MONDAY | BLOCK O | 1:00
These Colors Don’t Run (10 min) dir: Via Bia

#1: Can you describe your movie and why somebody should see it in less than 280 characters?

If you've ever wanted to witness the potential ruination of a little girl's first holy communion via Cheetos and Sharpie markers, please come see our short!

#2: What do you want the Borrego Springs Film Festival audience to know about your film that isn’t obvious from its title?
Most of the movie was shot on Super 16 film and has an all-female, multi-generational Chicana cast :)

#3: What is your movie making background?  Tell us about yourself.
This movie is the direct result of a Sundance lab I was invited to in 2015 called the Latino Screenwriting Project. After receiving notes on my feature magical realist script, THE RADISH BABY, I wanted to take the jump from screenwriting and working on other people's projects, to undertaking my own story. So I asked one of my Sundance advisors, Michael Tully (PING PONG SUMMER; SEPTIEN), an excellent filmmaker and person in the world, if he'd consider producing THESE COLORS DON'T RUN, and he agreed - that surprised me and made me super happy! 

We filmed in Austin, TX, a location where I knew we could find Mexican-American actors and the right locations, plus, we were able to attach a really lovely and hard-working cast and crew, including our other producer, Wilson Smith, who worked on Trey Edward Shults's KRISHA and IT COMES AT NIGHT.

The most important thing I want to do in filmmaking is to tell stories that we don't often see in media - and for me, that means working with Latinos, women, and other marginalized people. I want to be part of that change and the conversations around it. I want these people who don't normally get to view faces and stories like theirs on-screen to feel seen, understood, and represented.

#4: What was the biggest lesson learned in getting your film made?
The absolute biggest lesson is to say yes to myself. The second biggest lesson is "ask and you shall receive." It's amazing how generous and "on board" people can be, even on a project with an indie budget. The third biggest lesson is that your project may take longer to finish than you think, but if you stay flexible and keep at it, you can do it.

#5: What does the future hold for your film and you?
We just began screening in Fall 2017, and we've been fortunate to get programmed at great festivals like the Austin Film Festival, the New York Latino Film Festival, and more. I want to keep working as a screenwriter and director, and hope to find collaborators for my Sundance script, THE RADISH BABY (it's been described as ERASERHEAD meets PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE - lol), as well as my other scripts cuz I'd love to get them made. 

I'm currently developing a documentary about my 15-year old neighbor who is a transgender boy; a narrative episodic dramedy about what might happen if the current administration (especially Betsy DeVos) funnels public education money into charter schools; and I'm editing a new feature script that imagines a world where we've created the technology for men to have babies - of course, they get one year of federal leave time while women still have nada - but the kicker is there's a feminist activist who wants to shut that entire operation down... meanwhile, her secret (male) lover becomes pregnant, pushing her over the edge. It's both silly and deadly serious! 

I also want to collaborate on other people's projects because I find the entire filmmaking process wondrous and inspiring.

For more info on Via and her work, go to www.viabia.com. To keep up-to-date about THESE COLORS DON'T RUN, follow us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thesecolorsdontrunmovie/