We’re on to day 5 of the festival, and sadly that means we’re about halfway through the festivities. But thankfully there’s still so much more to watch and enjoy from these talented filmmakers, including everything on today’s schedule. We’ll go through the highlights here, as well as add another installment to out “5 Questions With” series, this time with The Tale Of The Daughter directors Savannah Sivert and Taylor Hinds.
The Tale Of The Daughter – Sivert and Hinds bring us the story of a woman paying off a debt. Only, that debt isn’t hers, as she has now become the beneficiary of her mother’s issues after her mother has a stroke and must be taken care of. Jazlyn Yoder is terrific in this, as is Leslie Stevens. Plus, they added a small surprise in the mid-credits, which adds a fun dynamic to a film that already had plenty of that.
Physical Thoughts – While less than four minutes long, this film puts a lot of emotion and effort into the thoughts of a dancer as they reflect on an injury and the way dance communicates to others how they feel, what they think and how they express themselves. It’s ethereal and beautiful.
Clara With A Mustache – A beautiful animated film, it tells the story of a bank note as it travels from place it place. Through war, the criminal world and beyond, this is a story both dark and full of hope as we see the world in the journey of the note and how this differ through it all.
Space Invader – A touching tale of a kid dealing with his father in a new relationship, this is a heartwarming story that focuses on a creative typing mind trying to protect his parent while trying to figure out how this new dynamic will work.
Into The Silver Ether – This was a haunting film, with a silent film style that really suited it well as a 1920’s model goes in for a photo. The flickering lights and black and white filming made this a very unique experience that is unlike anything else at the festival.
To go with all of the amazing films from today’s schedule, we also had a chance to talk to Savannah Sivert and Taylor Hinds, the directing team of The Tale of the Daughter:
Q: Tell us more about your film. How did it come to be?
A month into the 2020 pandemic, we were spending hours face-timing Jazlyn Yoder and Chris Piñero, our producing partners and now housemates, with nothing but time we decided to make a movie. Jazlyn pitched us an idea of a daughter caretaking for her estranged mother and we asked the question, “What if a Loan Shark showed up demanding money?” From there, the film took root. The story started as a mother and daughter finding their way back to each other and ended up becoming the origin of the superhero we all needed.
Q: What was your budget?
We made the short for $35,000 with our dedicated crew and huge amounts of help from ARRI rental out of Burbank and Little Giant Lighting and Grip out of the Bay Area. Jazlyn Yoder’s family was kind enough to allow us to shoot in a cabin they owned and provide meals for the team. We were able to dream bigger because of all of this support. We are so grateful.
Q: What was the biggest takeaway from making the film?
In this film, we found the genre we want to continue to explore for years to come. The tonal balance of dark comedy mixed with the heartbreaking truths in drama that can change a chemical makeup of a character and visceral action that keeps you on the edge of your seat all to showcase a universal desire an audience can latch on to. Long story short, we will continue to do dark comedy and we will continue to do action hoping to go bigger and better every time. We have found our genre home and there is no going back.
Q: What was the biggest challenge in making this film?
Making movies this past year was an unusual challenge, as we’re sure everyone can understand. Not only were we under a tight timeline for a film with an action sequence, but we needed to find ways to keep our cast and crew’s safety as our top priority. Finding solutions within our budget to follow COVID protocols was a constant battle. We are forever grateful to the Movie Gods and those who worked on the film that we somehow got this done.
Q: What is next for you?
The same writing trio and producing team is at it again! Savannah, Jazlyn, and Taylor are developing the feature adaptation of the story, we can’t wait to share our extended world where even more is at stake for our characters. ‘The Tale of The Daughter’ feature script is one of multiple scripts our production company is currently developing, we are all excited to see what the future holds.
Thanks to all the filmmakers for their work! You can get tickets for all of the screenings for today, as well as any other blocks for the festival through BitPix and HollyShorts.
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