TRAILER

Some Southern Waters Trailer from Julian Baner on Vimeo.

Some Southern Waters is a micro-budget feature-length film written and directed by Orlando filmmaker Julian Baner, starring Bry Reid, Rachel Comeau, Jeff Evans, Mariah Morgenstern, and Diego Baner. It is a close-knit collaborative passion project every step of the way, involving local Florida actors, crew members, artists, and musicians.

Armed with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in filmmaking from UCF, and a collection of unique surrealist short films under his belt, director Julian Baner has set out to make a feature-length film exploring themes of surrealism, femme fatales, and the loops we find ourselves inevitably trapped in. 

 STORY

Some Southern Waters is a black and white, dream-like mystery/drama, taking place in contemporary times in a beachside town in Florida.  The film follows Jon Bedsoe, a 20-something heavy smoker with a fascination for the 50s, as he attempts to move on and face his guilt after his girlfriend Mona is killed in a bizarre car accident with him at the wheel when, months later, he meets a mysterious young woman, Anna, who looks exactly like her. As an attempt to assuage his guilt, Jon decides to "save" Anna from two older men she seems to live with, one of whom manages a local carnival which has employed Anna as a mermaid. In doing so, Jon finds himself trapped in a figurative nightmare, stuck in a recursive series of loops, and walking the ever-fading line between dream and reality.

 FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT

In writing this film, I was interested in exploring some "outdated" film techniques through a modern perspective, thus mimicking the main character's stubbornly nostalgic identity. By using digital photography monochromatically and extensively using dissolves, super-impositions, and fade-outs, the visuals of this film are a manifestation of Jon's posturing as something that he is not: a person a step out of time. 

I was also interested in exploring the nature of recurring dreams, and dreams which involve recurring actions. My feeling for these cyclical imaginations is that it reflects a subconscious trying to work through a problem, yet never finding a solution. The idea of being stuck in recursive loops manifests itself narratively, with an elliptical story and seemingly-repetitive scenes, and aesthetically, through repeating visual and sound motifs.

From a character perspective, through listening to Doo-Wop music, I became fascinated in the normalization of damsel-in-distress stereotypes present in American relationships in the 50s. The idea of a woman who feels the need to be saved by their male counterpart to feel emotionally connected to them struck me as a poignant social aspect that deserved to be explored. This, combined with my questioning of the validity of a "femme-fatale" role as being an empowering one for women, led me to the idea of extrapolating these two conventions through two different characters played by the same woman. It is a commentary on the objectification of women playing femme fatales, that Jon feels he should save Anna, in the same way that Mona wanted to be saved.

 PRODUCTION

The film is currently in pre-production, having shot promotional material and camera tests with the main cast and crew. We are planning to shoot the film in 5 weeks form early June - early July. As this film is serving as my thesis project for UCF, UCF is granting us access to industry-standard equipment and editing and ADR resources and facilities. Most of my crew consists of close friends and students who are working pro-bono. The $20,000 we are attempting to raise for production will go towards licensing music, purchasing insurance, securing locations, paying key crew members, production and costume design, and food and travelling expenses.

We have agreed to a licensing deal with Larry Vanatta, founding member of The Aquatones, a 50's Doo-Wop group with a hit single titled You. Their haunting vocals were a major inspiration for me while writing the screenplay for Some Southern Waters, and we are happy and honored to have Larry on board to provide the music that completes the nostalgic atmosphere present in the story.