Summary
Writer-directorAristotle Torreshas a lot of thoughts about both his debut feature and art in general.
ARISTOTLE TORRES: Well, that all came about [with] a combination of luck and preparations.
I made this short film in 2018, and I really just wanted to make it a play.
Image via Kino Lorber
What was your experience going through the Sundance labs?
It’s funny, I think you nailed it.
I mean, Quentin Tarantino was their first student, who was there 10 years ago.
Image via Kino Lorber
It’s just a special place.
I wanted to double-check not to forget about that.
What was your approach to capturing this kind of visual?
Image via Kino Lorber
It almost felt like poetry as a way of bringing us into this world.
How did you approach the visual style of the film?
I really appreciate you acknowledging that.
I think the way you do that is through color.
It’s through lens tracing.
It’s where you put the camera.
Its the texture of the wallpaper.
All those things kind of work in a ballet to create one image that hopefully is conveying an emotion.
I worked really closely with my DP, Eric Branco.
Obviously, it’s been expounded upon, but that was the roots that started it.
Let’s get an over-the-shoulder, over-the-shoulder.
Let’s get a close-up, and we’ll figure it out in the edit.
When you’re seeing that angle on a close-up, I only got that line on that close-up.
So this is a really small movie.
It’s an indie.
We don’t have a lot of time.
I average seven to nine pages a day.
I like to storyboard, and I like to short-list.
What are the things that were processing in your mind?
I don’t think I was too hyper-conscious about that.
So many influential artists of our time have come from there, and it’s a special place.
I just wanted to check that that myself and my crew are respectful of the neighborhoods we shot in.
It was really just exploring and understanding that.
I was especially thinking of when we shift into the apartment scenes.
We just feel a sense of relief and exhale, similar to what Kadir is feeling in the story.
What is your thought in terms of how you found that balance?
To me, that’s just my world.
I think humans are flawed, and people are flawed.
For one, I’m never putting my ego in front of the film.
It’s always about what’s real, what’s authentic that plays out in that moment.
How has your perspective changed?
Have you found that place, and is there anything that you’re working on?
Not even just a film, but it could be of what you want to do next.
At the end of the day, I’m an artist, you know?
I am writing my next movie, but I don’t know if that is my next movie.
It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
So just doing my best to stay present in this, the movie comes out tomorrow.
Story Aveis now showing in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles.
