META (2017)
by Connor Gowland '17 and Charlie Losiewicz '19
Psychological thriller/puzzle film
On the brink of a psychological breakthrough, two researchers discover a way to manipulate the past.
Directors' note: We love the puzzle film because it forces audiences to be active, to re-watch the film in order to wrap their heads around it. Our goal was to do it in a unique way. Shane Carruth's Primer was our biggest influence, with cinematic similarities such as the yellow and green color palettes, as well as the use of witty scientific jargon. To us, the most important difference between Meta and many other puzzle films is in its gender representation. The puzzle film commonly deems women as "crazy" or "emotional", resulting in unreliable female characters. Our goal was to empower our female protagonist through writing, directing and editing. We gave Andie more screen time to control the shots and to motivate the edits. We emphasized Andie's internal psychology so that audiences would identify with her rather than stare at her. Throughout the 15+ script rewrites, the weekends of shooting, and the countless hours in the editing room, we found ourselves saying "This would be a good way to go plot-wise... but it'll destroy the politics." In the end, navigating the balance of plot and politics helped us think outside the box to tell an original story that we are proud to share with the world.
Finalist best sci-fi/futuristic short: Alternative Film Festival, Toronto
Closiewi@conncoll.edu cgowlandfilm@gmail.com