The short film Love Distance follows seven characters as they speak with family and loved ones over their computers amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. The film deals with issues of loneliness, heartache and the extreme disruption the lockdowns have caused in so many peoples’ lives. This is a touching film that may hit many close to home.Thank you for speaking with us.
Chris McClure, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): First of all, were these stories inspired by real life?
Agatino Zurria (AZ):Most of my films are built from different elements: Elements of dreams, Elements of pure interest or imagination, Elements of reality from others (I heard someone tell me a story or eavesdrop on a conversation and caught a story) and Elements of reality from myself. So the best answer to this is: Who knows? I’m forgetful, so I may have gotten some from a real life inspiration…or not.
(UM): I loved the soundtrack. Could you tell us where it came from?
(AZ): Yes. I requested the soundtrack from my favorite composer María del Sol, who previously did the soundtrack for my film Interview with Marilyn. I asked her what I wanted to hear while these characters were locked in and trying to find a connection and she translated my wishes into notes that perfectly filled the loneliness. Then I spoke with a duo of singers-songwriters from Miami called “The Lands”, who composed a group of songs for their first production, and I liked one of them because it contained much of the mood of the film. They were very kind to grant me permission to use it. I believe music is very important because we tend to have a musical memory. When we hear a certain melody, we remember a movie, or a scene. So I hope “All I Can Do Is Wait” ends up reminding those who see “Love Distance” about it and what it made us feel about our year in isolation.
(UM): The filming jumps quite a lot; we seem to jump forwards and backwards and hear someone speaking while their image remains still. Could you tell us why you chose this method?
(AZ): There is a technical reason, and a stylistic reason. I’m not gonna tell you what the technical reason is, but I wanted to show the characters’ speech as if it had been said many times. Like they called three or four times, maybe they called many times in the period of 5 minutes, maybe they left and called back again later. This effect has much to do with the fact that technology, even if it is allowing us to communicate, is not helping us getting close to each other. We easily misunderstand things we say because of a glitch. Sometimes the communication cuts for two or three seconds and we miss an important part of the conversation. This happens in our digital communication nowadays and a lot of our relationships depend on it. Many people have ended relationships through an app, an email, or a simple text. The seven characters of this film are trying to fix in isolation and through technology, the relationships they could not maintain in real life, and this “tool” is never a substitute for the “Face to Face” confrontation. I also wanted to catch some kind of nervousness in the characters. After all, they have finally decided to contact one another after a long time in isolation, so they are almost at their breaking point. so this editing device helped express that, and many more things.
(UM): Since the film was shot during the pandemic, you had each actor film themselves. Did this pose any problems for you as director? What was the experience like?
(AZ): You know that the metiere of a Director is to solve every problem presented while making his movie. So this was part of what I had to work with in this project. My solution to it was to have enough ZOOM conversations with every actor to talk not only about their characters, but also how they should film themselves: the camera, its angle, the background, the light, the sounds around, their wardrobe, their make up, etc. Luckily today actors have practiced a lot filming themselves to submit taped auditions, so now they know more than many years ago about technical elements. In the case of the characters, some actors needed my guidance more than others. Some prefered to build their characters by rehearsing with each other and presenting their findings to me. I gave them the freedom to do that as long as the characters were all there.
(UM): How was this written? Did you imagine the other side of the conversation?
(AZ): As a matter of fact I taped each actor talking, and then reacting to the monologue of their counterpart, and for a period of time I wanted to edit the other section and present it in a very experimental way in a cinema with two screens facing each other, and the audience in the middle. But I decided to let the audience fill in the blank of what the counterpart is saying or how they are reacting because, actually, I wanted the audience to be THAT OTHER CHARACTER, to make them feel for these characters, to remember a situation in which they may have been involved that was somehow similar. I did this experiment with my first american short film called INTERVIEW ME in which the character is always looking at the camera and the other actor was supposed to be the audience.
(UM): Many of the characters in the film suspect that their significant others have met someone new. Do you think this is happening a lot during the pandemic?
(AZ): It is such a common situation that people break up because there is a third person involved, so we tend to blame it all on that third person. I wanted these seven characters to keep thinking that their problem was outside, not too much caused by themselves, because assuming the blame is more difficult and almost nobody in this world wants to be seen as the one who destroyed a relationship.
(UM): Do you have any advice for those who are going stir crazy at home?
(AZ): Well, the Pandemic has slowed down and little by little the authorities have ended the lockdowns. I don’t have any advice for those who are stir crazy at home, but I do have advice for those who experience their freedom again: run and hug and kiss their loved ones. Do not do anything to hurt them. If you love them, tell them. Don’t wait until it is impossible and then feel guilty about it. Come on! We live in cowardice most of the time because it is easier not to confront what’s right. Let’s be brave. It’s the only life we have.
(UM): What do you think the long term consequences of the pandemic will be on relationships?(SPOILER ALERT)
(AZ): I believe this pandemic has changed some things in our lives. Especially that we don’t need to go out to get what we want to consume. Many companies will use this as a way to change their production and this will modify the workforce, locations, transit, and a lot of things. But I don’t think this pandemic will have any effect on relationships, and that’s what the film says when Emile reunites all seven of them to publicly apologize and sees how they all react. I believe we are already isolated from each other with the new technologies. We have created our own language, our own protocols. We start conversations and we simply disconnect, without saying goodbye when we don’t want to talk anymore, which in real life you wouldn’t do. I believe the worst in each of us will remain the same. This Pandemic, as horrible as it was, having killed so many of our loved ones, still didn’t hit our arrogance enough to make us change for the better. In the beginning I read that some people from the entertainment had signed a letter to improve our way of life, but who remembers that after a year? Look for example the vaccine. There are those who take it, those who don’t, and those who don’t might end up being infected by those who did, and who is to blame here? It takes more than a pandemic to fight human stupidity.
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