Writer-director Aristotle Torres talks his feature debut Story Ave, working with Luis Guzmán and Asante Blackk, and what's next.
The Big Picture Writer-director Aristotle Torres has a lot of thoughts about both his debut feature and art in general. Starring Asante Blackk and Luis Guzmán, it is a work that sees the two playing strangers who are brought together in an unexpected connection that offers a path to healing for them both.
I wanted to ask about that Sundance Institute part of it because I think people normally hear, like, “Oh, people just show a film at Sundance,” but there's an entire structure for bringing in an exciting new voice, and having it be something more people can see. What was your experience going through the Sundance labs?
I really appreciate you acknowledging that. I think coming from music videos and commercials, my instincts and my sensibilities lean towards visual communication and how to tell stories with the frame and how to communicate to the audience about what's going on beyond just the dialogue that's at the surface. I think the way you do that is through color. It's through lens tracing. It's where you put the camera. It’s the texture of the wallpaper.
I don't think I was too hyper-conscious about that. The thing that I really cared about and wanted to protect was just not depicting any negative stereotypes to what it means to live or be from the Bronx. I think a lot of people forget Ralph Lauren is from the Bronx and De Niro and Neil deGrasse Tyson and Kerry Washington. So many influential artists of our time have come from there, and it's a special place.
I was so fortunate as a first-time filmmaker to work with two masters of their craft, quite honestly, between Luis Guzmán and Asante . I mean, I had an amazing cast, but to have those two actors be the heart and soul of the film put me in a position to win, or at least a position to make a watchable film because they're so meticulous about their craft and the details. I like to live, or at least subscribe, by a theory of, like, a take for love.
I appreciate the very specific details, and the use of the word exhale is, I think, a good one because as I was watching it, I was like, there's a version of this movie, and I think you had kind of alluded to it further, where characters fall into stereotypes or that there's sort of this, like, reduction.
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