Private Project

Day in Night

A surrealistic, existential silent short based on one of my favorite words, "fugaz," which means "fleeting" in Spanish. Fugaz, which I corrupted into a noun for myself years ago, helps me understand and organize my mind around the layers of reality that are always happening at once even though we’re not conscious of them, don’t know about all of them, have forgotten some of them, or just don’t want to think about some of them. Fugaz is also my moments of sudden extreme anxiety or memento mori when I feel like I should be worried about something but I can’t remember what it is. This character in this movie has had Fugaz creep into her life after living care free, minding her own business, sleeping a lot and just doing her existential bit. But now her life is haunted.

  • Sylvia Toy St. Louis
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Arthouse, Avant garde, Video art, Performance art
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 31 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 15, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Sylvia Toy St. Louis

I am a middle-class, African-American housewife who greenscreens movies in my livingroom. I have screened internationally in visual arts venues since 2008 & on the film festival circuit since 2014. I am pleased to have received some special recognition: Best Fx Design, FICOCC #13; Nominee, Best Editing, Austin Arthouse Film Festival; Grand Jury Award & Gold Award, L.A.N.N.E.F.F.; Hon. Mention/Cinematography & Best Director Nominee, Creative Arts Film Festival.

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Director Statement


I have a favorite word, “fugaz,” fleeting, which for 40 years has helped me explain to myself my perception of the world as layers of reality that are always happening at once even though we’re not conscious of them, don’t know about all of them, have forgotten some of them, or just don’t want to think about some of them. Fugaz, which I have corrupted into a noun, is also my moments of sudden extreme anxiety or mementomori when I feel like I should be worried about something but I can’t remember what it is. The character in this movie has had Fugaz creep into her life after minding her own business, sleeping and just doing her existential bit. But now her life is haunted. There is no dialogue in the movie.