’Crumbs’ to premiere at LA Film Fest

The film Crumbs, a post-apocalyptic, sci-fi romance executive produced by Sergio Uguet de Resayre ‘02, premieres at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 14. Uguet de Resayre, who also works as the broadcast operations manager at Fox International Channels for the Nordic and Baltic countries, has written, produced and directed several short films. Crumbs marks his first feature film production.

What are your favorite memories from Emerson College?

The memories I am most fond of are those in which I was surrounded by a bunch of talented likeminded individuals united by the love of filmmaking—sharing and learning from each other in workshops, film classes and film shoots. I especially remember my screenwriting workshops with Writing, Literature & Publishing Assistant Professor Kevin Miller, former faculty member Pamela Corkey and my film classes with Visual & Media Arts Associate Professor Rob Todd.

CRUMBS TRAILER from Lanzadera Films on Vimeo.

How did you get involved with Crumbs?

I’ve been working in TV for many years and had wanted to start transitioning back into film for some time. However, instead of launching myself fully into a personal film project, I was interested in producing somebody else´s work first. I have known Miguel Llansó, the director of Crumbs, since we were kids. After seeing Miguel’s short film, Chigger Ale, I realized that he was onto something and I wanted to be a part of it. This was in December of 2013, and Crumbs was only an idea inside Miguel´s head. There was no script at that time. I told Miguel I wanted to produce his first feature. We started working and about 14 months later, in January 2015, Crumbs had its worldwide premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

The logline of the film Crumbs is: “Candy, a strange-looking scrap collector embarks on a surreal epic journey through the post-apocalyptic Ethiopian landscape. There, he confronts himself, his fears and witches, Santa Claus and second generation Nazis.” That’s a pretty unique premise. What about the film appealed to you?

Everything! I love genre films, especially sci-fi and horror. If I had set out to produce your typical film to compete with the other mainstream films, I would have failed because I do not yet have the means to do so. Instead, I wanted to embrace the underdog position and to produce a film that had the potential of becoming a cult film—the weirder, more far-out, and unique, the better. When I decided to produce Crumbs I was thinking of Pink Flamingos and Eraserhead because these are the type of films that seem to withstand the test of time.

These are very exciting times in filmmaking because the industry is changing and the old rules are out the window. The focus has shifted heavily towards great storytelling, regardless of format. Technology has become cheaper and more accessible and new means of financing, like crowdfunding, are becoming more common. The audience is now very responsive to anything that tells a great story. Crumbs is also a product of these times. I am not sure if it would have been possible 10 years ago.

What do you hope audiences take away after watching the film?

Crumbs is purposely created in such a way that there are many readings. It’s a film that you can watch several times and find new details with each view. Besides this, and the philosophy embedded between the lines of the film, I am hoping it will challenge what people think they know. Crumbs shows a side of Ethiopia that you rarely see anywhere and yet it exists. If Crumbs gets people to question what they think they know, then the film will have been validated.

How did your education at Emerson College help you get to where you are now in your career?

Emerson helped me set the foundation on which to build. At Emerson, I learned how to grow, adapt and learn on a continuous basis.

Crumbs is set to screen at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 14 at 9:30 pm and June 17 at 10:05 pm. The Los Angeles Film Festival runs from June 10-18.