“Zarina” By Lexx Truss
Synopsis
A woman endures frequent nightmares of her own death.
Directors statement
About 10 years ago, I was intrigued by a theory in psychology that insinuated that we, as human beings, never would really see ourselves die within our dreams - but if we did it meant that we would be dead in real life. This thought terrified me; especially when I realized how many people I know who've dreamed about their deaths, including myself. Then I started to think "what if the deaths we are seeing in our dreams were actually versions of ourselves that have to die in order for us to evolve as individuals?" Once I asked that question, I had to write about it. Thus, that turned into an unproduced short called The Revelation of Solomon whereas a Black male protagonist goes on a self-explorative journey to decipher frequent nightmares of his death that eventually leads to a final dream of him giving the eulogy at his own funeral.
Although nothing came out of that particular script in 2012. The initial concept still stood with me in mid-2019. So, when I decided to pitch a 4 minute short film to the EMERGE! Filmmaking Lab to potentially make during the summer, it was the first thing that came to mind. I was like "I could pull off a dream out of a dream montage in 4 minutes". Before I knew it, Zarina, a short psychological thriller about a woman enduring frequent nightmares of her own death, was brought to life by the hands and minds of Sam Mosco (director of photography), Haana Noel (production designer), Cornell Mitchell, Julia Armine, and Josef Maxwell (producing team), Lizz Marshall (editor), Di'Or (musician), Arlondriah Lenyéa, Terrence DeLane, Donzaleigh Abernathy, Vincent Tay Jones, Spencer Belko, Sandy Mansson and Brittany Janae (ensemble cast), an exceptional crew that carried an "all-win" mentality and a $5,000 grant we received as finalists of the program.
Afterwards, Zarina ended up being declared the grand prize winner of the lab and ultimately, became a special experience that my team and I now hold close to hearts. Thank you for watching our short piece.
Credits
Starring:
Arlondriah Lenyea, Terrence DeLane, Donzaliegh Abernathy,Vincent Tay Jones, Spencer Belko, Brittany Janae, Sandy Mannson
Writer, Director: Lexx Truss
Director of Photography: Sam Mosco
Production Designer: Haana Noel
Producers: Cornell Mitchell, Julia Armine, Josef Maxwell
Executive Producer: Little Ugly
AP: Rich Monteiro
1st AD: Elizabeth Arguilez
2nd AD: Karine Bagoumian
1st AC: Matt Miller
Gaffer: Kevin Stiller
Key Grip: Tighe Dorcey
Swing: Todd Medema
Production Coordinator: Jacob Glover
Makeup Artist: Marissa Casas
Editor: Lizz Marshall
Music: Di'Or
Sound Designer: Jackie Zhou
Production Company: Parapraxis Films
“Zarina” was submitted to us by Lexx Truss. Have a film of your own you’d like us to check out? Click here!