San Diego International Film Festival kicks off next Wednesday at the Museum of Photographic Arts and then moves to the AMC 14 Theaters at UTC. The festival showcases Hollywood and foreign films but also carves out a space for films with a San Diego connection.
San Diego International Film Festival opens with the Hollywood feature "The Holdovers" from Alexander Payne. But the festival also highlights local ties including the world premiere of "Limite," and the west coast premieres of "To Fall in Love" and "Running with Emilio." Plus, the festival will host The San Diego 48 Hour Film Project showcase with the top films from the 2023 competition.
Although romantic dramas may not be my go-to film genre, "To Fall In Love" was directed by Michael Foster who won me over in 2016 with his horror short, "Hush." So I was curious about his new film, especially since it had a connection to something else I love, San Diego International Fringe Festival.
"This story was originally written as a play by Jennifer Lane," Foster explained. "Then actors Beth Gallagher and Eric Casalini took it to Fringe. And then Fringe was for me, I wanted to see how the audience responded to it, and the audience responded amazingly well to it. I could hear sniffling in the audience, and I was like, oh, wow, it's really hitting the right marks. And they were laughing at all the right places. And okay, this has potential to be a very small, independent film and so it was validation for me that it could work as a movie."
The inspiration for Lane's play came from a New York Times article called "To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This." The story uses the list of questions presented in the article that had been developed by a psychologist interested in recreating the experience of falling in love. Merryn (Gallagher) and Wyatt (Casalini) read from the questions in an attempt to reconnect after a tragedy disrupted their marriage.
Foster was inspired by the indie art house "Before Sunrise" films that were just about two people talking, and by the popular "Rocky."
"If you remember 'Rocky,' you'll remember that anytime that he is with Adrian, they didn't have a lot of extras around them," Foster said. "They shot their scenes very isolated, nobody around. But it's almost like those two are in their own world and that nothing around them exists because they're just into each other. They're focused on each other. And I've always liked that idea. And so that was kind of what I was going to go for, too."
That was also a perfect way to turn the limitations of a small, low budget film into an advantage. You don't notice that the cast is small and it is shot mostly in one location because the intimacy of the story feels organic.
Foster also had the challenge of shooting the film right on the heels of the pandemic.
"I haven't really thought about this for a long time," Foster said. "We waited until we were all vaccinated, and then we all still masked behind the camera. But that was difficult. It was difficult to wear those masks. It was difficult to make sure everybody felt comfortable because I was still at that point where I didn't want to shake anybody's hand, I didn't want to touch anybody. But at the same time, you kind of wanted that connection, right? And I think it was the first time I'd been out of the house for a while making this movie. But, yeah, very strange, awkward time. But it also worked because it's a small, very intimate story."
You can enjoy this intimate romantic drama on Oct. 19 as part of San Diego International Film Festival.
