity to present the film in a school and talk to students afterwards about the film. I was amazed at the response that children had towards the characters, the themes (including bullying, intergenerational friendships and coming to grips with loss). And I was completely amazed at the attention to detail that young people had when they watched the film. One child raised his hand to ask me why the film was blue and dark at the beginning when the main character looks sad and then yellow and red at the end. We had a great conversation about color correction, Instagram filters and how color affects how we feel about an image. I have continued to have these types of conversations with children about the film in which I have learned so much.
At the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival in Germany, I also had wonderful exchanges with kids about the film and I was so moved when the young jury awarded us the Prize of the Children’s Jury. The film has gone on to win several more prizes including the Knight Jury Prize in the Detroit Voices category of the Cinetopia Film Festival, the 2nd prize of the Children’s Jury at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, sharing the 1st prize for a film for ages 8-11 at the Kuki International Short Film Festival for Children and Youth Berlin and just recently, winning “Best Live Action Short” as chosen by the jury (ages 14+ ) at the Children’s Film Festival Seattle.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
To be honest, I did not know that I was making a film for children. I wrote a film centered around the experience of an 11-year-old boy but I thought that the more complicated themes such as loss and sadness as well as the fact that the second half of the film has no dialogue at all might be a bit challenging for young audiences. I could not have been more wrong. Children actively want to talk about difficult things and, even if a film is lyrical and poetic, if they are invested in the characters and the themes, they will have no problem staying focused and attentive. They want to see how other children grapple with difficult life events and they want to talk about these challenging themes. I was blown away with how interested and invested young audiences were with “Scrap Dolls.”
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
As the writer and director of “Scrap Dolls,” I am committed to helping the film that so many wonderful people collaborated with me to make get seen. It is challenging for short films to get exposure, as we all know, and I’m grateful to be able to talk about the film and hopefully encourage people to go seek it out! Our facebook page is up to date on the screenings: https://www.facebook.com/scrapdolls/
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I would love to be able to share “Scrap Dolls” in more schools- I would be so grateful to get a distributor on board who could help us get the film seen in schools. I’d love for the film to be available as an educational tool.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would love for “Scrap Dolls” to be able to spark conversations with young people about difficult themes such as loss, sadness and how to work through difficult moments in life. And what role art and our imagination have to play in all of this.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Can art help us to face our fears?
Would you like to add anything else?
We found our young actors through two wonderful organizations in Detroit who are working directly with kids to help them achieve their dreams. I would like to thank them both very much: The Downtown Boxing Gym (https://downtownyouthboxing.org/) and Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit (http://mosaicdetroit.org/). I would also like to thank the parents of our wonderful cast for their unbelievable support through the project.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Writer/Director Aude Cuenod is writing the feature length script of “Scrap Dolls” and working on commercial projects. Producer Ben Friedman is working on 2 documentary series for Reelz TV and commercial projects. DP John Anderson Beavers shot a documentary called “Symphony in D” and another short called “Roger” as well as commercials. Composer Phill Boucher made the music for the video game Civilization VI and the Disney Series Duck Tales. Editor Carmen morrow is the editor on the feature films “Mizz Arizona” and “Rich Kids” and the assistant editor on Impulse for Youtube Red.
Interview: March 2018
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTIAQ+, scifi, horror, world cinema. 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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Scrap Dolls
On the east side of Detroit, Jason, mourning the loss of his best friend Flora, meets an artist creating artwork out of discarded objects. Can they teach one another how to face their fears?
Length: 14 minutes
Director: Aude Cuenod
Producer: Ben Friedman
Executive Producers: Tyler Byrne, Richard Peete, Aude Cuenod
Writer: Aude Cuenod
Key cast: Eesaa Waller, Kenedi Cain, Matt Corbin
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Distributors, film festival directors, journalists
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scrapdolls/
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? TIFF KIDS in Toronto on March 16th, 18th and 22nd!