ALL WE WERE, 20min., USA
Directed by Emily Aleece Burton
Olivia, a struggling artist and hopeless romantic, is blindsided when her successful boyfriend, Nico, suddenly dumps her. The two then reflect on all their relationship from two perspectives. For her, he's a broken distraction she can fix; for him, she's a beautiful mystery just out of reach. What happens when you fall in love with the idea of someone you've created in your head instead of who they actually are? Can you honestly say you knew all we were?

https://www.instagram.com/allwewerefilm/

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
I chose to write and direct this short film, 'All We Were,' after getting out of a toxic relationship of my own. I fell in love with a man who allowed me to feel safe and vulnerable for the first time only for him to then use that against me when I expressed how insignificant I felt to him. After months of therapy, I wanted to create something beautiful not only to take back my voice that I felt that he had dismissed but to explore both sides of the relationship to see where along the way we got lost in translation. People tend to fall in love with the idea of someone instead of who they are. The same goes for my lead characters, Olivia and Nico. In the end, Nico uses radical honesty to try and deflect any blame for the outcome of the relationship. At the same time, Olivia refuses to believe him as she has hung on to any breadcrumbs of love he's ever given her as proof to herself that he does care. Neither one ever sees the other for who they actually were.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
At first, the process was so quick. I gave myself a month to write it in October 2020, locked the script by November, started crowdfunding by Thanksgiving, and then shot it in January 2021. The post-production is where we took the longest. It took us almost two years of work going into the end of 2022. I don't think a lot of first-time filmmakers think about that in their planning, especially when everyone on your team is committed to other projects or graduating film school, all while working out kinks that you said you could just "fix in post." We didn't want to rush this vital part of the filmmaking process and took our time to get it as perfect as possible within our budget.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Foresaken love

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Does almost passing out and dying on set count? When we shot the bathtub scene, there was a moment where I almost passed out. I remember filming it and it was one of the first scenes of the day, so I only had a large iced chai latter in my stomach. It was I who insisted on doing it before lunch so we could get it out of the way since it was the shortest scene of the film. Our team accidentally got the water in the bathtub too hot in order to make the bubbles bigger, but I didn't think it would be hotter than a hot tub. However, I did not factor in the fact that I had an empty stomach, heat from the bright lights shining on me, more heat from lit candles lining the tub, on top of the nerves from doing such a vulnerable scene that we were only able to do two takes before my vision started getting splotchy. My intimacy coordinator ran into the bathroom to help me out of the tub and get me cooled off with cold water and crackers. I definitely learned that going forward to only do scenes like that after lunch!

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
I was elated to see people understand my initial vision for the film. Rarely do you get feedback from festivals and being able to know that the audience connected with these characters and could feel the chemistry through the screen was all I wanted. It's fascinating to see which characters the viewers connect with more because there is no right or wrong character to me. They are both messed up people who should not be together and people tend to side with the character they relate to more, so it is interesting to see which one they pick.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
I always knew I wanted to write, but I did not know I wanted to make films until much later in life. Frankly, I did not realize people could get paid for it until I was in high school. I had always been involved in theatre, so acting was second nature to me, but I never knew how to combine writing and acting until I met the playwright Del Shores. On the opening night of my college production of his play Sordid Lives, I asked him why he started writing and it was simply because he was never getting offered roles he loved as an actor, so he decided to do it himself. I took that philosophy and ran with it. I knew I wanted my stories and novels to turn into movies one day, but what was stopping me from just writing the film to begin with? Directing followed shortly after my mentor, Peter Werner instilled so much faith in my capabilities of telling stories that I should be the one to make them come to life as the director. Because I was an actor, I knew what actors needed in a script and from a director to give their best performance. To this day, working with actors will always be my favorite part of filmmaking.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
In all honesty, The Devil Wears Prada has got to be my most-watched film simply because it is the perfect hero's journey story. I believe it is a perfect film that fulfills all the archetypes of a hero's journey with a powerful and captivating female-led cast, plus the fashion is absolutely incredible!

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
Transparency regarding the actual time length preferred for short films. I think it's easy for festivals to say short films should be under 40 minutes because that is Academy standards; however, if you know your programming will most likely not be able to accommodate 20-minute-long short films, then be open and honest about only wanting films under 15 minutes or so. The lack of transparency can be discouraging for some filmmakers who are unsure as to why their film wasn't selected for a particular festival either because of the quality of the film or simply because of the time length.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
FilmFreeway was more of my producer, Epiphany James', platform, but together we used to source a lot of indie film festivals that we had not heard of before and I think it was a neat way to find festivals that we might have overlooked without it.

10. What is your favorite meal?
Nothing beats a warm, buttery lobster roll for me!

11. What is next for you? A new film?
Currently, I am writing a feature film that I hope to produce and direct again. I'm also planning out a couple of music videos with some artists that I am close friends with all while co-hosting my dating and lifestyle podcast, The Gal's Guide.