Last and First Woman Film Spotlight
Today’s film spotlight focuses on the short film Last and First Woman directed by Adnan Siddique as part of the Pendance Film Festival.
What is the title of your film and what inspired said title?
The title of the film is Last and First Woman
We went with this title for a few reasons. The main character, Annie, is an extremely passionate student but she’s fairly apathetic towards the semantic parts of the curriculum (test-taking, attending lecture, etc). We feel that this type of a person is a dying breed- the “last” of her kind. Her passion, however, drives her to discover what she finds at the end of the film- becoming the “first” person to solve the mystery. So she’s the last of her kind and the first to make this discovery. The title also serves as a reference to another sci-fi novel Last and First Men, that we wanted to reference as well as build upon from a feminist POV. Aside from that, we love film & media that just starts with the word “last”: The Last Samurai, The Last Jedi, Last of Us, etc etc. I felt as though it’s paying back to the films of yesteryear and even some modern classics.
Tell us a little bit about the story and origins of your film.
The story was born out of our own struggles with the post-secondary curriculum. I was surrounded by a lot of women in STEM during my time in undergrad and I noticed that it was always an uphill battle. I felt like the curriculum had become disfigured. What began as a test of passion turned into a test of submission & sacrifice. Often times, the people that would excel were just very great test-takers and memorizers. It also felt like the rules in place were created by white men who set their own metrics for what it took to obtain a degree. As a minority, I felt like excelling under these rules didn’t necessarily translate to a genuine passion for the subject matter. That’s why we wanted to depict a curriculum that ultimately fails our very passionate main character. We also wanted to depict women in STEM from several backgrounds, performing or metaphorically “dancing” for a system created by the patriarchy.
Any films or filmmakers that inspired this film?
Even though there is a sci-fi focus, much of the film is inspired stylistically from modern films such as Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), Blue Valentine (2010), Trainspotting (1996), and Prisoners (2013). These include a few films we had our cast and crew watch prior to filming. A lot of the shots and visual storytelling is ripped right from these films. As far as plot structure and pacing, this film took a lot of inspiration from film noire such as Chinatown (1974) & The Maltese Falcon (1941). The engine of this film is actually derived from classic mystery films. Obvious inspirations for us from a conceptual perspective were Contact (1997) & Arrival (2016).
What is the goal of the film for you?
We made this film to tackle flaws with the current curriculum, particularly in STEM. We hope audience members are able to watch this film and relate to Annie. Particularly in understanding how truly odd it is that our society has manufactured hurdles for us to pursue the things we love. It would be wonderful if our project is able to convince someone to pursue their passion, regardless of external validation.
What has the journey been like getting the film into production?
Before we begin writing anything, we always ask ourselves: what are the themes that are most pervasive and relevant to us? From that list of themes, we deduce what we can tackle based off of the resources that are available to us. In our case, we had access to a massive, sprawling campus that we lived adjacent to (along with several other relatively public sets). During the outlining process, we tried to embed every free resource we could use and then a few sets that required some thought. We didn’t know it at the time but this would make our production fairly difficult. We thought no one would bat an eye if we’d set up a few cameras and lights at various locations across of the city of Columbus. However, many times we would encounter pushback or red tape limiting us. This led to a very long, guerrilla style of shooting that none of us were prepared for. It helped to have our incredible producer reserve sets for us when it was
available and money in the budget reserved for us if we needed it.
One thing you learned from this project?
This is one piece of advice I’d followed but I didn’t know how pertinent it’d be once we began filming: Choose your crew and especially your cast not based on their experience, but how much they care about you and your project. I’ve fallen in love with all of my cast and crew. Often times, we needed to perform spontaneous reshoots, impromptu rehearsals, or ADR that we generally didn’t plan for. These aren’t really issues if the people helping you are family. If we didn’t have this incredible and kind group of people working with us, I don’t know that this final product would have been released. In my opinion, devotion will almost always outweigh skill. If you find people on your set that are as devoted as you are, hire them. Also, make sure you record backup audio.
How can folks find you and your film online?
Last and First Woman is not available publicly yet but you can check out my other work on our production website: cheapfilms.org
If you really want to watch the film, DM on Instagram: @whoisadnansiddique. Or just follow me for film updates- I don’t post much but I add to my story semi-frequently
Any last pieces of advice for fellow filmmakers?
When I was doing research in my undergrad, one of the methods they’d taught me to figure out what research topic I should choose is actually very relevant to how filmmakers should choose their projects. It’s called the F.I.N.E.R method. It stands for Feasible, Interesting, New, Ethical, and Relevant. If your next project checks all those boxes, you’re golden. I’d say the two most important are “feasible” & “interesting.” I can’t tell you how many new filmmakers I’ve met that try to make an Avengers movie in their backyard. On that same note, I can’t tell you how many films I’ve seen that start with the main character waking up with an alarm. Please don’t do that.
The Pendance Film Festival runs from March 10-13, 2022.
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