Directed by CLARE COONEY
written by Alyssa Thordarson
A couple is attending counseling together. Formerly close and affectionate with one another, Charlie and Edie are having trouble in the aftermath of a terrifying event. Not only do they have to reckon with the attack itself, but how it's affected them, both separately and as a couple. But as their session unfolds, neither partner knows how to bridge the gap between them. They have to be completely honest with one another about their deepest, most difficult feelings, or else risk growing even further apart.
ABOUT THE FILM
AFTER (a love story) premiered at the Academy Award qualifying Cleveland International Film Festival in 2022. It had quite the festival run with Official Selections at LA Shorts and winning Best Drama at the North Hollywood Cinefest. It’s now available to watch on Omeleto.
ABOUT THE FILMmaker
Clare is an actor and filmmaker. Originally from Detroit, Clare attended the University of Notre Dame and spent a year abroad at Trinity College, Dublin. Clare graduated with honors in Psychology and Film, Television & Theater and went on to Chicago to attend the prestigious School at Steppenwolf. Clare served as writer, director, editor, producer, and lead actor in her award-winning short film "Runner," which played at 15 film festivals, winning 6 awards, and garnering Cooney a "Filmmaker to Watch" nomination from the Academy-Qualifying Atlanta Film Festival. Clare made Newcity Magazine's Film 50 list in 2020 and 2019 for being "one of 50 individuals who shape Chicago's film scene." As an actor she is known for NBC's "Chicago PD", Pop TV's "Hot Date", Steve McQueen's "Widows." She is currently in post-production on her debut feature film “Departing Seniors“
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH CLARE
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I started off as an actor in Chicago. I always had an interest in directing but wasn’t sure how to go about it. After a few years in the Chicago film and theater scene, I took a workshop with filmmaker Stephen Cone in which we developed and shot short films. I found the class to be really empowering and it helped me meet local film professionals. I met my favorite Chicago DP, Jason Chiu, by taking the class. Shortly after, I wrote my first short film RUNNER and begged Jason to collaborate on it with me. I was very lucky that he liked the script and said yes. I wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the film, and we shot it for very little money over the course of 2 days. A bunch of lovely and talented friends worked on it for free, and I’m so incredibly grateful that so many folks said “yes” and helped make it happen. I ended up teaching myself how to edit with a few Premiere Pro lessons from my co-producer, and I found that editing came really naturally to me. RUNNER ended up doing incredibly well on the film festival circuit, playing at over 15 fests, winning 6 awards, and securing me a “Filmmaker to Watch” nomination from the Atlanta Film Festival. That short film really catapulted my filmmaking career. Since then I’ve directed a handful of short films, most of which have gone on to play at Academy-Qualifying film festivals and have received a wonderful reception online. I just directed my first feature film, Departing Seniors, in Chicago this summer.
Tell us about the genesis of AFTER (A Love Story) and how the project came about?
My friend Alyssa Thordarson wrote her first short screenplay, and she sent it along to me for thoughts and feedback. I truly only had one note on the entire film, and had lots of complimentary things to say. Alyssa followed up by asking if I’d be interested in directing the film - I was very touched and immediately said yes. We quickly assembled the rest of the cast and creative team, and filmed the short 3 months later!
I was very compelled by the topic - the idea of “after.” Usually, in stories involving any kind of assault or trauma, we get a lot of the lead up to the event, then an overly graphic depiction of the assault or trauma itself, then a grief-stricken depiction of how broken the woman is. We rarely get to see how it affects her life, or her partner’s life, in unexpected ways.
You're also an actress and have directed yourself in previous shorts. Can you chat about your decisions on when to fill a role yourself and when you prefer to cast someone else in the role?
The reasoning is pretty simple and a little selfish, honestly. I love to act and don’t get to do it as often as I’d like because of how competitive and oversaturated the market is. Usually when I write a film, I subconsciously write a role for myself. All the characters I write are based off of a piece of me, or have a bit of my voice in them, so it’s not too surprising. Once I’m done with a script, if there’s a role that feels really right for me, I usually can’t imagine someone else playing it. It can make directing the film a little bit easier, actually — there’s one less person to give direction to! I already know what I want. :)
In the case of AFTER, Alyssa wrote the film (and stars in the film as Edie) this was always her role and always her baby. I approached this project as only a director. It never struck me to play a role, like the therapist or something. I could have broached the topic if I felt the role was really calling to me, but Susan Jamshidi was who we both saw in that role. It’s just based off gut instinct. I either see myself in the role and choose to pursue it, or I don’t. If I don’t think it’ll serve the project to have me play a role, then I stick to only directing.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making AFTER and how did you overcome them?
I live in Los Angeles and the majority of the creative team is in Chicago, so that made pre-production a little more difficult, just in terms of production meetings, location scouting, etc. We also shot in August of 2021 during a relatively tough Covid time, so testing and keeping everyone safe was definitely an obstacle. Another major obstacle was, as always, money and time. We wanted to keep filming to only two days, rather than three, to save money. That was definitely doable, but it was very tight so we had to constantly keep an eye on the clock and be strategic with the shortlist. That being said, I didn’t want to ever rush the actors - particularly during the therapy scene - since that takes up so much of the film. It was crucial to get that right. Thankfully I have a pretty good sense of what scenes can be knocked out quickly and what scenes need extra time and care, so we always made our day and caught up when we fell behind. The only time I ever got really concerned was towards the very end of our second day. The majority of that day was filming the therapy scene. The natural light outside was changing significantly throughout the day, and our DP, gaffer, and grip were making magic happen to keep things consistent. But the weather was threatening to storm. The wind was very, very intense and it started to rain, which meant trouble and potential danger for the lights our team had placed outside. Thankfully mother nature was on our side, and though the weather put us a little behind and caused a lot of stress for our team, it didn't get so bad that we had to bring the lights inside and stop shooting. I was thankful that everyone kept a cool head, stayed positive, problem solved, and did what they could to make things work so that we could make our day and complete the film.
I'm fascinated by your decision to leave the ending unresolved as the characters never touch. Can you chat about the non-linear structure of the film, your intention behind these elements, and what you're trying to say with the piece
I can’t take credit for that — it was explicit in the script that the characters are on the couch, relatively content and “together,” but that there was still a clear space between them. I think in the initial script it said that Charlie and Edie were “a full six inches apart.” I decided to take it a step further by having their hands very close together, and still not touching. We then further accentuated that separateness, making the hand placement a bittersweet reveal as the camera slowly pulls back from their faces. It would have felt wrong to me if their hands touched. Healing doesn’t take place overnight. It takes time, effort, and love.
Similarly I can’t take credit for the nonlinear structure of the film, that was in the script as well. My goal was to allow the storytelling and visuals to be clear enough that you never needed a caption to explain when a scene was taking place — the world “before” and the world “after” needed to feel and look deeply different, and I think we achieved that really well. I think throughout the film we see these characters love each other, but sometimes that love can look drastically different.
The film was written by the lead actress, Alyssa Thordarson. Both performances feel very natural and authentic. It's rare to see a film about relationship issues where you can equally empathize with both people. Can you chat about the character development and how much actors brought to the role vs what was on the page?
Casting is everything for me. The script comes alive once the right actors speak the lines. We didn’t hold any auditions for this — Alyssa and I were familiar enough with Glenn and Susaan’s work and we felt deeply confident they were the right people for the roles. In terms of character development, I trust the actors to make strong choices and bring their full selves to the role, and then we navigate it together on set. I like my films to have a slice-of-life quality to them, I think it’s a great way to build tension. Whenever I see the acting, it takes me out of the film. So the actors came in already doing beautiful work, and I just sort of molded from there. I encouraged Susaan to approach the therapist role like a grounded, patient friend, because in my experience that’s the manner of good/real therapists. I wasn’t interested in depicting a TV therapist. Susaan took my direction brilliantly and fell right into it. As for Alyssa and Glenn, I encouraged them to take more time in the therapy scene and be a bit less fluent — particularly for Glenn’s character of Charlie. He’s going through shame, he’s upset, he’s confused, he’s probably a little embarrassed — I really pushed Glenn to take his time and struggle through the lines. The moment something felt inauthentic to him, he had my full permission to start over. That’s really not easy, but actors know when they truly have dropped into a character/emotion in a genuine way, and when they’re performing a tiny bit. It was beautiful to watch him relax into his monologue and really connect to the words. I’m really proud of all the performances in this piece. It’s not an easy task to make this sort of scene feel natural, when it could easily lean towards the melodramatic.
AFTER has had some good festival success. Can you tell us about your experiences premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival and screening the film with LA Shorts and other festivals? Also any tips for filmmakers currently trying to navigate the festival circuit? Any festivals where you had a great experience and would recommend?
Screening at Cleveland was such a great way to start the run. It’s an Academy-Qualifying film festival and the programming is really top notch. Paul Sloop is the shorts programmer, and he was such a champion of our film. I’d absolutely recommend Cleveland to everyone. LA Shorts was our other Academy-Qualifier, and our CA Premiere. It was such a treat to get to mingle with other filmmakers in Hollywood. I saw quite a few short blocks at LA Shorts and was blown away by the talent. In terms of advice, I’d say to aim for a premiere at an Academy Qualifying fest — that really sets you up for a strong festival run, because other film festivals look to those fests for guidance and programming ideas. We had so many fests reach out to us directly and give us fee waivers after we premiered at an Academy-qualifying fest. Short of Academy-fests, you just want to aim for a festival with a great reputation — fests that have been around for several years that consistently get great reviews on Filmfreeway or get listed on Top 50 Film Festivals lists. Just start your run as strong as you can. Research, research, research. Seek out festivals that are known for their shorts programming and for the way they treat filmmakers. I’d focus your submissions on festivals that have a mission or programming niche that is a good fit for your film’s topic or your film’s team. For instance, did your film dive into a social justice issue? If so, seek out fests that prioritize that sort of work or have a mission/focus on that topic. Was your film directed/written by a woman? If so, make sure to submit to fests that champion female-centric filmmaking and leaders. I’d also track what festivals have filmmaker networking events or parties set up. Sidewalk Film Festival, for instance, is one of my favorite film festivals — aside from their stellar programming, they just show filmmakers SUCH a good time. That sort of networking and fun energy is the best part of attending a festival, and I've met so many friend and collaborators through that fest.
Now that you've completed your festival journey and premiered on Omeleto, how are you finding the online release of the film compared to the festival circuit? Any tips for filmmakers looking to release their film online?
The film festival audiences were incredibly positive and emotionally connected to the film. We always had a really lively Q&A and folks approached us to talk about how much they related to a certain moment or character. When releasing it online, I was slightly nervous we’d get some trolls — Youtube is an enormous platform and films are bound to get a bit of hate. But the response online was just as kind and empathetic as our festival response. I’m so glad so many people felt this was an authentic portrayal of a couple struggling after a traumatic experience.
As far as tips, I certainly recommend Omeleto! The sort of films that do well on Omeleto are narrative, plot-heavy, character-driven stories. Those are the types of films I generally gravitate towards (and write), so Omeleto is a great place for my work -- two other films of mine are on there as well! It has helped to bring a lot of attention to my work, and having it among so many other amazing films on the channel is an honor.
What do you think is the biggest challenge short filmmakers face trying to break into the industry?
I mean, the challenges are usually the same, aren’t they? Money, resources, and connections. I still don’t know of any good way for short films to make much money, so I’ve always had to keep my budgets for my shorts extremely small. It’s really tough. Even once you’ve had a couple successful short films, that’s a great calling card, but you have to fight to make the jump into a longer-form project. This is such a competitive, huge industry and it’s very tough to get noticed by people who might be able to help your career rise. We all definitely need a little bit of luck :)