Winner – Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Acting, Best Writing
Directed By Jeremy Kennedy
Mike Horrigan wrote down some of his thoughts about the producing of Moments:
I was watching TV one evening when I came across a young girl speaking about her mother at a walk to raise awareness for breast cancer research. Her mother wasn’t there. She was talking about the choice her mother made, refusing radiation therapy to protect her unborn daughter. The girl now speaking to me through the screen, about her departed mother.
Of course I was easily inspired by this courageous account and wrote ‘Moments’ in the early hours that night. I knew that this would suit
the theme perfectly.
After a nervous pitch I was thrilled that Jeremy Kennedy decided to run with it. One thing I wanted to be clear about was how the story was running in reverse. Starting with the ending and moving back in time towards the beginning. I suggested we needed a camera move that said just that to the audience. Every new scene needed to go back somehow. Jeremy knew exactly what I meant and ran with it.
Karim Ayari (DP) executed the lighting perfectly. The visual movement was smooth and almost melodic in its pacing thanks to Jeremy’s direction and use of slow motion. Jeremy designed slow motion shots that were beautiful and perfectly framed, only to be brought back into real time with a more gritty hand held documentary style. He felt it needed to feel like we were peeking in on someones life.
Because every scene needed to begin and end with a wall transition, he rigged a simple portable fake wall to be used where there was none.
Jeremy suggested some scenes be improvised to maintain realism. Aphra Williams (Lead Actress) asked if she could put a little of herself into the character and I think we all embraced this. She had to relate to the mother in a personal way, in order to tap into the heart of it. The true emotion of what that must feel like, that kind of choice. She didn’t disappoint. In fact, she exceeded our wildest dreams.
The entire cast and crew were all in sync. It takes many pieces, all working perfectly, in order to pull something like this off. If one piece falters it brings the entire thing down. Luckily we had a very professional cast and crew. Thanks to all of them, especially Jith Paul and Luca Fiore. They worked extremely hard and were also a lot of fun on set. You need that when dealing with something of this tone. The scenes with Aphra and the recorder were filmed on a separate day with only Jeremy operating camera and myself doing sound. All part of keeping Aphra in the right space without distractions.
Once we were done I told Jeremy about a friend of mine who scores films, Justin R. Durban. We gave him the low down of what we wanted and he wrote the most beautiful score I’ve ever heard. Great visuals are nothing without sound and music.
Speaking of which, thanks to Howard Sonnenburg for going over the sound and adding some great last minute touches. Kevin, Andrew and everyone at Digi60 need a huge pat on the back. Inviting writers to this fest was a stroke of genius. One I hope continues in some form down the road. The forum they give us filmmakers to flaunt our stuff is quite impressive.
Big shout out to Richard Towns and Sean Parker at Parktown for all the great gear. It really brought a whole new level to the production value this fest.
One last thank you to Jeremy Kennedy. He took control of what was a very difficult subject and never flinched. A great leader for sure. He saw it so clearly that we agreed on almost everything. It was a pleasure being on set and helping out in any way I could.
I hope to work with him again very soon and we hope you enjoy the movie.
Mike Horrigan
