5 QUESTIONS For Asli and Nikki

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POST UPDATE 8/12/23 –  Q&A Video and Photos:

ORIGINAL POST 7/27/23

The World Premiere of Sundown Road (Narrative 20 min) will take place at BlackStar Film Festival 2023, as part of the Shorts Program called Perturbed. SIFTMedia 215 is a Collective that centers Black and Latinx women-identified independent media artists who work in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, of which I am a member, and both Writer/Director/Producer M. Asli Dukan and Producer Nikki Harmon are members – below a behind the scenes look at their film.

Logline: When three college students get stuck on an isolated road, they soon find
themselves in all too familiar territory.

Synopsis: Three students get stuck on an isolated road after their car breaks down
while driving back to college. With no phone reception, they argue with each other over what to do before separating to find help. In an unfamiliar area, they each experience a terrifying discovery that makes them feel like their lives may be in danger. Forced to take refuge in the car, the students resolve their personal conflicts just in time to face a new frightening reality when help finally reaches them.

Director’s Productions Notes (M. Asli Dukan)

There were really no definitive plans on producing this script when I wrote it during the early days of COVID-19. I was motivated to write it because of the pandemic, one, to kind of alleviate some of my anxiety about trying to avoid a deadly disease that was affecting the entire world and two, as part of my artistic practice, to write a meaningful and well structured, short story with limited characters and locations. It wasn’t until later when a larger and previously planned, speculative genre project was postponed because of the pandemic, that my producer, Nikki Harmon and I decided to move forward with the smaller, Sundown Road project. Once we received approval from our funders at the Independence Public Media Foundation (IPMF) we moved quickly to prepare for the production.

The story is slightly different from what I usually write, which are mostly near-future,speculative genre stories where the major conflict is between the oppressive, surveillance state and radical, working-class or under-class protagonists. Sundown Road is a contemporary story that references the racial discrimination, intimidation and violence of this country’s past (sundown towns) and the ways they are historically horrific and still present, while coming just short of being a straight-up horror genre film. In fact, during the pre-production process for the film, we as the filmmakers indirectly experienced the complexities of the violence of the type of society that we are referencing in the film, while on our location scout for the film! It felt like art imitating life, or life imitating art.

On the production side, it was encouraging to have a reasonable budget that gave us the opportunity to hire the people and rent the equipment that we needed to make a solid short. Over the three hottest days in the summer of 2022 in the Philadelphia
region, the cast and the crew worked diligently to get all the material in the can. This film was also the first time that I worked with a casting agency, Mike Lemon Casting, which was a tremendous help, and time and energy saver for the production, as they really presented us with some of the most amazing young talent in this region. It was a
pleasure to work with Xavier Michael, Cianna Castro and Macksud Yillah. They were energetic, enthusiastic and are so talented. And a special shout out to Eric Hammitt,who came in at the very last minute, replacing another actor, and who just jumped right into the role and made it his own.

This is the fourth short fiction film or web series that I have completed since I relocated and decided to settle in Philadelphia. Each project has given me the opportunity to deepen and expand my artistic practice, explore my political understanding of the world, work with extremely talented and skilled people, and create work that I believe brushes up against the types of stories that are more consistently produced in a capitalist market. I hope audiences that watch Sundown Road not only have a moment to connect the historical dots in the story and sit inside their emotional reactions to it, but really understand by the end of the film that the protagonists have done the same, and are not the same people they were when their story began.

Producer Production Notes (Nikki Harmon)

Asli and I had been working together for over a year in pre-production for a different project. Unfortunately, between the pressures of time and COVID-19, we were not able to bring that project to production. Luckily, she had another idea and we were able to pool our resources and time to get “Sundown Road” into production in a hectic six months. This story is meaningful to me as I have my own college memories of thinking I knew everything and being safe in my bubble of campus and academia. Having that illusion challenged with a visceral threat to your understanding of the world and your place in it can be life-altering in so many ways and unfortunately, it’s also a common experience for people of color in this country. The actors in this film did such a great job at really tapping into the larger issues and stakes for their characters as they dealt with what should have been a minor inconvenience.

The auditions took place at CCP, where Asli teaches. We cast local talent and employed local crew. The GPFO (film office) helped us with some location scouting and discussions about needed permits. The location we eventually chose was adjacent to a property of a relative of fellow SIFT member, Lois Moses. She was instrumental in us learning about this location and getting access to it. Her cousin was phenomenally generous, helpful, and gracious.

We shot over the three hottest days of the summer July 22-25, 2022 in West Chester, PA. We shot 12 scenes, 83 distinct shots, 2 picture cars, 3 locations, 4 actors, and a production crew of 15 over the three days. Director of Photography, Marie Hinson, Art Director, Courtney Miller, Wardrobe Supervisor, Alexis Thompson, Hair and Make-Up Artist, Mary Arlynda, VFX Supervisor, Jose Mazariegos, Colorist, Sam Meneses, Composer, Rich Hamilton of DragonFly Audio Post also did post-production sound. Executive Producer, Trevite Willis.

SEE PREVIEW COVERAGE OF BLACKSTAR FILM FESTIVAL