The Film
Under the Neon Lights directed by Fabian Velasco
1. Under the Neon Lights Directed by Fabian Velasco
2. Space Hotel Directed by Natalie Dacquisto & Rory Fallis
3. Expect Something and Nothing at Once Directed by Michelle Elrick
Under the Neon Lights is the surrealist creation of University of Winnipeg film grads Fabian Velasco, Milos Mitrovic, Markus Henkel, and Ian Bawa.
Directed by Velasco and co-written by Velasco and Mitrovic, it tells the story of Fabiano (Mitrovic), his mannequin wife Christine and the tragedy that strikes when one falls ill. With glorious cinematography, animated characters and a plot that almost everyone can relate to, it's a film that has to be seen to be believed.
“It’s supposed to be a mix of the eccentrism of the characters ... and different types of stereotypes to compliment the dramatic tone of it,” Mitrovic says. “You’re dealing with death, the relationship falling apart, stuff that’s really serious.
“We took this kind of plot and we moved it on to what would happen if these kind of eccentric characters had to deal with something like that.”
The original idea for the film came out of Mitrovic’s attempts to write a sequel to him and Velasco’s earlier film Plasticmann 2.
“[Plasticmann 2] was the sequel to Fabian’s movie about this lonely guy whose only friend is a mannequin. We really liked that idea…[but] we decided not to make a third sequel to a movie that nobody had seen.
“So, we said, why don’t we make this really eccentric, crazy film, like a David Lynch/Tim and Eric style movie that flips characters around and shows different sides of people.”
The film did extremely well at the University of Winnipeg Student Film Festival, winning Best Actor, Director, Cinematography, and Screenplay, and was most recently screened at the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto as a part of the Toronto After Dark film festival.
Catch Under the Neon Lights at the Park Theatre on December 9th as a part of the Winnipeg Film Group Member Premieres. Admission is by donation.
Part of the series: The Uniter 30
Published in Volume 68, Number 14 of The Uniter (December 4, 2013)
