Ian Gamazon’s film Living In Seduced Circumstances will be screened on Oct. 18th @ 8:45PM as part of the Hawaii International Film Festival. For screening information and to purchased tickets visit their website here: HIFF
1. Tell us about your film background, including Freud’s 2nd Law and Cavite and when your passion for making films developed.
My passion for film developed very early in life. My friend and colleague Neill Dela Llana (co-director of Cavite) and I have been making films ever since high school. Very cheesy stuff shot on VHS video but it gave us a feel on how to create a story through images. Right after high school we jumped right into making features after watching movies like Clerks, Slackers and El Mariachi. My first feature was a movie called Diego Stories. It was an anti-romantic comedy that featured Asian-American actors. It was my film school really. That’s how I learned how to shoot on 16mm film. It was a very expensive home video that only a handful of people watched.
A few years later I jumped into another feature called Freud’s 2nd Law. It was a rape/revenge film with a bit of a twist. The film garnered some attention at festivals. It played at SXSW and LAAPFF in 2001. The film was shot on 16mm as well and was never distributed. Again it was a learning experience for me and I got the taste of what it was like to play at festivals.
A few years later Neill and I decided to co-direct Cavite which was our first successful film. This time we shot the movie on digital video — the DVX-100. It was the least expensive film I made since Diego Stories. It’s funny how the budgets for each film came down over time. Diego Stories was made for roughly $25,000. Freud’s 2nd Law was made for about $17,000. Cavite was made for $7,000. We actually got distribution through Magnolia and garnered some prestigious awards in the process. We were also noticed in Hollywood and took a lot of meetings which paved the way for a development deal with Rogue Pictures which never got off the ground. At the same time Neill and I spent those 3 years developing other projects with producers but, unfortunately, we weren’t able to get financing for one reason or another. It was really a rough 3 years for us. So out of frustration I shot Living In Seduced Circumstances independently.
2. Your new film Living In Seduced Circumstances is already getting recognition including the upcoming screening at the L.A. Asian Pacific Film Festival. Where did the idea for your film come from and what can audiences expect?
The idea came about from the visual idea of a very pregnant woman lugging a bow with arrows on her back while wheeling a disabled man in a wheelchair through the woods and using him as target practice. With that image in mind I wrote the script asking myself who these characters were, what their relationship was like, etc. It’s really a no-budget torture porn film but with the twist of having a pregnant woman doing all these amazing things. It doesn’t have the traditional three act structure which might turn some people off. It’s basically a very long ACT 1 then the climax. I really wanted to show the descent into hell for the male character in the film without having the traditional escape and a big fight off in ACT 3. It was a risk on my part but what’s great about making independent films with little money is you can experiment without having to worry about producers breathing down your neck. It was very liberating really. I have nothing against the 3 act structure — in fact I actually use it in all my scripts but I guess it was the rebellious side in me that wanted to release itself after the pain and suffering Neill and I went through with our development hell projects.
3. Often filmmakers elect to have someone other than the director edit the film so there is another perspective involved. Why did you also decided to edit your film?
It was out of necessity. Since the budget was self-financed I wanted to cut down on cost. And I love the editing aspect of filmmaking. It’s such a great way to learn how to tell a story. I think it definitely will help me with the next film — composing shots and eliminating the fat of a script very early on. It’s definitely one of my favorite stages.
4. Are you working on any new projects?
I’m in pre-production on a documentary feature which I plan to shoot this summer about a particular neighborhood in Los Angeles that really fascinates me. After that I definitely want to work on another genre film with a more traditional script. Nothing too out there like Seduced. Something more fun.
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