Interview: Stella Velon, First-time Director on Award-winner, The Critic.

Stella Velon ‘s film is called THE CRITIC. It’s a psychological drama/thriller which she wrote, directed, and also starred in as the female lead. The film is about an actress who sits down at an interview, having just won a major award for her breakout performance as a drug-addled woman (a role close to home for her), among other things. But instead of basking in the glory of her achievement and recognition, she is submitted to intense scrutiny by a mysterious reporter, played by my terrific male lead and co-star Alan Smyth!

Without giving away too much, the concept behind this project is the artist with their own worst critic, their own self, and can also be broadly applied to anyone suffering from/dealing with imposter syndrome. I intended the film to have a very universal appeal, by telling a painfully personal story, all seen through the eyes of an actress, facing her worst demons. I am a firm believer that the more personal the story, the more universal its appeal.

I am also drawn to the psychology of characters in films and in real life (what motivates them and their actions), and I wanted to explore that and illustrate how our perceptions alter our reality and the way we experience the world around us.

The movie had incredible success on the festival circuit that I am still amazed by to this day. We won almost every festival that we played after our World Premiere at the Boston Film Festival with a total of over 20 awards as of today’s date. Most recently, we were also named among the winners of Amazon Studios’ first All Voices Film Festival (amazon.com/allvoices) for U.S. filmmakers from underrepresented backgrounds in a final selection of ONLY 5 winning films! The jury included top executives from Amazon Studios and IMDb. I was also named Best Director at the 2018 UK Film Review Awards in the company of Oscar-winning films such a ROMA, A STAR IS BORN, etc. Incredible! As a first-time filmmaker with no real, recognizable talent in the short, I am still soaking it all in. Someone pinch me!

We also had an extremely warm reception by the indie film press, with critics praising all aspects of the film! We even broke a record by becoming the very first short to receive a full 5-star rating on IndieShortsMag.com and were later elected their Editor’s Pick – “The Best Of All, From 2018!”. Because of all this success, I am currently in the process of turning it into a feature, which was not my initial intention. I wrote THE CRITIC as a short and thought that because it is so conceptual, it won’t be very easy to turn it into a feature (as many people have been inquiring lately), but I proved myself wrong because as soon as I sat down to write, I had the first treatment that same evening. Stay tuned for more!

indieactivity : How did you develop ‘your film’?
Stella Velon : Because I started developing several projects as a creator, I wanted to shoot something of my own and also something that challenged me. This particular story is something that has been in me for some time, waiting for the right moment to come out. What’s funny is I actually wrote the script even before the whole Time’s Up / #MeToo movements started as some film critics commented on that and while it is one of the underlying subjects that I touch on, it is not the main topic of the movie, which is the artist (but really anyone) with their own worst critic: the person in the mirror. Hence the use of mirror shots in the film too.

indieactivity : How was it financed?
Stella Velon : Jean Gabriel Kauss and I co-founded our production company as we are also developing several other projects together, The Punk Floyd Company, and the film was partially self-funded, and the rest was generous contributions from friends/acquaintances (not crowdfunding).

indieactivity : How long was your pre-production?
Stella Velon : From script to shoot, it all took about 5 to 6 months to put together the right cast & crew. Finding the right people for your project is one of the most important things any filmmaker can do, and that for me was also among the most time-consuming and frustrating (at times) periods because I really wanted to bring the best possible talent I could get to this – people with the right sensibility but also passion and enthusiasm (very important!). Not an easy task for a first-time filmmaker working on a short, as you can imagine. But I was incredibly fortunate to have the unconditional support of my producer who really allowed me to have the creative freedom I needed to get this done.

indieactivity : What was your rehearsal process and period?
Stella Velon : The rehearsal process for me personally entailed working with my acting coach Todd Karner, who also plays the role of the Director in the film, and I also rehearsed with my male lead Alan, trying a few different things with him. Alan’s Irish, so I initially thought that he would be great playing a British reporter, but then I remembered something we had worked on together where he played an American, and his character lived in a completely different place which was right for this, and so we went with that. So rehearsal for us was basically trying out different things beforehand so that we knew what works and what doesn’t, especially knowing that we had a very tight schedule. I also gave Alan a few character references for this, and he did a brilliant job! He is among the most generous actors I have worked with.

indieactivity : You shot the film in days. How long were your days?
Stella Velon : Yes, we shot everything in 2 days! The first day was a regular shooting day, and the second, we had a little bit of a delay in the morning, and we finished late. But not terribly late. I actually don’t know how we did it. Looking back, we shot so much (almost 6 hours of footage) in such a short period of time, and it was an incredibly focused effort from everyone. Even my editor, Ivan Andrijanic, who’s worked as a lead editor on major projects such as I.T. with Pierce Brosnan, among others, couldn’t believe that we had shot all that in just 2 days.

indieactivity : Did the tight shooting schedule make it harder or easier? How did it affect performances?
Stella Velon : I covered this a little bit already but the tight schedule, actually made everyone incredibly focused and believe it or not, I think it actually helped the film and everyone’s performance immensely. Having all those hats to wear for me felt extremely tense, but that actually fueled my performance, and being on edge helped me get to those darker places I needed to get to as an actor in some scenes a lot faster.

indieactivity : What was the experience like of working with such a small shooting crew (?)?
Stella Velon : Our crew was not small, nor was it big. It was more or less the perfect size that was needed for this specific project and given the schedule. The setting of THE CRITIC is relatively intimate as well, so having a smaller crew was not a handicap at all.

indieactivity : The film looks stunning. How did you get such a good look when shooting so fast?
Stella Velon : Thank you for saying that. Well, we planned/outlined all the shots beforehand with my cinematographer. I did A LOT of prep with him, and I chose him because of his sensibility and style. It was crucial for this film, being very personal and subjective; the cinematography was as important as the performances and the script. It’s basically a character in the movie. I watched and researched a lot the cinematography of Matthew Libatique, whose work I admire. I like how he plays with color and camera movements to enhance the psychology of his subjects. And Akis and I worked to achieve the right feel for this, which had to be dark and unsettling, to illustrate what’s going on inside the actress’s head. I also wrote the script in such a way that the light (and mostly lack of natural daylight, except for briefly in the opening scene at twilight, which was all intentional) in the film reflects the protagonist’s descent into darkness (literally and figuratively) as the story progresses.

THE CRITIC (Stella Velon, Dir.) | Official HD Trailer | Amazon’s All Voices Film Festival & UK Film Review Awards Winning Drama from The Punk Floyd Company on Vimeo.

indieactivity : Did you look at rushes? On what format?
Stella Velon : Considering the tight schedule, I didn’t have too much time for that during shooting. I would check each shot before on the monitor, and I did watch some of the rushes from day one at the end of the day, but I didn’t really have the luxury to sit down and look at them carefully until after the shoot was over. And I knew it would be like that, so that is why I did all of that prep before. And I am SO glad that I did.

indieactivity : What were the advantages and disadvantages in the way you worked?
Stella Velon : There are a lot of both. It’s not an easy question to answer as some of the things I would initially think of as setbacks turned out to be advantages in hindsight. But I guess for me, the main advantage of shooting on such a tight schedule forced me to do a lot of preparation, because I knew that we wouldn’t have much time to explore and search the day of. And you would think that having such a tight schedule would be a handicap, but as I said earlier, it turned out to be a blessing-in-disguise because it drew a very focused effort from everyone. And again, I cannot stress enough the importance of preparation and rehearsal and more preparation!!! So I count that as an advantage.

The disadvantage for me, and again I don’t know to what extent I would call that an actual disadvantage, is having to wear so many hats. It turns out to be extremely time-consuming and all-absorbing, and as I do like to get to the bottom of everything and every detail, that puts a lot of pressure on me. I hope I’ll be able to delegate more on my future projects because I took on an immense load of work, and while I am not afraid of hard work, it can get overwhelming when you have to be everywhere all at once. And I am not talking about only the shoot itself (as a matter of fact that was the least challenging), I am talking about everything that comes before and mostly after (in post and beyond). But at the same time, the film turned out 90% the way I envisioned it, and I don’t regret any of it.

indieactivity : What is next for this project and you?
Stella Velon : I am working on the feature version of THE CRITIC and I also wrote a dramedy series loosely inspired by my modeling years in New York City (and Paris too) that is fully developed/written with pilot script and bible and all, that I am hoping to do next with the right backing/people. The series has nothing to with ‘The Critic‘ in terms of tone/premise. As a matter of fact, it’s a lot lighter and wilder…The characters are more eccentric, fun. A much bigger cast too. But the story remains personal as it is also inspired (loosely) by my experiences, which we believe gives the show its edge. Very diverse and international in its appeal, too. And I am going to stop right there before I say too much.

indieactivity : Any final thoughts?
Stella Velon : I’d like to send out a special shout out to the audience and all the people who, after seeing the film, be it at a festival screening, or on Amazon Prime Video or Letterboxed etc. wrote/sent me their incredibly passionate reviews and reactions. The audience is the ultimate validation (after all the positive press and festival accolades), and I am sure that that is true for any filmmaker. To know that your art resonates with so many people just feels so gratifying and fulfilling. For me, it means that the film worked, that its message came across as clearly as I wanted it to, and that I was able to connect with viewers on an emotional as well as an intellectual level. I wanted to make people feel, think, and question everything and fire up their imagination. And judging from the very strong reactions, I believe I was successful and am so very grateful for that.

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