QUESTION#1: What excited you the most when making this film?: Honestly, I was most excited about the prospect of debuting it at the Borrego Springs Film Festival. It's the best. The audience always gets our stories and they are the perfect demographic to appreciate a tale about growing up in the 1960s. It's also a film about the acceptance of others and I feel that we need to try harder to recognize that everyone deserves love and we shouldn't be judgmental. There's a scene in the film where a lesbian couple walks by an older tourist couple on the street and the husband tries to take a picture of them but the wife tries to stop him. Even in the 60's you should know better.

QUESTION#2: What was the most significant film you've seen AT THE THEATER in 2024, and how did it influence your filmmaking?: Hmmm. 2024 was slim pickings. I guess it would have to be an independent film called Strange Darling. It's a psychological thriller about a serial killer. The thing that made it exceptional was the editing. It was broken down into 6 chapters which were then shown out of order which sounds weird but it really enhanced the story by knowing what happened then building tension through revelation. I hate movies that jump around but by being in whole chapters, it wasn't confusing but masterful. In our film, we lay out the premise, then go back and explain what happened. And when you see the film "Aunt Cindy" you immediately recognize that it was all in the editing. .

QUESTION#3: What's an obvious and not-so-obvious question someone might ask about your film?: The first question people always ask is, "Was that true". and the answer is yes and no. Because we take a bunch of random found footage, (home movies), and create a story from it, the footage is real but the story is created around it. I have no idea who these people are in the film but by asking the question, "what does love look like", it becomes a tale that we all can recognize in our own lives. So yes it's a true story... for a lot of people. We call the style "True Fiction" and it blurs the line so well that the audience shouldn't be able to tell if it's real. A not so obvious question is how long does it take to make a film like this. It's much more difficult than you would think and it is a mad sprint. The producer, Jeanne Scott, and I will sit down and watch hours and hours of random footage, talk about it, then I need to immediately write a script the next day and start editing while it's fresh in my mind. Every line of dialogue corresponds with a shot from the home movies and I need to go back and find it quickly before I forget where it was. The whole process took about 2 weeks which is pretty amazing when you consider how much goes into making films these days.

QUESTION#4: A magic movie genie is giving you an unlimited budget for your next production! However, you're only allowed to use it on either "above line" or "below line" resouces. Which do you choose and why?: Film making has changed so much in the past few years. It's been years since I had a big crew with tons of resources and so, like most film makers these days, I've had to sharpen my pencil in every job, I like doing it all myself. I really enjoy doing all the arts, Writing, directing, editing, music, the finished film is such a pure representation of the vision I had for the film, as a storyteller this far into my career, I don't know if I could or would want to do it any other way.

QUESTION#5: What is it about your current movie that will influence your next film?: This is the 6th "True Fiction" film we have created and with each one, we learn more about storytelling, which makes each one more impactful then the last one.

Social media tags to share with our readers: americandreamcinema.com

5Q's w/: Devin Scott "Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist" Director, Writer