The Firefly (2015 film)

The Firefly
Original titleLa luciérnaga
Directed byAna Maria Hermida
Screenplay byAna Maria Hermida
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAlonso Homs
Edited by
  • Juan Falla
  • Travis Graalman
Music by
  • Bartek Gliniak
  • Sol Okarina
Distributed byProducciones iAMredHam
Release date
  • March 2015 (2015-03) (ATLFF)
Running time
85 minutes
Countries
  • Colombia
  • United States
LanguageSpanish

The Firefly (Spanish: La luciérnaga) is a 2015[a] Colombian-American romance/fantasy drama film. Written and directed by Ana Maria Hermida, it stars Carolina Guerra and Olga Segura. The film has been regarded as "the first Colombian lesbian film".[5] The film held its European premiere at the 2016 Barcelona International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.[6]

Plot

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Lucia is in a four-year marriage with Adrian, a banker by profession who is emotionally distant. Lucia finds out about the death via traffic accident of her brother Andrés on what was supposed to be his wedding day. Because of the estranged relationship between the siblings, Lucia is the last family member to find out about the death. While mourning, Lucia visits his apartment, where she encounters his fiancée, Mariana, who is also grieving. They develop a bond, in which they promise to look after one another while upholding their memories of Andrés; as the women spend time together, they develop deeper feelings for each other which eventually become romantic. Lucia's circumstances force her to decide between continuing the marriage or being with Mariana. Throughout the film, Lucia and Andrés' sibling relationship is explored, through childhood flashbacks and post-death fantasy sequences.

Cast

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Production

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The film was directly inspired by Hermida's life, but is not autobiographical. Hermida's younger brother died in a car accident in 2007, which was an extreme hardship for Hermida.[7] Afterward, her brother's girlfriend, whom Hermida was already close with, asked to stay with Hermida in New York City for roughly a month. Hermida elaborated, "Knowing she was coming gave me strength. I was able to get out of bed, buy groceries, clean up, and do all the things that seem impossible when you are deeply depressed".[8] During the stay, Hermida noticed the girlfriend observing her, remarking that Hermida looked just like her brother. Hermida described this as "beautiful and interesting", and that it inspired Hermida to form the ideas for this film.[9]

The Firefly is non-linear, and contains numerous flashbacks. The film also features Gothic and Catholic imagery as symbolic channels for Lucia's grief and confusion. Hermida described these and related motifs as imbuing "goth magic realism".[10] Hermida drew inspiration from her Catholic upbringing, as well as from the prominence of Catholicism in Colombia.[9]

The project was filmed in 2013.[3] Much of the filming took place in Colombia, the native country of Hermida, producer Luisa Casas, and lead actress Carolina Guerra. Hermida intentionally wanted to make a film that reflected Colombia in a positive and non-political manner, in order to counteract negative media portrayals and social circumstances of the country.[9] The film utilized cityscapes of Bogotá to fulfill this effort.[11]

During the post-production stages, Hermida started two different fundraisers on Kickstarter for the film, garnering $10,371 between May and July 2015.[1][2]

Release

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The Firefly was screened in 2015 at the Atlanta Film Festival,[12] the Madrid International Film Festival, and the Sarasota Film Festival;[13] in 2016 at the 23rd Annual Mardi Gras Film Festival in Sydney, Australia,[14] and the Colombian Film Festival of New York;[5] and in 2017 at the Dominican Global Film Festival.[15]

The film was released theatrically in Colombia at the Cine Tonalá in Bogotá on November 10, 2016.[5]

Home media

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The Firefly was made available as VOD on Netflix in 2017.[16][17]

Accolades

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Year Award Category Nominee Result
2015 Madrid International Film Festival Best Foreign Film[18] Nominated
Best Lead Actress in a Foreign Language Film Carolina Guerra[19] Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Olga Segura[20] Nominated
2017 6th Macondo Awards Best Supporting Actor Manuel José Chavez[21] Nominated

Notes

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  1. ^ The film is widely reported as having been released in 2013. However, Kickstarter campaigns were activated by writer/director Ana Maria Hermida to help with post-production as late as July 2015. According to Hermida, "I started writing in 2010, I shot it in 2013 and I finished it last year (2015)."[1][2][3][4]

References

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  1. ^ a b Hermida, Ana Maria (18 June 2015). "La Luciérnaga (The Firefly)". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b Hermida, Ana Maria (1 July 2015). "La Luciérnaga Movie". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  3. ^ a b Hermida, Ana Maria (26 August 2016). "La Luciérnaga - The Firefly Trailer English subtitles 24fps". Vimeo. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  4. ^ "The Firefly By Ana María Hermida". medialuna.biz. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  5. ^ a b c Rocha, Carolina (2018). "Crowdfunding Images of Colombia and Ecuador: International Collaborations and Transnational Circulations in a Neoliberal Context". In Sandberg, Claudia; Rocha, Carolina (eds.). Contemporary Latin American Cinema: Resisting Neoliberalism?. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 155–159. ISBN 978-3-319-77009-3.
  6. ^ "La luciérnaga (The Firefly)". Barcelona International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  7. ^ Mendes, Letícia (8 October 2017). "#52FilmsByWomen de setembro: Ana Maria Hermida, Claudia Pinto Emperador, Lucy Mulloy, Hagar Ben-Asher". mulhernocinema.com (in Portuguese). Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  8. ^ Caceres, Juan; Levine, Sydney (24 March 2016). "LatinoBuzz: Exclusive Interview with 'La Luciérnaga' Filmmaker Ana Maria Hermida". SydneysBuzz. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  9. ^ a b c Costa, Daniela (2 March 2016). "Colombian filmmaker Ana Maria Hermida on her lesbian movie, "The Firefly"". After Ellen. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  10. ^ Pennington, Isadora (29 March 2015). "New Mavericks: Ana Maria + Luisa". isadorapennington.com. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  11. ^ Ascanio, Laura (14 August 2018). "La Luciérnaga, una película con temática lésbica que seguro te gustará". elclosetlgbt.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  12. ^ McAllister, Cameron (23 February 2015). "Full Lineup of Features and Short Films Announced for 2015 Atlanta Film Festival". Atlanta Film Festival. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  13. ^ "Complete Film Lineup Announced for 2015 Sarasota Film Festival". VIMOOZ. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  14. ^ "Mardi Gras Film Festival LOTL Highlights". lotl.com. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  15. ^ "La Luciérnaga". Festival de Cine Global. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  16. ^ Costa, Daniela (July 14, 2017). ""The Firefly" is now available on Netflix!". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on July 17, 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  17. ^ "The Firefly". Flixboss. 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  18. ^ "Best Foreign Language Feature Film 2015". Madrid International Film Festival. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  19. ^ "Best Lead Actress in a Foreign Film 2015". Madrid International Film Festival. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  20. ^ "Best Supporting Actress 2015". Madrid International Film Festival. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  21. ^ "Premios Macondo 2017: esta es la lista de nominados". El Espectador (in Spanish). 28 November 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
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