I had the pleasure of chatting with award-winning filmmaker, Eduardo Ayres about his recent work and his plans for the future. Eduardo is a queer filmmaker who has been breaking ground with some incredibly creative work over the last decade. Hailing from Brazil, the 31-year-old already has an impressive body of work to his credit.
In 2019, Eduardo earned his MFA in film from The University of Utah in Salt Lake City where he also taught in the film department. Eduardo has been a major part of the Utah Film scene for several years, generating some incredibly thought-provoking work including the award-winning short film, "Chasing the Dragon" and the poetic, provocative short film, "The Metamorphosis".
Emily Clark: What inspires you?
Eduardo Ayres: True stories inspire me the most. On my writing workflow of character development, I always keep in mind real events. "Chasing the Dragon" was made after my dear childhood friend committed suicide. Also, the film is strongly inspired by "Wind River" directed by Utah filmmaker Taylor Sheridan. I wanted to capture the conservative and country side of Utah, this hyper-masculine environment, a place defined by simple people and their prejudice.
In "Chasing the Dragon" I was exploring the space between right and wrong while looking at the characters as flawed human beings with various degrees of good and bad behavior, instead of simply reducing them to the role of antagonist or protagonist. However, since it is a short film, many of these themes were not fully fleshed out. That's why I wrote a 60 page pilot script for "Chasing the Dragon", which I hope to produce someday.
"The Metamorphosis" short, on the other hand was based on a relationship I had in 2018. It is also inspired by "Metamorphoses" by Ovid, a Roman poet and contemporary of Virgil. [This poem] is an allegory for rape, another major issue of my 2018.
Emily Clark: Who are some of your biggest inspirations? Favorite filmmakers/films?
Eduardo Ayres: First, Pedro Almodovar in his mastery of writing characters that matter and that we can connect to. Movies such as: "All About My Mother" and "The Skin I Live In" had a significant influence on me. The first for its characters, and the second for its thriller approach and both with that sweet twist at the end that makes the audience think for days. Second, the importance of history and politics in Bernardo Bertolucci's work from "The Conformist" to the "Last Emperor", two great films that portray historical events with so much drama, accuracy, and knowledge. The mood and atmosphere in Bertolucci's films are similar to my own personal aesthetic. Another great director is Fernando Meirelles, a Brazilian director. He has been an inspiration to me for years, even before I had the chance to exchange emails with him in 2012, asking for advice about film schools in the USA. He directed "City of God", a masterpiece of the 2000's, a real portrait of Brazil and the struggles of poor people living in a favela and their conflict with law enforcement. He also directed "Blindness" based on Jose Saramago's novel which is a study on human nature. Hitchcock has also influenced me, especially on my endeavor towards the thriller genre. The Wachowski sisters ("The Matrix", "Cloud Atlas") are also a great source of inspiration for me and I always remember them when thinking that I might have a place in Hollywood someday.
Emily Clark: What's the most challenging film you've worked on and what was the most challenging thing about it?
Eduardo Ayres: "Chasing the Dragon" was the most challenging one. We had a crew of 30 people on set, with almost 60 people involved in it until the end of post-production. It was a big production, but the challenge was not in filming it, but on writing it. CTD (short for "Chasing the Dragon") had almost 4 writers and 4 consultants, and we finished the final script after 15 drafts.
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| On the set of "Chasing the Dragon" - Facebook |
Emily Clark: Where do you see your career headed in the next five years?
Eduardo Ayres: My goal is to stay in LA for three more years, as I just arrived here in 2019. They say you need to give yourself three years in LA to make it, and that's my goal. The opportunities here are exponential. I have so many projects that I want to produce in the following years, and being in Los Angeles is essential for the execution of this goal. Also, I have many projects that I want to develop in Brazil in the next five years, and having the chance to create in both countries would be a blessing. I'm currently working on a feature documentary about a transgender District Attorney Investigator which I hope to begin filming later this year. I'm also working on three short films [including] a found footage alien abduction horror short that I plan to film in Utah this year. It'll be my first attempt into the horror genre. Next, I want to film a drama about online cat-fishing of senior citizens based on a real story that my friend is living at the moment. Many elderly people live lonely lives, and with the advent of the internet, many of them are unaware of the dangers of meeting someone online. It's hard for some of them to recognize and deal with signs of a scam, but at the same time, they want to have someone show interest in their lives as a person. Also, I am working on a period piece about Chinese immigrants who migrated to the U.S. in the 1850s and built the railroads. We will focus on Chinese culture, family, and the discrimination they faced, while looking at the contributions they brought to American history during the exploration of the West. I will be doing this short with my good friend, Shujing Zeng.
Eduardo Ayres: My goal is to stay in LA for three more years, as I just arrived here in 2019. They say you need to give yourself three years in LA to make it, and that's my goal. The opportunities here are exponential. I have so many projects that I want to produce in the following years, and being in Los Angeles is essential for the execution of this goal. Also, I have many projects that I want to develop in Brazil in the next five years, and having the chance to create in both countries would be a blessing. I'm currently working on a feature documentary about a transgender District Attorney Investigator which I hope to begin filming later this year. I'm also working on three short films [including] a found footage alien abduction horror short that I plan to film in Utah this year. It'll be my first attempt into the horror genre. Next, I want to film a drama about online cat-fishing of senior citizens based on a real story that my friend is living at the moment. Many elderly people live lonely lives, and with the advent of the internet, many of them are unaware of the dangers of meeting someone online. It's hard for some of them to recognize and deal with signs of a scam, but at the same time, they want to have someone show interest in their lives as a person. Also, I am working on a period piece about Chinese immigrants who migrated to the U.S. in the 1850s and built the railroads. We will focus on Chinese culture, family, and the discrimination they faced, while looking at the contributions they brought to American history during the exploration of the West. I will be doing this short with my good friend, Shujing Zeng.
Emily Clark: How is creative life during COVID?
Eduardo Ayres: I am working constantly, almost nonstop these days. I am always working as an editor or planning my next project as a director. Of course, like anyone else during quarantine, there are some days in which we are not productive as we would like to be, but I consider that as something good. In these hard times, it is important to keep moving, but more importantly, we need to take care of ourselves.
The health of our body and mind needs to come first, and rushing to accomplish things or feeling guilty for not being on top of your work is bad behavior, a sort of self-sabotage. When your mind and body are in the right place, creativity will flow better and expectations are replaced by the simple act to create, fueled by passion. The secret for me during quarantine has been creating a health routine, being patient with myself and understanding that I will have good and bad days, and focusing on one task at a time. Trying to embrace the world will lead to not embracing anything at all.
The health of our body and mind needs to come first, and rushing to accomplish things or feeling guilty for not being on top of your work is bad behavior, a sort of self-sabotage. When your mind and body are in the right place, creativity will flow better and expectations are replaced by the simple act to create, fueled by passion. The secret for me during quarantine has been creating a health routine, being patient with myself and understanding that I will have good and bad days, and focusing on one task at a time. Trying to embrace the world will lead to not embracing anything at all.
Emily Clark: Let's talk about what it's like working as a gay filmmaker. Do you feel like you are being represented? Do you often work with other LGBTQ filmmakers and minorities?
Eduardo Ayres: I constantly work with a diverse crew and especially with women. Diversity is important, not just because of representation and providing opportunities to those from minority communities to provide their vision of the world, but also because diverse backgrounds offer a diverse range of solutions.
Depending on someone's characteristics: race, gender, sexual orientation and religion, each individual has lived a specific set of events and experiences that allow them to solve problems and see the world in a way that others with a different set of characteristics have not experienced. If you have a room full of people with the same background, born in the same area, and with the same characteristics, the chances that they have the same perspective of the world are high. Adding diversity to my crew and team is about creating a democratic set with a plurality of ideas and therefore increasing the analytical capacity of the group, leading to an expanded range of vision, and the ability to foresee obstacles and have a variety of ways to solve them.
Depending on someone's characteristics: race, gender, sexual orientation and religion, each individual has lived a specific set of events and experiences that allow them to solve problems and see the world in a way that others with a different set of characteristics have not experienced. If you have a room full of people with the same background, born in the same area, and with the same characteristics, the chances that they have the same perspective of the world are high. Adding diversity to my crew and team is about creating a democratic set with a plurality of ideas and therefore increasing the analytical capacity of the group, leading to an expanded range of vision, and the ability to foresee obstacles and have a variety of ways to solve them.
Emily Clark: If you could change one thing in Hollywood, what would it be?
Eduardo Ayres: People here need to be less transactional in their interactions and more genuine on their efforts to establish connections. It is easy to meet filmmakers, producers, and studios; but hard to turn those connections into something meaningful. Here, everything is about how you can benefit others and benefit yourself at the same time. It is understandable why this culture takes place here. However, if someone judges you as being not so beneficial to them, you might be ignored. I notice three types of people while networking: the collaborator, the ignorer, and the mentor. The collaborator is the most common one thankfully, and is someone you will exchange information with and have a good time talking to, someone to consider for your next projects. The ignorer would be someone who is in search of someone to save them and to give them their "big shot". I consider those some sort of parasites, I would avoid them. And then there is the mentor, someone you would encounter and talk to, that instead of ignoring you because they can't benefit from you, they will advice you, inform you and show you the path that they have walked before. These are people to keep close to you. There is a lot of competition in LA, and some people are more desperate than passionate about things than what we would expect.
Emily Clark: What do you hope the audience will take away from your films,"Chasing the Dragon and "The Metamorphosis"?
Eduardo Ayres: I hope the audience takes something out of my films after watching. I want my films to provoke thought and to question preconceived ideas of the world. I'm not interested in simply telling a fun and entertaining story--I want to educate people.
Eduardo Ayres: Utah is a beautiful place. You drive 30 miles in every direction and you can find amazing, diverse landscapes. The Utah Film Commission is also very helpful. I love Utah, and I have the intention to film at least two short films there in the next three years.
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| Photographer: Rachelle Elizabeth |
Emily Clark: What advice would you give to aspiring queer filmmakers?
Eduardo Ayres: There is a place for you and your ideas in the film industry. I would even dare to say that the industry needs you, not because of your orientation per se, but because of your life experience and the possibilities of stories that weren't told yet that you can develop. I am not saying this just about the LGBTQ film market, but about the entire industry. Talking more about LGBTQ content, there is audience for it and the market is hungry for good content. If you feel in your heart that this is what you want to create, know that there is a place for you as a content maker, collaborator, and consultant.
I am LGBTQ, and I am the protagonist of my own story.
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