Writer-director Aaron Lucas is building momentum for what he hopes will be his first narrative feature, Luna.
After writing a first draft around 18 months ago, Lucas’ pitched the film at the 2022 Marché Du Film in the Maison Des Scenaristes meetings, and then was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Filmmaker Lab last September.
This week, he’s taking the magical realist feature, now in its fifth draft, back to Canada for the TIFF Writers’ Studio.
Set in a sleepy Australian fishing town, Luna follows an 8-year-old girl with a big imagination who learns her dad has a ‘brain tuna’ swimming around his head.
As her dad’s ‘tuna’ grows bigger, Luna is swallowed up into a kaleidoscope of his dreams and fantasies until she is forced to confront the truth of her dad’s illness and to try and make sense of a world without him.
Hugo Koehne, who worked with Lucas on short film Mary and Seriesfest-winning comedy pilot Privileged, is producing, while playwright and University of Wollongong lecturer Mark Rogers is co-writer.
Lucas, who is based between Sydney and Berlin, is one of just eight participants in the TIFF Writers Studio, and the first Australian to participate in the intensive lab since the festival opened it to filmmakers outside of Canada in 2020.
The five-day program includes workshops, artist talks, peer-to-peer mentorships, and one-on-one project development consultations guided by industry experts.
Story consultants for this year’s lab include Andrew Ahn, Trey Ellis, Christina Lazaridi, and Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith. Additionally, participants will hear through workshops and talks Ashley Comeau, Brad Fraser, Marilyn McCallum, and Anthony Shim. Alumni from the Canadian Film Centre’s CBC Actors Conservatory, including Getenesh Berhe, Vivien Endicott-Douglas, and Araya Mengesha, will also join for a full-day table read of the projects.
Luna is a personal project for Lucas, based on his own experiences in losing his dad to a brain tumour. Despite its themes of illness and death, he is quick to emphasise it is not a tragedy.
“When you’re in that experience, of course it’s tragic at times, but it’s such a wide, varied experience. It’s surreal, absurd and magical and can completely be that moment that changes your life for whatever reason,” he tells IF.
“All of the strange absurdities and complexities of that experience are something that we’re trying to get on screen in this film.”
Koehne, who shares with Lucas experience looking after his dad as he was dying, agrees the intention is to avoid a story that is heavy or bleak, or verges into kitchen sink drama territory.
“It’s multifaceted, the experience. There’s humour, there’s absurdity, there’s light; there’s not just this depressing much towards death. In this film we want to create something that shows an audience that in darkness there is so much light and so much joy that can be derived out of it, in a strange way,” he tells IF.
“Using Luna, this wildly imaginative 8-year-old girl, to be our viewpiece for that is why we think the film has resonated in these labs internationally so far. It’s got a real cinematic quality in her imagination.”
The film’s magical realist style takes cues from films such as Big Fish and Amelie. The hope is to do as many effects practically in camera as possible; Michel Gondry is another reference.
Both Marché du Film and the TIFF Filmmaker Lab have been useful for Lucas to get a sense of how the film resonates internationally; it is specifically set in Australia but the connection between Luna and her father has proved universal.
“When you read it, it is quite an Australian film, because of the setting. It draws a lot on the nostalgia of growing up; it’s got moments in it where the kids are sitting in the backseat and they’re playing corners, things like that, which feel quite Australian to me.
“But then it’s nice to get exposure and feedback from people around the world who were able to connect with it and have their own way into the film.”
Both Lucas and Koehne hope that the TIFF Writers’ Studio will help to not only further develop the script, but also help to bring other production partners on board.
So far, the team have not applied for any government funding support, but are interested in Screen NSW’s Short Film to Feature Fast Track initiative, and are considering making a five-minute short to help raise finance.
Lucas’ other past work includes 52-minute documentary I’ll Be Frank, recently nominated for an AIDC Award for Best Documentary/Factual Single. That film sees Lucas taken on a journey through Nazi Germany to realise his heritage, guided by the animated memories of his Opa. It won First Prize at Rhode Island International Film Festival for the Hearts Minds Soul award, which celebrates films that reflect the Jewish experience.
TIFF Writers’ Studio takes place March 20-24 (Canadian time) at TIFF Bell Lightbox.