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Mesopotamia, TX

Two strangers wait for a Solar Eclipse amid a crowd of eclectic Texans.

Filmed during a REAL Solar Eclipse!

  • Lucy Gamades
    Writer + Director
    Vanitas, Is That a Mime?, A Little Tent
  • Michael Spencer
    Executive Producer
    Is That a Mime?, Vanitas, The Promotion, A Little Tent
  • Nicky Maindiratta
    Cast
    The Social Ones, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Halal in the Family
  • Megan Greener
    Cast
    Vanitas, Awake, The Green Veil
  • Matthew Marino
    Director of Photography
  • Zach Strum
    Camera Operator
    The Panty Symphonic, The Bicycle Thief
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Comedy, Drama
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 28 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 1, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    United States, United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    16mm
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival
    Clermont-Ferrand
    France
    February 1, 2025
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • Manifest Pictures
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography

Lucy is a Texas-born writer, director and producer with a style that has been described as "Altman-esque" and "cheerfully macabre."

Her writing has been recognized by ScreenCraft, the Inroads Fellowship, and the Script Lab. Her latest script was a quarter-finalist in the Slamdance screenplay competition, who called it “deliciously disturbing." She has worked full-time for A+E Networks and Condé Nast, overseeing post on projects for clients like Revlon, Ulta, Pfizer, A&E, the History Channel, Starbucks, Toyota, and more.

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Director Statement

If aliens had a tourism industry, they would visit Earth for its eclipses. There is an infinitely small chance that a planet’s moon would cover its sun perfectly like ours does; a million little things need to line up, and they do.

When Michael approached me with the idea of shooting a film during a solar eclipse, I was hesitant. I don’t like making things for a gimmick, and I was afraid it might come across as insincere. After many scripts and MANY different characters (three employees at a 365-day-a-year Christmas store… a local bureaucrat running for re-election… six German schoolchildren…), we settled on the simplest version: a film that services the human experience of witnessing this statistical phenomenon. No gimmicks.

We needed the right crew, the right location, the right cloud cover. We hauled three 16mm cameras to the top of a rock I visited on a seventh grade field trip. We learned too much about different weather models around the kitchen table, rehearsed the script like a play in the backyard, and shotgunned Lone Stars on the porch when it was all over.

The reactions to the eclipse in the film are genuine, and were shared by everyone there: cast, crew and spectators alike. A million little things needed to line up, and they did.

-- Lucy Gamades, writer + director