“August Sun,” a short film drama, is a story with a character study at its heart about a son reconnecting with his ailing mother while mired in bureaucratic paperwork and legal disputes. Javier is back in his hometown of Buenos Aires, torn between the needs of his mentally ill mother and the life he’s built in Europe.
The film captures the inner conflict of a son torn between duty and destiny. It touches on notions of moral obligations, loss, grief, memory and identity.
Largely based on real-life events in writer/director Franco Volpi’s life, the story packs intimacy, emotional depth, and wit into 18 minutes of beautifully orchestrated drama. “August Sun” was filmed in Volpi’s native Buenos Aires, an ideal place to tell a story about a mother and son in a difficult and challenging environment.
His passion for film drove Volpi to move to Spain, where he studied at Escuela de cine Ciudad de la Luz, under acclaimed director Pablo Berger (“Torremolinos 73”, “Snow White”, “Abracadabra”). He then moved to the U.K. to complete an MA in Filmmaking at the prestigious London Film School, chaired by legendary director Mike Leigh. There, Volpi worked as a Writer, Director, Editor and in the Camera, Lighting and Sound Department on numerous short film and documentary projects, digitally, on 16mm and 35mm film. He graduated with Distinction in 2018.
The acclaim is starting to build for “August Sun,” which BAFTA shortlisted for its 2018 Student Film Awards. It will have its World Premiere at the 2018 Palm Springs International ShortFest, where it has been honored with an official selection. The screening will be on Saturday, June 23, at 12:40 pm at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs.
For Franco Volpi, this has been a long process. “During the tumultuous period following my father’s passing, I had to confront a series of difficult challenges, with my mother’s well-being front and center. Settling on this project was not an easy task. I tried opting for something else. But I kept circling back to it. It kept gnawing at me,” he says.
“I knew it’d be difficult to tell this story in a short film format while doing justice to the source material, so to speak,” he added. “But, in the end, that’s precisely why I decided to make this film. With it, I wanted to explore the family dynamics that dictate some of our most important life decisions.”
Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, the film’s associate producer, says it has been an intrepid journey to get the film made. “Franco and I connected during the Kickstarter phase of the pre-production, and after one phone conversation, I knew I needed to be involved to support his vision for this brilliant film.” As the founder and CEO of Lantigua Williams & Co., a Washington DC-based production company, she believes “August Sun” can be developed into a full-length feature or a serialized family drama for one of the digital networks like Netflix or Hulu. To learn more, visit www.lantiguawilliams.co/sol
Website: http://www.lantiguawilliams.co/sol
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