AND THAT'S A WRAP!
Jan 30, 2021
On January 30th 2021, we concluded our last day of production for SORA the film! After 24 official shoot days, starting in the summer of 2019 (1.5 years ago now!), we finally finished one (big) part of the journey. It was a new and nerve-racking experience returning to set in the middle of a pandemic, but luckily we have always had a very small crew, and I rewrote many scenes to minimize the number of cast in each scene. We had no extras except for our very own 1st AD, Adam! He has been a rock star, performing the duties of multiple people at one time, and even stepping in to be an extra on occasion. When the film comes out, we can try to spot him in the background of different shots ;)
Also pictured in this photo: Tine, our cinematographer, who has been a fast and efficient one-woman band, doing amazing work with limited resources; Viveca, our lead actress, who has given continually great performances under unideal circumstances (thank you for bearing with the chaos of our set!); Claudia, our producer, who has kept us all fed and safe throughout this long production; and Carl and Mingjie, two actors who also started the journey with us way back in 2019. Not pictured in the photo are Dan Holodak and Frank Lopez, our silent but essential production sound mixers - we missed you!
This is a photo from our last day, of the last people who stayed for our last lunch, at Hi-Collar, a Japanese café in East Village, right across from Solas Bar, where a large portion of the film takes place. It seems like so long ago now that we were filming dance socials at Solas, in a crowded room, full of people dancing in each other's arms... hopefully we can return there sooner than later! This past month, we had the good fortune to be able to shoot at such wonderful locations as Hi-Collar and Solas Bar, as well as Black Cat LES, Joy's Secret Garden Juice Bar & Tea House, Dr. Darka's pop-up spot, and some friends' cozy apartments. We also had the opportunity to make the acquaintance of Numi, probably the best, most agreeable cat I've ever met!
I am so grateful to all of you who have played a part in this film in some way. Literally, we couldn't have done it without you! More updates to come as we continue on the post-production journey. Please stay safe and healthy.
On to the next chapter!
April X.
Writer/Director of SORA
