Hello, this is Domenico Ro and you're listening to Radio St. Pete. I am here in the radio St. Pete Studios with Susanna Darwin. You're listening to the Filmmakers Round Table, and today we're gonna flip the script a little bit and Susanna, you're gonna, you're gonna interview me kind of, right? That's right, yeah.

I'm excited about this. Me too. Let's, uh, let's have a conversation about your film. Yeah. Becoming, tell us a little bit about becoming. So, becoming is a project that I started after getting a, um, a grant from the St. Petersburg, um, St. Pete Arts Alliance. Uh, and the really, the. Impetus behind this project was I wanted to create a film that brought together sort of the interdisciplinary arts in St.

Pete, the performing arts and the visual arts. I wanted to bring them together in one film. And so I wrote a piece and this piece was, very personal to me. This is a musical piece. A musical piece. Thank you. Thank you. I play, I compose and play piano. And so I wrote this piece, that really was about, emerging from like a dark.

A dark place. , and then I worked with a local choreographer and we, fleshed out this story. And it's a dance. You can call it a dance film or an art film. It's five minutes, it's short. I don't know , how much more I should give away. Right. Well that's, that's a fair thing. I did see the film, , and it's, it is gorgeous and Oh, thank you.

One of the things that's striking about it is where you shot it. Mm-hmm. And what was happening in this space. Yes. And that, that became very important to this, to telling this story, especially with the sort of political atmosphere in Florida that we have right now. So, , I chose. The, uh, an old, an old abandoned, , bus depot, an old PST bus depot, , as the setting.

, at the time, Chad, my was using it to, , to host an art show that featured local queer art. And so it becomes the setting of , this film, , and it really. Works really well when you think about the sort of political climate and what's happening, , to the queer community, , with this piece that I wrote in this choreography that's very emotional , and, and is sort about overcoming.

So , that's the setting. Yeah. And so you've got this sort of amazing giant open. Industrial space. With all this art around. . And then you have this very gorgeous, flowy, romantic, organic. . Yeah. Yeah. Dance happening. Yeah. , and it's like all of human life.

Boom. Right there. Yeah. You described it so well. I love it. Thank you. And so you got the grant and you worked with Helen French, right? The choreographer? Yes. So Helen French is the one who connected me with the choreographer. , Helen is sort of a local legend and. The local dance, you know? Yes.

Performing arts scene. And so she connected me with the choreographer and, uh, Caleb. And, he's brilliant. ,, the choreography he came up with was, I, I'm in love with it. It's beautiful. , it flows, it's energetic. And , he was really excited about the project.

It was really fun to work with too. , and then you worked with Caleb to find , your dancer or Caleb? Caleb did the dance. Oh, gotcha. He also danced. Okay. Yeah, he, yeah, he came up with the choreography I connection, sorry. He came up with the choreography and then he also, uh, was the performer in the Wow.

In the film. Mm-hmm. Wow. , it's a fascinating thing to conceive of the choreographer, choreographer choreographing for himself. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Knowing what his strengths and skills are. Yeah. And that he brought it to bear on your music, so well, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it was all his original choreography, but , he really, .

Did a great job at taking some direction from me. You know, I was like, oh, I want some jump here. You know, you know, from somebody who is not a dancer, right? Um, he really listened to what I had to say, you know, I want this, I want this part to be really energetic. And, uh, and he understood. He understood, I think , the depth of , the music that I wrote, and he really, um, I think it really resonated with him.

So whenever I was talking about , what I envisioned. Uh, it really stuck with him , and he went with it and he did a amazing job. Just amazing work. Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations about that. And so. Congratulations as well on getting into the sunscreen film festival. Oh, thank you. Yeah, which is at the end of April.

It is April. , April 24th to April 27th, and my film will be playing on the morning of April 27th, which is that Sunday. And it's part of the The Florida. Florida shorts. Florida shorts Two block. Yeah. Right, right. Good. And when you started down the path of getting becoming made.

Can you talk a little bit about what you envision for it in terms of it getting seen by audiences? Yeah, so, there's a few different approaches you can take, right? And so I think that as I was making the film as it was wrapping up, people were like, oh, like where can I download it? , where can I find it on YouTube?

. I had decided pretty early on that I wanted it to be. I, I wanted the release to be a little bit more meaningful, and so I really wanted to try, , hitting some of the film festival. Yeah. , that film festival circuit, , some would say, right, at least for the first year, you know, try to get in some film festivals.

I think film festivals are so interesting because you're getting your work in front of an audience. They're sitting in a, in a theater. They're watching it as, as someone who is there to appreciate. , film projects that are not necessarily created just to entertain you. I, I don't know if that's the right way , of putting it, but, you know, when you watch things on YouTube , or TikTok, I feel like a lot of times it, it just becomes sort of, you're just scrolling through and it's al mm-hmm.

It's almost this meaningless sort of. You know, play through of different films and I feel like having a film and a film festival gives a little bit more meaning and opens up conversation , about the film. And I really wanted people to think about my film , and have conversations about it.

Um, I. Yeah. And then after the year is over, , after the summer, I, I, I think I will, you know, release it online. Yeah. So people can continue , to access it, you know? But I was really excited about the possibility of getting into film festivals , and also meeting people and, and interacting with other filmers has been really, really rewarding.

Yeah. Yeah. , and, , sunscreen has been going on for decades now, and. You know, it's, it's well respected , in the community. It's a great film festival. It really is. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's where I saw your film Uhhuh. , that's where I saw, um, flag Act. Um, there's some great films , in the film festival.

They do a really good job. It's very well organized. It's a good film festival. I'm really happy to be in it, and I love that it's local, I love that it's all. All here in St. Pete, near right In all at the A MC, , sundial, right? Mm-hmm. Right. And as a, as a fellow filmmaker, I will say, there's really kind of nothing like seeing your film on the big screen.

Yeah, I'm a little nervous about that actually. You're gonna love it. I'm like so nervous. Like, because, 'cause you know, there will also be all my friends and family close. People I'm close with. And the idea of sitting down and seeing on a big screen, , together , is making me a little bit, , nervous.

I'm like, enjoy that. You're gonna, you're gonna love it. It's, there's nothing quite like it after, you know, how many times have you seen it on your laptop? Right, exactly. You know, even on a monitor when you're doing the color correction. Yeah. Yeah. Um, there's. You know, it's up there and you're surrounded by people in the dark.

You're having the experience that, , goes back probably pre-em. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and, and , savor that. Yeah. Well, I don't know what to expect. I dunno what kind of feelings are gonna go through me. That's why I'm so nervous. Be open to all of them. Have a good cry. Whatever. So, , besides sunscreen, did you target any other festivals?

So I did. , and one thing I should let our audience know about, uh, film festivals that you have to pay every time you submit. Yes. , and it can really add up. So, yes, I, I've been really trying to be conservative with. The kind of films that I, uh, the kind of film festivals I reach out to, , and,, some of the fees, you know, , you're spending like 50, some of them are like 50, 75 bucks to submit to.

, I haven't submitted to any of those really , high ticket, , film festivals. Um, but what the way I've been approaching it is I've been trying to. Look for film festivals that look interesting and are in places that I either have some kind of connection to. Yeah, so my film also got accepted to a film festival in, in New York that focused, it focused specifically on African American dancers.

. Because, 'cause , Caleb Baker, , who dances in the film is, , African American descent. , so that was exciting. , they accepted it. And then I also, recently just got accepted to a, uh, a film festival, in San Diego, , called the Queer Movement Festival, which focuses on, .

Dance films, um, buying about the queer community. Oh, wow. Which I thought was interesting too. Yeah. So I've been looking for, , for those kinds of film festivals. , and uh, and , the more niche of a film festival that you get, I find that also the price point is lower for when you submit. That is true.

. Because it's about accessibility , for those kind of film festivals. Right. So I've been, I've been applying to those, but I think I'm ready to start applying to some of those, um, bigger film festivals. Yeah. I'm gonna give that a shot, and then I think I'll be done. I'll stop and then , I'll prepare for an online release.

Yeah. Well, if I can offer some, unsolicited advice, please forgive me. Yeah, no, please. I need all those cards. So film freeway handles 90% plus of all festival applications. And so what I did with Flag Act and my other shorts, is you join , their gold status. I know I did. Yeah, I did that. And you do that for one month and you do a pile up of your applications because usually the discount is about 50%.

Yeah, that's good. Mm-hmm. And they insure it. Meaning that if the festival goes bust, they give you your money back. Oh, interesting. Like if they, if the, for whatever reason the festival doesn't happen, and that way it helps you get the most out of your, , out of the money that you're putting into it.

Mm-hmm. Like, I just kind of drew a line, it was like, okay, I'm spending this much and no more. And, but because , the cycle of flag act that I was envisioning was two years basically. There were, I think it was three different months that I was like, okay, this month I'm joining, , film Three Gold, again, go through , a set of applications because it's rolling through the year, but you then can sort of maximize your impact.

And I, and it sounds like what you're doing with regard to finding the niche. So there's the dance niche, there's the African American dancer niche. Mm-hmm. There's the queer niche. , you find those niches , and you capitalize on them. Mm-hmm. . But like , there were a few of the higher ticket ones that I applied to for FLAG Act.

What I found was Flag Act, which sort of surprised me, was that there was less of a European audience than I expected, and I hadn't realized , how many of the jokes were so distinctly American. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I mean, I thought the anti, I see that, I thought the anti-fascist kind of, uh, thread would be a draw, but.

It is very American. And , that's not a surprise. , I remember going to Europe, um, 40 years ago and discovering, oh, I'm an American. So here it is, being reminded of that. So, um, with regard to the festivals that , are coming up, I mean I don't wanna sound superstitious, but , sometimes it's considered bad luck to you make an application and then you tell the world about the application.

It's like you gotta wait until you get in before you tell the world. Yeah, of course. You know? And so there's that catch. So , do you, have you got a budget for how much you wanna spend and do you have a number of festivals that you wanna apply to or, , no, I, I haven't done that. I guess I should, that would probably help.

, I probably should create a budget. I've just been trying to be conservative, but I, like I said, I think I'm gonna do one last, one last effort. Yeah. , make, a few, maybe I'll, maybe that's a good place to start, , because when I look at a film festival, , it's $60 to apply, I am like, well, how many of those can I realistically apply to you?

Exactly. And so , maybe if I create a budget and then throw it, you know, flag all or favorite, , all of those film festivals, then I can start to prioritize. So maybe that's that. Yeah. I think I'll take your advice on that. I think that's good. You know, , and let's say you create a budget of $300 mm-hmm.

Just to pull a number and, , you pick two that are 60 and then you get a bunch that are 18. Yeah, yeah, yeah. , then you're increasing your chances. And , the question that remains outstanding to me is. The extent to which getting in, , this festival helps you get into that one. You know, so you're in sunscreen.

Do you attract attention? From other festivals because you're in sunscreen. So this is a que I have a question for you now this, because this is something I've been, that has been aching. So when you get into a festival, you get like the laurel, right? Right. And so for those of you listening, so if you, whenever you watch these sort of indie films or , these award-winning films, you know usually in like the, at the end of the trailer or something.

Yeah. You'll see like a collection of these little sort of logos that have these laurels on them and it's. It's to sort of commemorate all the festivals they got into, or Right. They got an award for, and so I was wondering like, should I add a screen of that to what my trailer or my film, is it too pretentious to do that?

Like that's a hard Yes. Do that. Oh yes. Do it, do that. Okay. Okay. Okay. I mean, like to the, lemme put it this way, my, , the background for my LinkedIn. Profile is a bunch of laurels. Oh, okay. You know, because what it says is, you know, I've been in festivals and, you know, then, , you can also indicate that you won like the, you can change , the wording of the laurel to say, , best L-G-B-T-Q dance film or whatever.

Okay. Okay. So, so, so it sounds like maybe even in like the film poster, I should put them. Mm-hmm. Really? Yes. Okay. All right. Yeah, , I totally am with you about the pretentious part, , and trying to, be modest and. But yeah, no. Okay. Alright. I'll try. I'll try. All right. I'll do that.

Yeah. And , so you said New York, San Diego. , what other geographies do you imagine? So I was looking in Europe and there were some film festival in New York that I really wanted to apply for. They were more expensive. Yeah, there's like a Paris Short film festival. I was like, oh, this would be great.

Especially since a lot of the, um. I think a lot of, a lot of the film that sort of influenced this project came out of, you know, when I was in college I discovered these like French directors that made , these French, these that directed these music videos and I really liked the movement in them.

And I think that, , when I really think about it, I think that really influenced. Um, you know, the film that I made, , becoming, , so it was very exciting for me to apply for that. But I, like, I was like, oh, that's kind of expensive, but I think I'd like to get it into mm-hmm. You know,, a film festival in Paris I have applied to.

Film festival , in the UK and some film festivals , in Asia as well. Cool. , and there I also applied to a film festival in Nigeria and I got accepted, , which is interested , and in Italy as well. Mm-hmm. , in Sicily specifically. And they gave me like an award, like best Short, something I short, best short film, I think , best short film.

And then I tried to ask them, I was like, when are you gonna play this film? And I was a little confused, and I don't know if it's a language barrier, but I speak Italian too, so I thought we'd be fine, but I, I'm not sure if it's my communication or theirs. Um, but, uh, I couldn't figure out when they're playing it.

So I think what they do is they screen it amongst themselves. This is what, this is what I'm gathering. They screen it amongst themselves and then they'll just show it. Someday, but they don't have a plan. It's very Italian of them. Right. They don't have, , they're just like, oh, one day we'll show it, , we'll show it on our, in our theater one day.

I can say this because I'm Italian, I know what it's, I know what it's like. , so that's been, you know, that's been fun. You know, the idea of having an international premiere has been, is like super exciting to me. Like, oh, it's playing in a different country. , so yeah, I would like to play more in, in Europe and like you mentioned, because my film has no dialogue.

It's really art film. , I'm hoping that , . It'll, uh, appeal, appeal to them. Yeah. You know, as well. So, , yeah. It's sort of like flow. Yeah. The film that, that, yeah. The Academy Award, look at how well that's been received. That has no dialogue. And so every human on the planet can make sense of it, and I love that.

And I like that about my music too, you know? Yeah. I've always. My music, I, , my, my piano music that I compose has, you know, has, is no lyrics. , it's just instrumental and I've always, I've always liked the idea that, well, anyone can listen to this and understand it. Right. You know, when you were composing , the song that is the spine of Becoming mm-hmm.

Were you already picturing. How it would lay behind a film or, , so I think when I first started writing it, maybe not. , but then as I started to, uh, as I really started to work on it and flesh it out, I did imagine like this sort of, these like a movement to it, right? Like a, like a dance to it as I was writing it.

Um, and then obviously once I got , the, um. The grant and I formed this project. Then I really, you know, I revisited this song and I, I fleshed it out more. And then I actually worked with Caleb as well. Mm-hmm. You know, I kind of showed him, I let him listen to the song and some variations and he really liked it.

Um, well, one thing that you mentioned mm-hmm. Pardon me for interrupting. Uh, I think in one of our previous conversations was that, so you had the recording that you used to do the shoot. Mm-hmm. And then you went back to the composition and rerecorded it. Yeah. To, , and, ,, I'm not challenging this.

I think it's brilliant that you went back and placed a little more emphasis in certain places. Mm-hmm. Or, , changed the tempo a little bit just so that it matched the edit. Yeah. Better. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Can you talk about that process? Yeah. Yeah. So, so once I had all the, the footage and I started editing and putting it together, you know, I'm placing everything.

Along the timeline, , over this music piece, right? And I had, and I had finished it, and I, I was watching it through and, and I considered doing this actually as I was doing this process. Like maybe I'll rewrite, rerecord the song afterwards. Um, and it really made sense to, because I knew, I think one of, , my beliefs is that you lean into your strengths to sort of empower your other.

, the other things you want to work on. Right? Right. And so I decided that if I could lean into that, right, I, I know I could rerecord this very easily. , I could really make this shine. And so, and so what I did was I took my finished edit. I muted it, and then as it was playing,

, I replayed the song and recorded it as I was watching the piece. So this way I could inflect greater emotion in the parts that I wanted, that I saw on screen were very emotional for Caleb. And so I, , in a way it kind of exaggerated the song, so that it could sort of mold to , the dance.

I really liked the way that came out, you know? Yeah. I can't imagine that you wouldn't. Undertake that if it's gonna improve the final project. Yeah. Yeah. , and again, it's an advantage for me because most if, if somebody else was directing this , or editing this, right?

They wouldn't have that ability. They're giving the song and they're giving the footage and they gotta make it work. Right. But I, I can do that. So I was like, why not? You know? Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. Anything else we need to know about becoming Oh, becoming, anything else you need to know? , everything in the film is local, down to the threads, right?

Everything in becoming was locally made. Even , the costume was made by , a local fashion designer, , Candace Stokes, , the cinematographer, Zach Moore of Coastal Creative. , we worked with Chad Mis, like I mentioned. Mm-hmm. , Caleb Baker, also from St. Pete. , and I'm really proud of that.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and the idea that now it's playing in the local film festival is just. You know, icing on the cake. I think that's so fun. , I hope Caleb is gonna be able to be there. Uh, yeah. As well as your cinematographer. I hope so too. Well, Zach is very excited. Zach is, is very experienced with filming.

, but he's done a lot of commercial mm-hmm. Sort of things. And so I think this is one of his first sort of forays into a more artistic. Project. And so he's excited. And, , somebody he works with at Coastal Creative also got one of their films , in the festival as well. So he's very excited.

So it's gonna be fun, I think. Yeah. I'm still nervous, but I think , it'll be good. Yeah. Enjoy it though. I, congratulations again. Thank you. And, , sunscreen on, , the morning of , April 27th. Yes. With the Florida shorts number two. Yeah. 11:00 AM on that Sunday.. Congrats.

Yeah. Thank you.