Focus on AFI Conservatory - Lux Noctis
In a post apocalyptical matriarchal community, grieving Lina faces her trial to bring light or perish to the darkness. Mara’s act of compassion pushes Lina to overcome herself and create an unprecedented amount of light.
Interview with Writer/Director Damiana Acuña
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
This is an AFI Conservatory thesis film, made by five other fellows and myself to pursue our Master of Fine Arts Degree. I brought this particular project forward because it required a larger scaled production. I believed the support of my fellow collaborators and the Conservatory were crucial for its development which I wouldn’t have had back in Mexico and made me hold on to this idea until now.
I wanted to create a matriarchal society, in a post apocalyptical setting, where women’s ability to create light enabled them to survive a danger in the dark. To create a poetic, feminine and eerie short film I could develop as a longer form in the future.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
This is a visual film that will take the audience on a visual, non dialogue journey. One where there are elements beneath the surface, allowing for each person to dive as deep as they want. If you are the type of audience, like myself and other creators of this project, who doesn’t like being beaten in the head or spoon fed information, who seeks to do the work of interpreting stories discovering what resonates with you, who enjoys contemplating and reflecting once the story on screen has come to an end, this is the film for you and you belong to the audience we created this film for.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Lina, the protagonist, is still dealing with the grief of having lost her mentor Viola whom she was once made to shadow/follow. The matriarchal society Lina lives in is one where women have repressed their feelings in order to survive and have adopted a rather patriarchal way of life.
Lina’s particular inner journey is taken from my own personal struggle and the portrayal of this strict community comes as a criticism to the society we live in, where we tend to hide away our most vulnerable selves, to deny the feminine and those wounds where I believe we are to find our brightest light.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Our film made history in the AFI Conservatory as the first film to have been shutdown by a global pandemic. We had shot the beginning and ending scenes of our story before having to send home our cast and crew of over 60 people. Over seven months, I rewrote the story to fit production under difficult COVID guidelines. My brave team of collaborators supported the idea of leaning more towards an arthouse piece and we decided to take away the dialogue, focusing on the essence of the story and world we wanted to put on screen. We shot the middle section of our film in the fall and joined it together with the scenes we had shot before, making this a very unique journey and one that has made us evolve as storytellers.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We finished the film only a few days ago and are yet to start our festival run, so the only feedback we’ve gotten so far has been from within the Conservatory. We’ve been told the feedback from our test screening has been one of the most polarized in recent years. Those looking for clearer, more conservative storytelling do not connect with our film but at the same time, there are other members in the audience, including AFI faculty and staff, who’ve given us the greatest praise one could wish for.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I was fortunate enough to have my cherished group of collaborators commit to the uniqueness of this film with all their might. On occasion, I would question if we weren’t leaning or straying too far away from the more classical storytelling paths we had been taught and had been exposed to, and it would be my own teammates who would suggest we keep leaning towards the path less traveled.
This kind of unwavering support gave us the confidence to finish the film how we intended it and we are all very excited to discover what feedback from selected audiences out there might be in store for us.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
This is a great way to start our festival run. It is as if we were getting a blessing or good luck cheer before we even start submitting our film and start knocking on doors.
It would be great to get insights or recommendations from both the circuit's professionals and filmmakers on which festivals might be more interested in our type of project as we begin to seek out for the host of our world premiere.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Any of the aforementioned could be great for our film, but since we are just getting started, our current focus is on film festivals. We are interested in sharing our film in the incredible atmosphere that exists in film festivals where other talented filmmakers and artists meet.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I intend to develop this story to be made into a feature or a TV series (under the right circumstances).
I hope the world of our short will capture people’s interest and that we will get to share this all women cast and story with audiences across the world, as to celebrate the two year long, challenging journey many of us gave our hearts to.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
The controversial “where are all the men?” is an audience’s favourite, the answer to which will be elaborated in the longer version.
“Who is Viola?” is the most common one and I believe the answer to be there for those careful, proactive watchers.
Would you like to add anything else?
I would like to thank every single kindhearted person in the endless list of people who helped make this film possible.
This film is made proudly with an all women cast as well as female writer, director, producer, cinematographer and production designer. Our lead, our editor and myself are Mexican.
All together, we created a small community of diverse filmmakers who brought this world of light and darkness to life. Finishing this film has been the greatest honour of my life and I thank you for the opportunity to share these words.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am currently developing a feature film titled Aurum, workshopped in Cine Qua Non’s Script Revision Lab and I am starting to develop the longer version of the aforementioned short film.
Our producer Alexander Rudolph is a Junior Executive for an Independent Producer and is producing two feature films and developing a feature.
Our co-producer Blanca Ballesté works actively in Los Angeles, Olivia our cinematographer is a mentee on Spain’s Netflix series “Paraiso”, Molly Moses our production designer is currently working as a construction PA on an Amazon TV series and our editor Mario Andrew Fierro is currently Cardi B’s videographer.
Interview: July 2021
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
Lux Noctis
Length:
11:55
Writer/Director
Born and raised in Mexico, writer/director DAMIANA ACUÑA moved to Los Angeles, with the support of the prestigious FONCA-CONACYT scholarship, to pursue a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Film Directing at the American Film Institute Conservatory.
Damiana’s poetic visual storytelling focuses on female led, magical realism narratives that hunt for the sublime through the ethereal, the profound and the philosophical.
Writer/Producer
Growing up in the Rocky Mountains, writer/producer ALEXANDER RUDOLPH was drawn to the contrast between mother nature’s beauty and the individuals who push themselves within her most extreme environments. His early work reflects that world – working on film and TV projects for Redbull Media House, ESPN, and Powder Magazine. He has since shifted toward a path telling broader stories about life and passion — adventure; extracting those innate feelings and sharing them with the world.
Key cast:
Mariel Molino (Lina), Nita Chikadze (Mara), Christine Kellogg-Darrin (Elder Sarah).
Looking for:
film festival directors, buyers, distributors, journalists
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/luxnoctisfilm/
Hashtags used:
#femalefilmmakers #womeninfilm #femaledirector #shortfilm #womenbehindthecamera
More info:
www.luxnoctisfilm.com
Made in association with:
AFI Conservatory