Short Film Premiere: Ricardo Bouyett “A Sweeter Place”
☆ By SAACHI GUPTA ☆
BRILLIANTLY INTROSPECTIVE AND GENTLE — Ricardo Bouyett is a filmmaker, photographer, and writer whose works — films such as “So Many Little Deaths” (2020), “Living Your Truth” (2020) and “Baddie” (2020) — are poignant, usually reflecting his own life. Bouyett first started making films in 2015 and has since transitioned from abstract pieces to clearer, more meaningful work. He skillfully captures heavy stories with great sensitivity, and is also the author of two books: “Gordito” and “Loverboi.”
Bouyett's latest film “A Sweeter Place” is another example of the reflection and insight that goes into the director and scriptwriter's work. The film captures the journey of Olivia, an artist who struggles with imposter syndrome. As it progresses, Olivia finally confronts her failures, undergoing a drastic transformation. “A Sweeter Place” is a riveting watch — not only does it keep the viewer hooked, but it also leads them to empathise with the protagonist. Imposter syndrome is something that Bouyett has personally grappled with, and this — along with the underlying theme of creation in isolation — makes “A Sweeter Place” an exceptionally personal film, and one of Bouyett's best works.
Luna is honored to premiere “A Sweeter Place”, so watch Bouyett’s latest project and read below to learn more about his journey as a filmmaker, his own struggle with imposter syndrome, and his intentions for 2021.
LUNA: What is your creative process like? How has it changed since you first started creating films?
BOUYETT: My creative process varies from project to project. When I first started making films in 2015, my process was messy, chaotic, and had no real order to its madness. I used to write a script — a bad one — and then put together a treatment and would shoot what I felt like shooting. While not a bad approach to creating, it can lend itself to a lot of logistical issues and oversight. Over the years, I’ve learned how to structure myself to be better at handling logistical fallouts should they arise, but have also learned to balance structure with impromptu filmmaking. With some projects, I write a script and spend time revising it until it feels polished. Then I build a visual treatment that explains the visual framework along with a production workflow, and then I cast the project and go from there. Sometimes I didn’t build the treatment or write a script until after I had a cast; others I didn't have any sort of plan at all — just concepts and feelings to resolve. I always make sure to learn new ways of working but also stick to a structure that helps me feel grounded while allowing me to experiment as much as I can.
LUNA: Where did the inspiration for “A Sweeter Place” come from?
BOUYETT: “A Sweeter Place” came to me as a nugget of an idea where all I wanted to do was make something that called back to my first short, “Lionheart.” I was planning to do an homage to it by creating a similar installation piece that featured flowers hanging from the ceiling but this time I included red yarn. I had no real concrete story — at the time I was going through some imposter syndrome feelings and was reflecting on my journey as a filmmaker. I was thinking back to that first short and how I felt like a failure with it, and that my journey since has been trying to rectify those feelings of failure by repeating the process of creating new films to live up to this fantasy — or what felt like was a fantasy — of being a worthwhile filmmaker. I was at the point where I thought “A Sweeter Place” would be my last film, so I decided to treat it as an honest depiction of where I was at in my journey.
I approached my closest friends (Nikk Harris who plays Olivia, Daisy Cardenas who worked as my Production Assistant) to work on it and decided to keep it as an intimate project with a small team of people who’ve been rooting for me since I started my journey. We held a production meeting and brainstormed together what the story could be. Originally it was about lockdown and the effects of cabin fever but then I scratched that and decided to go with a story similar to my own of this artist who’s so obsessed with wanting to be the best that she creates this tool that ends up being the object of her affection, but also her possible downfall. Many times I’ve risked my life for the sake of shooting a good photo, getting the right shot, or making a worthwhile project. Olivia’s story reflects this — softly but poignantly.
LUNA: The film revolves around themes of isolation and imposter syndrome. How have these themes been a part of your own life over the years?
BOUYETT: Isolation and imposter syndrome have been so huge in my life as a filmmaker over the last six years that “A Sweeter Place” feels like an autobiographical depiction of my psyche at the time that I made it. Not having the resources or accessibility to industry jobs or communities — or networking opportunities — creates a challenging route as an independent filmmaker. I learned the hard way the importance of establishing boundaries to avoid being taken advantage of as a young artist, and while I’ve been fortunate to have had my work seen and shared over the years, it always felt like it amounted to nothing tangible. I started to ask myself what my motivations were, what my long term goals were, and if this was a path I could build a sustainable life on. Without money, you can’t move forward — you can’t do anything — and so seeing how my work never translated into monetary success besides a handful of clients a year led me to believe maybe I chose the wrong path or that it was time for a change. I left a toxic work environment back in 2019 and wound up finding a stable work environment not too long after, but the pandemic forced them to lay us off. I’ve been without work for the majority of 2020, and the job hunt hasn’t been as fruitful as I would’ve hoped it to be. With all these real world issues piling up combined with no real capitalist success on the art front aside from a few book sales, I felt defeated, and that I had no other option but to leave behind my dreams of being a filmmaker. I wanted to honor those feelings, whether based in reality or projections of my fear, with Olivia’s story.
LUNA: The score of the movie is quite intense and emotional, and fits perfectly with the visuals. How involved are you in the sonic side of things?
BOUYETT: When it comes to creating the score for my films, I always prepare a score notes document that I send to my composers for review. Then I send them a cut of the film that has a temporary score in place, using songs that mirror the sound I’m looking for, and I further explain why this certain sound fits in the scene. I’ve worked with Rupert Cole a couple of times before on my film “Cherry” and then later on another film I directed called “LYT.” Rupert always seems to hit the nail on the head with his compositions after reading my referential material and we’ve always had a smooth collaborative process. When he interprets my notes he’ll send me a track and I’ll approve it or suggest modifications. I couldn’t have asked for a better film composer for this film! Also, starting on Feb. 12 you can listen to our score on Spotify and other music platforms! Just search for “Rupert Cole A Sweeter Place Original Soundtrack” and you should be able to find the album.
LUNA: Who are some people whose work inspires you and guides your own work?
BOUYETT: I’m heavily inspired by cinematographers like Stuart Winecoff, Vincent Haycock, Justin Jones, and directors like Jara Moravec, Clayton Vonmero, and AG Rojas. They create visceral imagery and approach storytelling in subtle but dynamic ways and I always find myself motivated and inspired by their work.
LUNA: Within your films, which element do you enjoy working with and subtly telling stories with the most?
BOUYETT: I think it varies on the film. Some projects I like to focus more on color and lighting to do subtle narrative/conceptual tricks; others I like to focus on characterization and style. Across the board, what I enjoy most is working with pacing and how that can either push or delay the narrative of a film. I think hands down cinematography and my choices in lighting will always play a factor, but the thing that always makes me excited is how the beginning, middle, and ends of a film mirror or complement each other. Whether that’s in story, cinematography, concept, or character style is dependent on the film. With “A Sweeter Place,” I enjoyed the subtlety of transformation as a theme: the painting is transformed, Olivia’s backporch is transformed, the installation Olivia built transforms, Olivia transforms herself and in that transformation suffers a similar fate to that of the painting, which consequently transforms into the installation itself, etc. All of this I felt I was able to accomplish conceptually and through cinematography.
LUNA: How has your work progressed since you started?
BOUYETT: Since 2015, my work as a filmmaker has progressed on a rapidly elevating scale that then halted in 2018 and picked back up towards the end of 2019. Before, I cared more about being visually interesting and made things that were too abstract or almost made zero sense, but as long as it looked beautiful I was fine with it. I was lazy with my intentions as a storyteller and focused only on checking off certain marks of identity politics and concepts on a checklist instead of actually saying something. As I created more work and matured over the years I got more interested in writing about my recovery from sexual violence and creating impactful and meaningful work around it. My films “No Love For F*ckboys” (2017) and “Paloma” (2017) were highlights in my journey because they helped narrow my focus in filmmaking as a cinematographer and director, but they were still operating on abstract writing. It was hard for me to write a narrative piece about sexual violence because I was still in the process of recovering, although I kept forcing myself to be better than I was at the time.
Between the work I made leading up to 2018 and my work when I came back from my hiatus in 2019 there’s a distinction in tone. Before, I was very adamant about making the audience feel what I was feeling as opposed to allowing an open-ended interpretation to exist, so I explained away everything I was trying to accomplish through prose-heavy voiceovers instead of allowing the work to speak for itself. That gap year transformed me in a lot of ways and I think it shows in the work as I moved away from relying on poetry and prose and more on dialogue and conventional filmmaking. Between “Baddie” (2020) and “So Many Little Deaths” (2020) I grew exponentially as I became more intentional with what I wanted to say with my work instead of trying to broadly cover a myriad of topics through an abstract lens. “A Sweeter Place” (2020) was supposed to be a cathartic project that could be random but turned out to be my most intentional short film to date. Everything in it had a purpose: the dialogue hits the beats its meant to, and the story is direct and meaningful as it stands. Better yet, it just is what it is, and I don’t have to add superfluous descriptors to it for anyone to understand its meaning. So, between 2015 and now, I’d say my work has progressed in that I’ve allowed myself to mature and progress in my healing from trauma enough to finally be able to see the world clearly which allows me to write and create clearly.
LUNA: What is your favourite part of the filming process and post-production process?
BOUYETT: My favorite part of the filmmaking process is really the whole thing. Pre-production, I love project development and character development. I enjoy working closely with actors on developing their characters. I like logistical planning, delegating communications for the production team, and getting everything in order. During production I love directing and filming. I love working with actors and blocking out the scenes with him and having open dialogue that fosters a collaborative atmosphere. When it comes to filming, I look forward to setting up the lights and figuring out what would best work for the scene.
LUNA: What are your intentions for 2021?
BOUYETT: Currently, I’m in post-production for another short film of mine, “Crybaby” (2021), that I hope to finish and release in the next few months. Other than that, I’m currently working as a Creative Development intern at Full Spectrum Features in Chicago and hope to further develop my narrative feature project. In the meantime, I’m looking for jobs to help keep my head above water during this ongoing pandemic, as anyone else would be.
CONNECT WITH RICARDO BOUYETT
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