1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?

I’m a playwright, so I come from a theater background. In theater, the playwright has a lot of power —  you have final say over every word that’s said on stage. But you don’t control the visual elements. As I became more interested in visual storytelling, and having more creative control over my work, I became more interested in pursuing film. Film has always been my favorite artistic medium, but the process of making a film seemed mysterious and impossible. It still seems that way most days. But I like challenges. 

2) What’s the backstory here - what was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there?

I like doing work with verbatim text — when you interview people and use their exact words to create a script. So I interviewed a variety of bi/pan/queer people about their experiences living in a world that often expects a very strict binary of “straight” or “gay.” It’s something that routinely frustrates me in my day to day life, so I figured I wasn’t alone. I asked them: “What rules do you feel others expect you to follow, and what rules do you create for yourself?” I took those interviews, along with my own experiences, and assembled them into a script. Then I came up with a list of games that I felt mirrored portions of the script — actions and items that, to me, evoked the same feeling as the interviews. I wanted to ground each of the games with real emotions and frustrations that people had experienced. The film is abstract, yes — theatrically heightened and strange. But nothing is done arbitrarily. Hopefully that comes through. 

3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And generally what part of the creative process do you enjoy the most, and the least?

Coming from the theater world, I didn’t know many people who also worked in film. So finding collaborators was tricky at first. Not a lot of people were willing to give me the benefit of the doubt — and I don’t really blame them. I don’t have a long film resume, and I didn’t go to school for it. I had a DP tell me they refuse to work with theater directors because theater people don’t know how to “think cinematically.” So just trying to assemble a team was pretty soul crushing at first. But once I found my team of collaborators it was such a joy, and each of the women who joined the production team not only understood my vision but enhanced it.

As for my favorite and least favorite parts of the creative process….my favorite part of the creative process is right at the very beginning. I become like a bowerbird, collecting bright bits of things for my nest. I assemble hundreds and hundreds of images for inspiration, create mood boards, hoard color swatches — anything that gives me the “feeling” of the piece I want to create. I love those early moments, when everything is exciting and the possibilities feel endless and I don’t have to talk to anyone about it, because I’m very shy. My least favorite part will reveal itself once I have more experience filmmaking, I think. Because right now it’s all fairly terrifying. 

4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?

I just saw GREENER GRASS and loved it — it’s so delightfully psychotic. A hilarious psychedelic suburban comedy-of-terrors, written and directed by two first-time feature filmmakers, Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe. I love watching the strange and the spectacular, on film or on stage. I want to see work and create work that makes you feel like you fell into the Twilight Zone. GREENER GRASS fits the bill. 

5) What’s next for you?

Currently I’m finishing up an animated short I’ve been working on with visual artist Lauren Kerr, and trying to figure out how to start pre-production for my next short when the whole city is gearing up for a large-scale quarantine. How do you make a shooting schedule during a pandemic? Let’s find out.

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http://francescapazniokas.com

IG: @f.am.p