Oxford Film Festival 2020 – 2 Weeks
When 20-something-year-old Tanya begins to realize she’s asexual, the highly charged sexualized world she lives in as an actress and partner begins to fall apart and feels more and more like an unbearable nightmare.
Interview with Writer Margarita Zhitnikova and Director Victoria Negri
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
MARGARITA: I wanted to create representation and to further the conversation around asexuality, an identity that is rarely acknowledged, which leaves people feeling isolated. In general, our society wants everything in little understandable binary boxes: good or bad, sexy or ugly, smart or stupid, cool kid or freak. This way of thinking forces people to repress their authentic selves in order to fit in. For most of my life, I thought something was wrong with me. I didn’t relate to how the media and most of the people around me related to sex and attraction. I went along with it, ashamed and afraid to admit too much. I’d already dealt with a lot of depression and bullying, and it was easier to pretend I was “normal” since I didn’t have the vocabulary to explain how I felt anyway.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
VICTORIA: We love watching films because it gives us a glimpse into another existence, another life. Audiences should watch this film to have just that, to experience someone’s awakening with who they are and acceptance of this newfound persona through a genre piece.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
VICTORIA: The universal theme in 2 Weeks is coming to terms with who you are when the world is trying to tell you you’re something else. I’ve always been drawn to films about people unwillingly pushed to the fringes of society. The theme of the outsider is unraveled and explored in this film by depicting our protagonist Tanya’s reality as a nightmare. Tanya realizes she cannot behave in ways that were formerly expected of her when her world overwhelmingly feels like a bad dream.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
VICTORIA: This film has evolved so much throughout each stage of the process, as every project does. I remember working with Margarita early on, talking about the script and her personal experiences with asexuality, and then continually having conversations about tone and character. The film evolved greatly during the edit, and we continually pushed choices that favored the externalization of the protagonist’s trapped experience through visualizations around her. As they say, you make your film three times -- once in the script, once while shooting, and once in the edit.
MARGARITA: Everything Victoria said! The biggest evolution was moving the break-up scene from the end to the beginning. The story changed from living through a nightmare that jolts you into speaking your truth to finally having the courage to be yourself and then living with that decision. We also did pick up shoots to overtly state that Tanya is asexual. In earlier versions, I didn’t give Tanya those words because I didn’t have them for so long, but through getting feedback, it became apparent that the audience thought Tanya just wasn’t in love with Izzie and that couldn’t be farther from the truth!
VICTORIA: I love what Margarita says about not having the words to depict Tanya as overtly asexual. The challenge in making a piece that’s based on a personal experience is stepping outside of yourself to see the piece how audiences see it, stepping outside of yourself, and then looking at the film to see how it’s working on its own terms.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
MARGARITA: The screenplay was an Official Selection at the Hollywood Shorts Film Festival and is going to World Premiere at the Oxford Film Festival, which means they liked it! Feedback on the film has ranged from people reaching out to say that it’s given them hope to one day come out as ace to people thinking it’s a cool genre film to people just not getting it. It’s a complex topic to cover in a short amount of time and for some people, it’s their first exposure to asexuality, so I get it. Victoria and I knew we were making something weird and challenging, and that’s what I remind myself (let’s be real, Victoria and our team remind me) when people and/or festivals don’t get it. I also think it’s awesome that some people have reached out and said something along the lines of “hey, after watching/reading about the film, I realized I’m not asexual but maybe I’m not as driven by sex as I thought I was”. I love making something that’s a catalyst for people to look more deeply at themselves!
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
MARGARITA: Because of the personal nature of this project, the process has been a rollercoaster. I’ve been scared, excited, disconnected, jumping around with joy, offended… you name it. The feedback has served as a reminder that when you have something to say, it’s not about EVERYONE liking it.
VICTORIA: The feedback has been the way receiving feedback on any project is, and similar to crafting the language you choose to make any film: challenging. We workshopped this film early on at a filmmaking collective called the Filmshop and folks there really loved the cinematography (shoutout to Jesse Coyote Sanchez-Strauss) and the genre elements, but some were confused about the asexuality and Tanya’s journey in the film. We pulled ourselves up by our film bootstraps and dove back into the edit, did a pickup shoot and worked to tinker with it more. I believe opening yourself up to feedback throughout each step of the process is crucial to knowing what kind of a film you have on your hands and to improving as a filmmaker as well. I want to always be learning.
MARGARITA: And a shout out to Editor/work wife Stacey Maltin for going above and beyond in numerous ways!
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
MARGARITA: I hope to encourage open-mindedness. It would also be pretty great if people unfamiliar with asexuality did a google after reading about the film. Broadening our definitions of the human experience is beneficial to everyone. I’d also love for filmmakers to look at our cast and crew and consider them when hiring for their own projects because we had a really phenomenal, supportive and talented team.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
VICTORIA: We would love attention on the film while it begins its debut on the festival circuit, first virtually online at Oxford and beyond. We are ultimately looking for a distributor to place the film online.
Margarita: YES! It would be amazing to have more journalists & film festival directors/programmers on board while we do the festival circuit leading up to distribution.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
MARGARITA: I’d like for everyone who helped make it happen to receive Academy Awards… JK, I want this film to be known for inspiring audiences to self-reflect!
VICTORIA: I would love for people to escape into this world for its 9 minutes of runtime and to leave feeling the way Margarita has felt on her personal journey with asexuality -- scared, overwhelmed, and with questions for her about what it’s been like. This is a film driven by tone to make you feel what she’s felt, and I hope it opens up conversations.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
MARGARITA: What is it like to live your truth?
Would you like to add anything else?
MARGARITA: The world is burning!!!! We have lived through so much unacceptable BS in such a short time. At this point, I hope everyone with the means to make a film, chooses to do so with the intent of creating compassion, making space for everyone, in the name of equality and ending all of the “ism”s.
VICTORIA: I’d like to add that seeing how artists right now are handling COVID-19 has been inspiring. The acceptance that right now is an okay time not to create is just as important as those of us who are making things to process the world around us. Every experience is valid, every story is valid. I hope that we all continue to support each other and are stronger on the other side of the insanity currently happening.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Director Victoria Negri is in development on her second feature film Ultra, executive produced by David Lowery, Toby Halbrooks, James Johnston and produced by Allison Rose Carter and Jon Read. It’s inspired by the Badwater ultra-marathon and is a surreal take at a woman trying to outrun a past trauma while running a 135-mile race through the desert.
Actor/Writer/Producer Margarita Zhitnikova and their biz partner/work wife at Besties Make Movies, are in post-production on our feature film Triple Threat. Logline: Just as the life-long Broadway dream of three friends is coming true, one decides that he wants to be a father and not just to art babies. With three friends, two babies, and one messy love affair, personal and professional lines become crossed in irreversible and life-changing ways. Stacey directed the film and Carrie, Jackie, I are producing it along with Martha Frances Williams and I play the role of Maggie. The film also stars Catherine Curtin (Insecure, Stranger Things, Bad Education), Mark St. Cyr (High School Musical), and Jay DeYonker (The Borgias).
We are also in post on Appetite, a short film I wrote and star, in that Stacey directed and edited. Logline: Jack, an aging hedge fund CEO, hesitantly acquiesces when Ruby, his wife of 25 years, suggests they check out an open love party. Thrust into a new world, he is surprised to uncover the intimacy he actually desires with an asexual vegan. That film also stars Jeff Weber and Jordan Bayne.
Interview: June 2020
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, 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
2 Weeks
When 20-something-year-old Tanya begins to realize she’s asexual, the highly charged sexualized world she lives in as an actress and partner begins to fall apart and feels more and more like an unbearable nightmare.
Length: 8:05
Director: Victoria Negri
Producer: Stacey Maltin, Carrie Radigan, Jackie Schwartz
Writer: Margarita Zhitnikova
About the writer, director and producer:
VICTORIA NEGRI is an award-winning filmmaker. Her feature directorial debut, Gold Star -- which she wrote, directed, produced and acted in --features Oscar-nominated actor Robert Vaughn in his last on-screen performance. Gold Star won five awards on the festival circuit and was released theatrically in New York City, Los Angeles and Boston. The film received an 86% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Film School Rejects said about the film: "The directorial debut of Victoria Negri reveals a confident eye." Victoria is in development on her second feature film Ultra with Executive Producers David Lowery, James Johnston, and Toby Halbrooks and Producers Jon Read and Allison Carter.
MARGARITA ZHITNIKOVA (they/them) is a Russian/Jewish award-winning actor & filmmaker. As a child, Margarita & their family moved to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, from Russia, as Jewish refugees. Margarita grew up studying acting in the heart of NYC. Dedicated to smashing the patriarchy, they embraced writing & producing, leading them to Co-Found Besties Make Movies with Stacey Maltin. Margarita is a proud member of The Filmshop, NYWIFT, Dreamers // Doers, The COBWEB, NYC Women Filmmakers, Glass Elevator & Women in Media. They are also honored to be a judge for the Revolution Me Film Festival.
STACEY MALTIN is an award-winning filmmaker whose work has screened at festivals all over the world. She is currently in post-production on Triple Threat, her first feature as a director. Her first produced feature as a writer was acquired by The Orchard and has been released worldwide. Her scripts have been finalists in several development labs and featured on The Black List.
CARRIE RADIGAN is an independent producer based in NYC. Her films have screened at various festivals, including Fantasia, BFI London Film Festival, and OutFest Fusion. Her recent projects, Engaged directed by Dave Scala and Jones directed by Stacey Maltin are currently in the festival circuit. Her project The Invaders by Mateo Marquez screened at over 25 festivals in the 2018 circuit. She is in production for a documentary based on the 1997 Kevin Smith movie called Chasing Amy and a surrealist short comedy called Pancake Skank both by Sav Rodgers and a narrative feature about musicals and friendships called Triple Threat by Stacey Maltin.
JACKIE SCHWARTZ (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and activist. Her mission is to create content about marginalized communities and underrepresented voices. She’s produced web series and short films that have premiered and won awards at festivals throughout the country. She previously worked as an associate producer at Fully Branded Media, collaborating on films such as: The Romantics, Margin Call, and Kill Your Darlings. Jackie is a proud advocate of self-love and a board member of Realize Your Beauty.
Key cast: Margarita Zhitnikova (Tanya), Analine Ignacio (Izzie), Brad Calcaterra (Don), Jenilyn Rodriguez (Corey), JP Moraga (Linus), Stacey Maltin (Mellie), Jay DeYonker (Reese)
Looking for: film festival directors, distributors, journalists
Facebook: Besties Make Movies
Twitter: @BestiesMovies, @marzapproved
Instagram: @bestiesmakemovies, @victorianegri, @marzapproved
Hashtags used: #2weeksmovie #bestiesmakemovies #asexuality #representationmatters
Website: www.bestiesmakemovies.com/2-weeks, www.victorianegri.com
Made in association with: Besties Make Movies & Bold Compass Films
Funders: We crowdfunded via Seed&Spark with a fiscal sponsorship from From The Heart Productions.
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Oxford Film Festival/Virtual - June 19 1:00AM EDT - June 26 12:55PM EDT