When the chance you take could be your last.

Interview with Writer/Director/Producer/Actor Madeline Vail

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

I literally got tired of waiting around for permission or for someone else to choose to make my project and decided to do it myself. Simple as that.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

It's a 6-minute thrill ride that you don't have to wait in line for or worry about getting stuck upside down with a faulty seat belt.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

The film is about trusting your own instincts, your gut, first and foremost; placing value on your intuition over other people's advice in regards to what they think you should do with your life in general. And of course, the age-old theme of the pushy mother that wants her daughter to get married and give her grandchildren already.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

On the first day of shooting, my DP said to me, "Now just relax and have fun. Try to keep in mind there are three movies when you are making a film: the one you write, the one you shoot and the one you edit." I knew I would be working on a limited budget so I racked my brain for a story that could be shot in one location, in one evening with a very small cast. I decided to use a short story that my daughter had written for a creative writing class at UCLA. It was written in the third person omniscient and I decided to adapt the screenplay into a more traditional narrative form. Then, of course, there were things I had written that needed to be changed in regards to production but they ended up being obstacles that turned into opportunities. And finally, in post-production, the music, the sound...it was a very powerful experience to share the creative experience with so many people moving in the same direction to achieve the same goal.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

The audience feedback has been the most rewarding. I can literally hear people reacting the way I intended as the film is screening and its thrilling.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

The feedback has only encouraged me to move forward with making films I would like to see myself. I'm not interested in promoting an agenda or "educating the masses." There are plenty of those kinds of stories out there that are indeed very important and need to be told but I feel for as many as there are plenty of talented filmmakers that are called to make those films but I don't think I'm one of them.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

I would love to find a platform for people to be able to see the film any time they want.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

Probably all of the above.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

I want people to have the feeling of pure entertainment, to go on an emotional ride where they are nowhere else but in my story, my world for those six minutes.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

Have you ever done something even though "you had a bad feeling" right before doing it?

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

I am presently working on my first feature, a romantic, supernatural thriller that I can unequivocally say there has been nothing else like it, ever.

Interview: May 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

Crimson Cuffs

When the chance you take could be your last.

Length: 7:00

Director: Madeline Vail

Producer: Madeline Vail

Writer: Madeline Vail

About the writer, director and producer:

MADELINE VAIL was born in Indianapolis, Indiana to a devout Hoosier and a Cuban dissident. Her first short story was written at the age of ten and was a thrilling narrative that gave all the horrific details of one’s last day under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. Her classmates listened with mouth’s agape as Vail described in vivid detail children grasping onto their mother’s aprons as they choked on smoke and how prostitutes and pillars of society alike were caught by the relentlessly rolling molten lava. Vail went on to graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of Florida and married her college sweetheart, international award-winning, Los Angeles based contemporary artist Edward Walton Wilcox. Vail spent the next two and a half decades managing Wilcox’s career, working on and off as a professional actress, and raising their three children, Patience, Temperance and Serenity - the namesake of her production company, Three Virtues Films.

Key cast: Sandra Glinka as Laurena, Ben Furney as Stranger, Madeline Vail as Sarah, Alexander Rain as Jeremy

Looking for: distributors, sales agents, film festival directors, buyers

Facebook: Madeline Vail

Instagram: @ohmissvail

Hashtags used: #noir #thriller #blinddate #dating #suspense #shortfilm #awardwinning

Website: threevirtuesfilms.com

Other: IMDb

Made in association with: Three Virtues Films, LLC

Funders: Self-funded

Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Romford International Film Festival/London-August 5; Sunscreen International Film Fest/St. Petersburg, FL TBA; Methodfest/Beverly Hills, CA- August 14-20; WorldFest-Houston - TBA.