Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘I See Red’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make films?
Originally from Coimbra, Portugal, and based in Sheffield, UK, I’m a performer and theatre and film director who started his professional path as an actor in 2014 (under the direction of Luís Miguel Cintra), as a performer for the visual arts in 2016 (with ‘Portraits’) and as a theatre director in 2017 (with ‘SNOW’). These days, I claim to also be a newly born filmmaker as my love for the moving image has grown over the years, colliding into directing ‘I SEE RED.’, my first short film. I’ve been working in the theatre and visual arts performance scene for 10 years now and have been wishing to make a change for a while. Getting into filmmaking was bound to happen. Specially because I have always particularly enjoyed playing with different artistic elements in my performances, cinema included. I would say it was an unavoidable outcome really.
Tell us about ‘I See Red’. How do you describe it?
I SEE RED. is deeply personal. I like to refer to it as a macabre perception of femininity by my own troubled imagination, not only as a performer, a theatre director and a newly born film director, but also as a trans man who, like others, has faced troubles regarding his own physical and mental health. In this 15 minute long semi-biographical absurdist horror fiction, Wendy, our protagonist, wanders in fear. Her sight purposely obfuscated by the colour pink as she desperately clings onto a reality where she does not belong. Her fears lie in the colour red, the colour of danger but also, let’s not forget, desire. Red is in fact the desired reality, pink the veil that separates the individual, Wendy, from her true purpose.
Please tell us about your favourite filmmakers.
I can’t say I have favourite filmmakers but I will take this opportunity to highlight two very distinct but peculiar films: ‘Eraserhead' by David Lynch and ‘Film’ by Samuel Beckett.‘Eraserhead’ due to the fact that it exposes artistic freedom in a very comforting way. The film itself is not a comfortable watch yes but it is comforting to see such a type of outcome being appreciated and given a chance. It’s such a great film as well, for various other reasons. ‘Film’ is another work of brilliance, this time by the masterful Samuel Beckett. Buster Keaton portrayed as this god-like creature whose own reflection is too much for him to witness and so he avoids it. He does not wish to be seen, not by himself nor anyone. A very simple but strange and, no doubt, effective film.
If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?
As an individual who relies on obsession to get him through his projects, I would have to say my ideal project would be the one I’m working on at the moment, ‘Salomé’, a feature film (an adaptation of the play ‘Salomé' by Oscar Wilde and the short story ‘Herodias’ by Gustave Flaubert) that follows the steps of Herodias and Salomé, mother and daughter, who, ruled by their own individual desires and immoral ambitions, find ultimate power in their beauty and status. They will cause chaos. However, in this version, they will remain untouchable, victorious.
Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?
Like I have done with all my past projects, I would have to plan according to the available funds for production. If given enough budget to do things as I idealise them however, there are of course steps that I would take to ensure production stays on schedule, such as:
- Making sure the following is finalised and ready for production to begin: screenplay and detailed storyboard;
- Meeting with the confirmed team and actors to ensure their availability;
- Creation of a detailed production schedule with deadlines that will be followed. This schedule will be created keeping in mind possible set backs that might occurred during production;
- Making sure every team member (actors included) is being treated professionally and with care.
What was the hardest part of making ‘I See Red’.
The hardest part of making ‘I SEE RED.’ was truly having no funding for it. The little to no money we had was only available due to me taking a job alongside my Master’s degree studies at Manchester Metropolitan University (funded by a scholarship). We made it happen though. With the support and interest of the team that surrounded me, an embarrassingly bad iPhone SE camera, a ridiculously flimsy green screen strategically set up in my kitchen/living room and the wonders of post-production editing, ‘I SEE RED.’ came to be and I’m truly grateful for all that it has brought into my life.
If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?
With a screenplay by George Murphy, the writer behind ‘I SEE RED.’, the new ‘Salomé’ I’ve mention above will differ from its origins. Not only plot-wise but also visually. Taking inspiration from ‘Funeral Parade of Roses’ (Matsumoto), ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ (Joel Coen), ’Medea’ (Pasolini) and the illustrations of Aubrey Beardsley, as an art maker and aestheticist, with ‘Salomé’, I seek to find beauty in what’s horrid or gruesome. It’s important to state however that ‘I SEE RED.’ is experimental in nature yes, but ‘Salomé’ is not. ‘Salomé’, unlike ‘I SEE RED.’, follows a narrative through a traditional structure.
My plans for ‘Salomé’ at the moment is, for now to make it a reality. The final version of the screenplay will be finalised by November 2024. The storyboard is rather advanced but still underdevelopment. The confirmed actresses for the roles of Herodias and Salomé (Carolina Dominguez and Bárbara Bruno) and the multitalented Richard Strange (for the role of Herod) await their starting dates. There’s a lot of waiting involved at this point. However, this project is not on hiatus. As we keep fighting to get support for this feature film, we’ll keep working on it until the final outcome is here and ready to be shared and watched.
To find out more about this project, please visit www.silvestrecorreia.com/salome
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