Dreams, Poetry, and Steps: Inspirations Shared by Flickers Filmmakers

      There is a unique skill involved in curating films, and the Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival showcased its expertise with the opening block of the festival.

      Nine diverse yet beautiful films inaugurated the festival, all addressing significant, challenging themes and bold expressions of love. The program coordinators connected them through motifs like grief and the desire for understanding, as well as through everyday items — such as stairs — that can take on deep significance.

      Following the block, festival executive director Shawn Quirk welcomed the attending filmmakers to the stage at the Providence Performing Arts Center to discuss their ideas, inspirations, and sometimes amusing difficulties they faced.

      Here’s what they shared.

      Pénélope Rose on “7h53”

      Writer-director Pénélope Rose traveled from Paris to present her poignant drama “7h53,” which tells the story of an estranged couple reuniting for one night with their deceased daughter. She appears to them to slide down the stairs, eat fries, and offer insights into life and death.

      Rose explained to the audience that the film was inspired by her own dreams as she dealt with her father's death at a young age. Encountering him in her dreams evoked a range of shifting and conflicting emotions.

      “I realized from my dream that letting go isn’t about forgetting. It’s about allowing life to move forward and giving ourselves permission to re-enter that life,” she said.

      She remarked that losing a loved one can feel “like an apocalypse." However, through the presence of the young girl in her film enjoying playful moments with her parents, Rose explored profound, opposing feelings.

      The spirit of play and the importance of living fully resonated with her team, who created a safe environment for the daughter to slide down the stairs.

      “The slide, the stairs, became like a toboggan,” she noted. “Everyone on the team wanted to try it.”

      Jessica Aquila Cymerman on “The Stairs”

      The following film in the block also involved playful interactions on the stairs, albeit with darker undertones.

      Jessica Aquila Cymerman derived her powerful, gripping film from her mother Deborah Aquila's experiences growing up in 1960s Brooklyn. The film was filmed in San Pedro, California, in a building that remarkably resembles a New York tenement.

      In the film, the young protagonist, Rose, longs to partake in a dangerous game with her brother and another boy, where they precariously tip a chair backward off the top of a staircase. Soon, a church deacon begins to prey on her, exploiting her immigrant parents' trust.

      While the game takes on symbolic significance, it was rooted in reality.

      “This was a real game played by my mom, her brother, and their friends when it was too hot to go outside,” Aquila Cymerman mentioned. “Dangerous games were common in tenement buildings when kids were bored. They even jumped from rooftop to rooftop due to how close the buildings were.”

      As Rose suffers from the deacon’s predatory behavior, her mother seeks out a healer — a woman who embodies love and faith far more effectively than the deacon.

      “That was based on reality,” the director clarified. “There was indeed a woman down the hall who practiced magic.”

      Alissa Fagin on “Sound & Color”

      “Sound & Color” follows Sarah Kraning, an artist with synesthesia — a condition that enables her to visualize sounds. She translates these sounds into her artwork, and in the film, a team of animators collaborates with her to manifest her sound-influenced visions.

      Director Alissa Fagin created a portrait of Kraning while helping those unfamiliar with synesthesia understand her experiences. Kraning mentions in the film that individuals expressing visions similar to hers would have faced institutionalization in the past instead of being provided an outlet for expression.

      “I first encountered synesthesia as a child after reading a book titled A Mango-Shaped Space, which is a fantastic young adult novel I highly recommend,” Fagin shared with the Flickers audience. “What fascinates me is the idea that someone can perceive the world in such a unique manner. This prompted me to contemplate the various ways people experience our shared reality.”

      “I believe that increased awareness helps us empathize better as human beings,” she added. “I approached Sarah, and we collaborated on this film, both of us eager to share that message.”

      Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter on “Cartoon Physics”

      In the beautifully animated “Cartoon Physics,” a mother addresses her child's initial confrontation with death by embracing the logic of classic cartoons: in cartoon reality, someone running off a cliff doesn’t fall until they realize they’ve run off.

      Married co-directors Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter, who received an Oscar nomination for their short film “Negative Space,” drew inspiration from their own child.

      “We had our daughter six years ago and often discussed creating a film about the parenting experience. Fast forward to when she was two, she came across