La Femme en Noir

Every writer dreams of seeing his/her work published and appreciated. I just never knew that my writing dream would come true by attending a photography class.

In early 2012 I decided to join a photography course and update my knowledge about the engineering that goes on behind pushing the shutter. I’ve always been involved with photography every since my mother bought me a film camera for Christmas when I was 9 years-old. There was nothing that wasn’t beautiful enough to be photographed and the world was a brand new Technicolor playground through that viewfinder.

Soon after joining the class, my teacher, Francisco, offered me the position as assistant photographer in his company. We started with a really fun campaign for the popular Shanghai Center (luxury serviced apartments, office and retail). Soon after finishing their 2013 campaign, we were contracted to make their in-house corporate video. One afternoon while filming, my teacher and I were having lunch when he mentioned the annual Shanghai film festival. He explained to me, that a theme with specific requirements is given to the contestants and they have only one month to write, film, and edit their creations until the deadline. While we were contemplating whether we should take part, the competition had already been running for a week. The theme was “Femme Fatale”, we had to hurry to catch up and we had to have:

•    an elevator scene

•    a kissing scene

•    preview the SMW (the host) website during the film

I was instantly inspired. I used a paper napkin and wrote 80% of the script right then and there in the restaurant. I sent the finale script to Francisco that same evening. I was overcome with ideas and a mission. I wasn’t going to fall into the trap of writing a typical femme fatale script of an attractive woman who leads a man to his untimely demise. No, I was going to write a script with a conscience, something with a deeper meaning embedded in its core.

My husband and two friends joined in and La Femme en Noir was written, filmed, and produced in roughly 50 hours. The sense of achievement was glued all over our faces. We’ve done it. We started late, but the underdogs worked through the nights and created something they were proud of.

  

I was beyond myself. There I was, actually creating physical proof of the things I love the most. I was breathing life into this idea that found me in a split second and I got to develop it from conception to its public premiere. I was making a movie! 

So without further ado, I present to you: La Femme en Noir. 

La Femme en Noir” (The Woman in Black) is a neo-noir film that focuses a young modern femme fatale in Shanghai. The main actress (Femme Fatale) leads a monologue about unaddressed issues regarding the modern day treatment of women and the possible root thereof. She does this while smoking her last few cigarettes before revealing her pregnant belly and the corpse of her lover lying on the floor. She leaves the scene of the crime to start an honest life in raising her son just after she uploads her monologue on an online blog.

I won second place that evening. I had to go on stage and give a speech. Don’t ask me what I said or how I even got on stage. I only remember the dark theatre, stressing whether the sound guy got to fix his equipment on time, the emotions and finally the sheer panic and anticipation of broadcasting your heart and soul to the world and how you would survive if everyone hated it. Now, however, I can take out this film as proof that I was bold, that I took a chance to make my work public. That boldness inspired me to write this blog. Because if you want to be really immersed in your passion, you have to put your heart out there and see what happens.