Death By Chocolate, 12min., USA
Directed by Marc Erdahi
When a glamorous chanteuse, the ex-mistress of the husband of a lonely Southern wife share a candlelight dinner, the lines of their relationship blurs between comfort and betrayal. What is told is a seductive tale of longing, manipulation, and the dangerous cost of getting exactly what you want. How far would you go to get what you can’t have?
http://deathbychocolate.film/
Get to know Writer/Producer Kay Gunn:
1. What motivated you to make this film?
“Death By Chocolate” began as an idea of a film and then an episodic series that had stayed with me for years. I am fascinated by what happens when desire, jealousy and loyalty collide between people who believe they understand one another. When I entered the M.A. in Media Producing program at NYU, I finally had the opportunity to take an episode of my idea and make a short film. My main interest is bringing melodrama back to contemporary audiences in a fresh and unexpected way. Moreover, I want to see mature actresses thrive in roles I can create where they make the rules.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
“Death By Chocolate” went through writing, development, pre-production, casting, production and post-production before becoming the film audiences are seeing today. The concentrated filmmaking process took approximately 7 months, but creatively, the story had been living with me for years.
3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Exhilaration and Extortion
Those two words really capture the emotional engine of “Death By Chocolate”. This story is about confronting feelings one may not want to acknowledge and discovering that desire does not necessarily obey boundaries we create for ourselves when extortion seeps in.
4. What was the greatest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
One of our biggest challenges happened during production when we discovered that essential camera media was in Brooklyn while we were shooting in New Jersey. On our short film schedule, losing that kind of time was nerve wracking. But fortunately, we had contingency funds and a team willing to solve problems quickly. We obtained replacement media, adjusted, and kept moving. It was a powerful lesson in sustaining the ability to remain calm when the unexpected happens.
5. There are 5 stages of the filmmaking process: Development. Pre-Production. Production. Post-Production. Distribution.
What is your favorite stage of the filmmaking process?
Development & Casting
The development is where possibilities are unlimited. I love taking an idea and asking what the story is about, what the characters want, what the audience should feel, and what needs to happen to move the project from imagination toward something that can actually be produced.
As both the writer and producer, I was particularly enthralled by creating the idea and figuring out how to make it real and then to casting it with real human beings to bring the story to life is a thrill ride.
6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
I came to filmmaking after many years working with actors, actresses and writers in theatre and talent management. By entering NYU’s M.A. in Media Producing program, this gave me the opportunity to approach filmmaking from a producer’s standpoint of making all the major decisions. Making “Death By Chocolate” was something extraordinary in seeing an idea that once existed only in my imagination totally come alive on a screen.
7. What film have you seen the most times in your life?
The film I have probably seen more than any other is “The Great Lie” (1941). No matter how many times I watch it, I find something new in the performances, the storytelling or the filmmaking. I am drawn to films that feature virtuosos and dance breaks that further the plot. That’s why subliminally I wrote a dance sequence into “Death By Chocolate”.
8. In a perfect world: Who would you like to work with/collaborate with on a film?
I would choose Sally Wainwright who wrote, directed, and produced the British series “Gentleman Jack” which was a co-pro with BBC One and HBO.
I am fascinated by the way her work has so much atmosphere to make longing almost tangible. Her work demonstrates what characters cannot say, which can be far more powerful than what they do say. That sensibility interests me as a filmmaker. This would work well with “Death By Chocolate” because of its emphasis on desire, intimacy and heightened visual emotion.
9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experience been working on the festival platform site?
FilmFreeway has made the festival process much more accessible for me as an independent filmmaker. Having one place where I can organize the film for submissions to festivals has been extremely helpful. More importantly, it has allowed “Death By Chocolate” to begin finding audiences outside of the country.
10. What is your favorite meal?
Obviously, dessert and it would be chocolate cake, or soufflé.
11. What is next for you? A new film?
I’m continuing to expand “Death By Chocolate” into a full feature film or episodic TV series and also developing a documentary project centered on a young performer pursuing musical theatre in New York who is a survivor of childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma. I’m interested in stories about people who refuse to allow circumstances to define the limits of their ambitions.
