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A Young Filmmaker Gives Love a New Face

Get hooked on Chloé Aktas' award-winning short film, 'Fish Hook and Eye.'
Images courtesy Chloé Aktas

Every generation of filmmakers has its own depiction of Love. Think: Manufactured dreamgirl Lisa in John Hughes' seminal Weird Science (perhaps a metaphor for 80s inflation?); Vianne's 20th century delicacies in Lasse Hallström's Chocolat; in the superflat 2000s, it was "Bianca," the love doll opposite Ryan Gosling in Craig Gillespie's Lars and the Real Girl. In young filmmaker Chloé Aktas' award-winning short film, Fish Hook and Eye, Love has a new look: drawn, pierced, and fatal.

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Winner of Best Film and Best Screenplay at NYU's New Vision and Voices, and Best in Fest at the NYU Fusion Film Festival, Fish Hook and Eye tells the story of Ramona (Julia Christgau) and Dean (Matteo Eckerle), young lovers reeling in the wake of Love's (Drita Kabashi) first sting. Written by Aktas, with a poetic voiceover accompaniment by Lyndsey Bourne alongside Drita Kabashi, and shot with style by Kevin Rios, it's a student film that aspires to so much more—look no further than its Margaret Atwood-inspired overtones, and Katelyn Rebelo's promising stop-motion animation, to get a sense of its ambition.

The Creators Project spoke to writer, director, and editor Chloé Aktas about her inspirations, working with her fellow students, and Love's aftermath in Fish Hook and Eye.

The Creators Project: First off, what was your development process like?

Chloé Aktas: My heart was broken at 16, as a result I began to look at the actualization of love and the “idea” of love in two different forms. I was idealistic and completely devastated when the relationship ended. We dated for almost a year-and-a-half. At the time, a good friend of mine shared with me Margaret Atwood’s poem, “You Fit Into Me”:

You fit into me
like a hook into an eye

a fish hook
an open eye

It stuck with me for a long time. As I grow older, I feel like the idea of love becomes more complex, more muddy than what we originally envisioned the concept to be when we were in high school.

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The  idea that I should make a film about love actually hit me when I was a sophomore in university at NYU.  I was falling asleep— in between the two states of  being awake and dreaming. I had a visualization of a woman dragging a baseball bat across a chain-linked fence. I decided that this person was Love. I let this idea cogitate in my mind for a year—trying to think of how to tell this story, and more importantly, how to make it personal to my experience. It was important for me to make it personal, to mirror elements of my relationship. The scene where Dean and Ramona share shoes is a moment that I had in real life. Moments where they feel like they have nothing left to say to each other, when the thrill of falling in love is over, are moments I experienced.

When it came to write the script, I cannot tell you how many terrible drafts I went through. It was really hard for me to think of how to tell this story. I thought of it through the eyes of a little boy while his parents are getting divorced, of all these crazy scenarios. I kept bringing all these bad drafts into class and forcing students to read them and give me advice, until I finally decided on  Dean and Ramona. I wanted to make the story real to me.

What was writing the voice-over with Lyndsey Bourne like? 

Lyndsey Bourne is one of the most talented writers I encountered at NYU. I had the privilege of attending a reading of an original play she wrote—her unique voice stuck with me.  Originally, I had written the voice-over myself, but it wasn’t working with the cut of the film. I handed Lyndsey my original script and said, “This is what I’m trying to say, do it your way and take over.” We worked together to determine which dramatic beats I needed to hit, but I allowed her the freedom to mold it to her own voice.

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What were your visual inspirations per chapter? 

Love is a traditional subject, so I wanted to take bits of famous artworks and traditional cinematic styles and modify them similar to how I was modifying the audience’s concept of love.

For each chapter, I chose a different photographer, painting, or film style from which to draw my inspiration.

The beginning of the film has elements of traditional black-and-white cinema with nontraditional visual approaches. I wanted to combine Italian neorealism with the atypical film-of-photographs approach of La Jette. I wanted the audience to feel like they were witnessing fragmentations of film styles and of Love’s voice.

For the second chapter, “Attraction,” I was influenced by the photography of Petra Collins. I love the way she uses bright, pink lights. Her photographs feel pieces of candy. It was important that the second chapter felt stylized, almost “too sweet,” like it was too good to be true. Similar to how Dean and Ramona have an instant physical and emotional attraction, but are unable to foresee the difficult times ahead, they relish a moment they think they will last forever.

For the third chapter, “Attachment,” I was inspired by Frida Kahlo’s The Two Fridas. I wanted Love to be dressed in white in the scene where she’s “hooking” the posed Dean and Ramona together. Further, I wanted to redefine the work and give it a different meaning, similar to the audience’s new way of looking at love.

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Because of the grotesquery of the “hooking,” it was vital to have moments where the audience can breathe and take a break from the gore. This is where Katelyn Rebelo’s animation was vital. Her work shows Dean and Ramona becoming attached, but in a lighter and more poetic fashion.

Who are your actors (more than names, of course) and how'd you get your crew together? 

I was not accepted to NYU the first time I applied, so the majority of my crew were friends I transferred in with from other schools. My director of Photography, Kevin Rios and I met in our first class. I was always impressed by his cinematic eye and wanted to incorporate his talent in this project. I got most of my crew just by bothering my close friends and convincing them to spend three days with me on this crazy project.

I cannot say enough amazing things about my cast. Drita Kabashi, who plays Love, is a recent graduate from Tisch’s Drama Department. Casting Love was a challenging process because she had to embody badassery but also an innate sensitivity. Drita has an undeniably strong presence, but once you talk to her, you realize she is one of the most empathetic people you will meet. She had the challenging role of making a concept into an actual human being.

Julia Christgau, who plays Ramona, is not only a ridiculously talented actress, she’s a teacher and a singer/songwriter residing in Brooklyn. It was a gift working with her because almost all of our rehearsals were improvised scenes. Watching Julia jump into the process was a great experience. She recommended Matteo Eckerle for the part of Dean. Matteo is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Drama Program. I attended their High School Drama program, so we already had this connection we weren’t even aware of. Matteo is an extremely captivating and skilled actor. It was a great pleasure to work with him and watch his wheels turn. I have great confidence these actors will be super-famous in the future; I was just lucky enough to work with them.

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If you could go back in time, what would you change about the film?

It’s funny you should ask this, because there was a time when this question was all I would think about. I had shot the film and was sitting down trying to edit it when I realized I was missing an emotional journey with Dean and Ramona. It wasn’t clear what they liked about each other in the beginning, nor how that all falls apart near the end. I essentially began to rewrite the film in post-production through voice-over, editing, animation, and black-and-white still photographs. I basically used every post-production tool I could. The original cut was around 12-15 minutes long. It took me months to finesse and find the rhythm it needed. Because I spent so long in post, I don’t think there’s anything I would change at this point. I know I’ll probably look back five years from now and say “duh, I would change so many things!” But for now, I’m fine with it. That’s where I was in life when I made it.

Do you think Dean and Ramona end better off than if they'd have gone through with "unhooking"?

First, I think it is important to understand that Love’s duty ended when Dean and Ramona fell in love with one another. As Love says in the film “staying in love, that’s your decision.” I think Dean and Ramona will always have disagreements, but I believe they have a more mature understanding by the end. Dean and Ramona will not make excuses for each other's faults, nor try to change them. They understand that being in love is more than just the “Kodak moments”; they understand the deeper friendship and acceptance involved. I also believe that Dean’s willingness to fight for Ramona in the end displays that he is willing to do this throughout their relationship. We humans are weird because we desire to be individuals, but also to have a deeper connection with someone else. In the end, I like to think that Dean and Ramona have accepted each other's individuality, allowing them to really forge their connection.

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What's next for you?

Unfortunately, gainful employment has not yet materialized; but I keep the faith and I keep knocking on doors. I have so many ideas! I would love to make a web series and music videos. I also love acting and will keep auditioning and taking classes to hone my craft. One of my collaborators, Devon Leaver and I are preparing to start our own production company for music videos for emerging artists and digital branded content. We love music and want to work with up-and-coming artists to give them that creative visual approach they need to stand out.

Click here to visit Chloé Aktas' website.

Fish Hook & Eye credits:
Directed, Edited and Written by Chloe Aktas
Co-writers: Lyndsey Bourne and Drita Kabashi 
D.P. Kevin Rios
AC- Joshua Haye Davey
Producer: Lucy Ross
Animation: Katelyn Rebelo
AD-Bridget Greaney
Art-Andrew Hebert
Location Sound Mixer-Stephanie Eugene
Post Sound Designer- Naava Feingold
Music: Des Ark and Christopher Paul Stelling

CAST
Love-Drita Kabashi
Ramona-Julia Christgau
Dean-Matteo Eckerle

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