Staff Pick Premiere: "West by God" by Scott Lazer |

After a night of flirting at the local water park The two of them are set to meet for an intimate date at the nearby Dairy Queen. Dane has a habit of being the boss, has to pay for their meal, decides the places they go to, what they do, as well as the music they listen. Although Dane could have begun with a position of control, Nelly's presence and the brilliant use of a 2000's hip-hop anthem create vulnerability in Dane that begins to reveal his machismo armor. Lazer brings this tale of a small town to life through a keen eye for detail through locations, scenes, and characters.

The distinctiveness of the film is essential to create and dismantle the masculine and submissive female archetypes "West by God" investigates. Two performers Kyle Riggs and Aphrodite Armstrong are protagonists of this film that even won them an award from Jurors for their impressive performance at this year's SXSW film Festival.

Prior to the movie's release, we reached out to Director Scott Lazer about how the film came about, the challenges encountered along the way, as well as what's to come next.

The film's origins

"I'd wanted to record some event in West Virginia - where I was born and lived for most of my youth over a period of time. One of my favorite things to do there is bring people who've never been to the area and see it through their eyes for the first time that's something I believed it was possible to do with film. When the writer Juli Blachowiak, and myself first started discussing collaboration in this film, she had originally had it set in Hawaii which is the place where she was born and was raised. However, I could see it fitting perfectly in West Virginia with specific locations in mind. I started sharing photos taken there with her including some that I'd gathered, others that I discovered through Google. The photos helped us create the characters, and helped us adapt the story to the reality I was familiar with ."

When creating characters:

"Nelly and Dane are a bit like crossing the two extremes of adulthood. Nelly would like to grow into an adult while Dane regrets not getting there like he did. I have many Nellys and Danes during my childhood that influenced these characters and a major part of bringing these characters into reality was the clothes they wore that Juli me and I made ourselves ."

About the actors:

"My acquaintance Cat is doing her MFA at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in North Carolina, which is approximately three hours away from the place I'd like to shoot at West Virginia. I asked her if had been accepted into the acting class at the university that I'm aware of as an acclaimed conservatory. Cat was always an easy-going person and had a natural ability to act, and when I gave an audition script to her she replied that she knew Nelly as one of our lead actors. "I'll seek a tape from her,' she told me.

A few weeks later, she sent me her audition for Aphrodite and it absolutely stunned me. Michael (Fiona) was from UNCSA and Kyle (Dane) was an actor Cat was familiar with in within the North Carolina acting community. I felt so fortunate to have the privilege of working with talented actors. I was elated to see Aphrodite as well as Kyle to be awarded an Award from the Special Jury for Outstanding Performances at SXSW in spring this year. ."

On casting Aphrodite:

"I didn't know that she was transgender when she was auditioning. I just knew she was exceptionally skilled and appropriate to play the part. But once I learned she was a proud transwoman, I had to contemplate the implications of me (cis black male) in control of her. Aphrodite and I talked about the issue. I also approached other individuals to discuss it. I looked into it and found an article in which an trans-actress was identified as Harrison Knights who said "It is only when trans actorshave been hired into major roles in cis due to the fact that they are the perfect actors for the role rather than just because we've completed one box we'll have been recognized as a valid choice."

Cis actors have been performing the role of trans-characters for many years. So why do you think that this rarely happens? The obvious reason was that I decided to make Aphrodite. It wasn't just the best creative decision, but gave the film a purpose. She told me when the film was completed that her appearance created something distinctive for the persona ."

On writing and performing the line that ends with "I have an idea."

"There's a power interaction among Nelly as well as Dane and Dane and Dane, which is the main tension in the film. They go where he wants, he's paying for it, and he's one in charge. If he reveals the part of him that's vulnerable to Nelly who she didn't expect and she sees the strength she holds to be a friend towards him. This is something she may even use. When she says that final sentence, she acknowledges the shift between the two. It's happened, and both parties are aware. . ">

Your top advice to aspiring film makers?

"Even in the event that you do not intend to become an editor, learn how to edit to be capable of interacting with editors. Editing is the point where the film comes together and falls apart, so editing is a crucial aspect to comprehend thoroughly ."

If you sing a tune to the person you cherish:

"Early in my romance with my girlfriend, I played her an Melody Gardot song called 'Our Love Is Simple', which I believed summed up my feelings regarding the development of our romance. We seemed so in love that I thought our love was natural, like water rushing over stone, according to the lyrics Gardot sang. The relationship didn't go way I had hoped. "Easy?' she asked me in awe. If you find yourself in a difficult situation will you become bored? But I'm not losing my passion. It's just not that simple. ."

What's next? Are there any projects coming up?

"We're yet to be done with the "West" by God. We have a lot to uncover in that world. Additionally, I'm currently making a few more short films that I'm currently doing alongside the gig I'm receiving on commissions to advertising and music ."

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