SERPENTINE PINK, 78min., USA
Directed by Vivian Sorenson
A dark surreal experience. A first of its kind, vortex of a lesbian?? John Waters film meets Yellow Rose meets early Almodóvar on a Lynchian induced trip??in the Mojave desert.??Serious Lost Highway vibes!

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Get to know the screenwriter:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

Serpentine Pink started out as a play and was given a sublimely wild life as a visceral immersive festival production in Los Angeles in 2013. It was an incredibly special experience to put on such an emotional story about broken hearts trying to heal in the weirdness of the California desert, everybody involved in the production bonded through the uniquely rigorous catharsis that occurred after conjuring such rawness in every performance. I can’t remember who it was but it was either Kristin Condon, who co-leads the film as Henrietta and is a co-producer, or O-Lan Jones who plays Andra, who expressed that Serpentine Pink and the expansive possibilities within its surreal visual vocabulary, as well as the vibrational intimacy of the wounded characters, would make a rad indie movie. I was super moved and excited by the focus on the female-led filmmaking of an underheard LGBTQ+ story, as well as the idea of transforming the theatrical depiction of pain and the characters’ wayward navigational attempts towards healing into an ambitiously poetic cinematic experience – at once personal and epic, highly stylized and on location on the spiritual vortices of the Joshua Tree desert. 

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

From the play version to the film, about eleven years. Serpentine Pink started out in Chicago, Illinois – in the fall of 2010, director Chris Garcia Peak asked me to adapt the short Maurice Level Grand Guignol play The Final Kiss for his experimental, boundary-pushing Chicago theatre company, Cock & Bull. The play had a reading there in 2011, and then another  through USC in L.A. the same year. Most of the creative team behind that reading was a part of putting on the impactful festival production of a fresher draft of the play in 2013 at Son of Semele’s Company Creation Festival. I started writing the screenplay version in 2018 after meeting with actress and co-producer Kristin Condon and line producer Ron Hanks, and we shot the film in 2021. 

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?

Desert-weird romanticism 

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

The biggest obstacle for me was deciphering how to transform the heightened poetry of the play – whether it be the dialogue or the sensorial storytelling – into the more action-oriented, directly visual nature of cinematic narrative. For me, it’s strange and somewhat painful to edit and economize poetic dialogue because it comes from such a personal place and has such a specific rhythm that it all feels absolutely emotionally relevant. So finding the most resonant form of what the characters would say but also a method to maintaining each of their uniquely poetic way of speaking that was more active and not as luxuriantly literary was a mind and heart bending challenge, but everyone, especially the original cast of the play who’s the same cast in the film – they know my style and poetic motivations so well – were all so insightful and supportive of this sort of emotional alchemizing. I learned a lot about adapting and activating poetic dialogue, and I think their advocacy of my voice in this way helped make Serpentine Pink standout stylistically. 

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

Honestly it was so moving that I got a little teary! I felt affirmed and understood. Telling stories in a more experimental way – whether it’s because the movie is poetic, surreal, genre and tonal bending, or working on emotional hyperdrive – is a risk in so many ways, especially when the focus on healing from trauma and abuse is so personal and I wanted it to have the same cathartic resonance for audiences as it did for me/us while creating it. So to hear the respondents describe how the film impacted them and that they so sharply understood what we were going for stylistically, emotionally, content-wise, etc. – felt richly encouraging and inspiring, like I and our whole team articulated and executed our weird and wild story in a moving and powerful way. It made me feel more connected to the indie film community as a whole. 

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

Growing up near Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s was so encouraging as a dreamy young storyteller because there was a palpable excitement for what seemed like epic, expansive, dramatic filmmaking that felt BIG. Movies like Dances with Wolves, The English Patient, Empire of the Sun, The Piano, Field of Dreams, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, The Mission, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, etc. all stirred in me a desire to be a part of a storytelling process that felt highly impactful, like it incited a communal catharsis almost; and it looked incredibly fun! If I have to say an exact moment I knew I wanted to make films it would have to be when my family and I watched Spielberg’s 1987 WWII drama Empire of the Sun and 13 year-old Christian Bale’s Jaime, a young British prisoner of war, sees the P-51 fighter plane burst through the sky over his camp – his exhausted heart finds hope and God maybe for the first time since being taken captive. It was the first time I felt spiritually connected to a movie moment, almost an out-of-body experience. I desperately wanted to be a part of creating that transcendence and connection for others. 

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

Probably a three-way tie between The Big Lebowski, Grease and Raiders of the Lost Ark 

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?

It was so revelatory and inspiring hearing/watching the audience feedback video, so maybe more interactive digital and in-person events that connect filmmakers and audiences? Like Q&A’s or meet-and-greets, themed events, etc. Also, creative interview pairings or guidance in the festival world could be insightful and fun – like past winners interviewing incoming ones? Maybe those of similar genres/styles could be matched for advisorships?? 

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?

Film Freeway is great! Very easy to use, clear and concise descriptors and summaries that help applicants navigate where to apply

10. What is your favorite meal?

Carne asada tacos with chips and guac! So lucky to live in SoCal 🙂

11. What is next for you? A new film?

I am just finishing a modern gothic novella about an Irish-American succubus that Kristin Condon and I are looking to develop into various forms including an audioplay or podcast series, an immersive, ritualistic theatre experience and a TV series or film