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a day ago
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‘Twelve Moons' Director Victoria Franco Has Been Waiting for Her Tribeca Moment
Victoria Franco has long been a crucial presence on her brother Michel Franco's films, working behind-the-scenes as a creative producer on projects such as the Jessica Chastain-Peter Sarsgaard starrer Memory, as well as Sundown, starring Tim Roth. All along, she worked toward the goal of striking out on her own by directing short films. With Saturday's Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Twelve Moons, she will unveil her first feature as a director, with brother Michel, the celebrated Mexican filmmaker, stepping into a producing role on the project. Twelve Moons follows Sofia, a 40-year-old architect who, after experiencing a devastating loss, must confront strong emotions while trying to stay true to herself. As her personal and professional lives begin to deteriorate, she must look inward for a path forward. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'American Psycho' Director Mary Harron Is Surprised by Movie's Lingering Relevance How Ticket Resellers Caused Drama at Miley Cyrus' 'Something Beautiful' Tribeca Film Premiere Jane Rosenthal Champions Female and Nonbinary Filmmakers When the "Very Act of Us Speaking Up Feels Risky" at Chanel Tribeca Festival Luncheon Michel's films are known for their unsparing, tightly controlled storytelling — a style shaped by his live editing process. Pioneered early in his career with sister Victoria, the method sends footage directly from the camera to an editing room, where an editor and Victoria work together to assess the story as it unfolds, rather than waiting until the end of a shoot. Victoria utilized this method on her own film, and she says it yielded some surprising results. As Victoria steps forward with a style that is emotional, intuitive, and unmistakably hers, she and Michel sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss their creative bond. How did you decide on the title ? VICTORIA FRANCO I fell in love with the title because it brought together a number of different themes I wanted to touch on. The film tackles themes of womanhood and addiction. The number twelve representing the twelve steps of recovery and twelve months of the year. The moons representing the reproductive cycle of the woman. You both pioneered this process of live editing together. How did that come to be? MICHEL FRANCO It started on a film called Through the Eyes that Victoria and I shot together — it was part fiction and part documentary. I was in charge of the fiction, and she headed the documentary. We were editing on set because there was no script, just an outline. We had someone with a computer, and we were the editors. I just liked the process so much that I kept using it on my more conventional films, starting with After Lucia. And I also kept shooting in chronological order. Victoria and I developed that system 15 years ago. VICTORIA FRANCO We worked every Saturday, revisiting all the material while we were shooting the fiction. The process was very instinctive — following the gut and what the story needed. Everything in making movies is instinctive. Victoria, what was it like using the live editing process on your own for ? VICTORIA FRANCO It was very different. The movie has many things that weren't in the script. I didn't know I would be editing that way — the shooting process was very fluid, changing as we progressed. Filmmaking is very in the moment for me. The best thing I can do is try to adapt to changes in real time. Editing on set allowed me the freedom to play with the structure. I really tried to let the viewer feel what he's supposed to feel — the emotions of the scene — and not impose something in the editing. Michel, did you work in the editing room on your sister's film? Was the dynamic reversed? MICHEL FRANCO Not at all. In general, when I work as a producer, I'm usually never on set. And it was the same with Vicky. I try to give the directors all the space they need and let each crew find their own working ways. I try to avoid being on set. If I'm on set, it often means that there's trouble, so it's a good sign that I'm never on set. Victoria, did you try to move away from Michel's style while making your film? VICTORIA FRANCO I've learned a lot from Michel, however with Twelve Moons it was important for me not to imitate him. Everything I like and admire about his movies wouldn't fit my way of filming. If I tried to copy him, it wouldn't be a good movie. He has his own talent, and I have my own way of thinking and looking at cinema. That's how we complement each other — we add layers. MICHEL FRANCO Our personalities are very different. When people see Twelve Moons, they'll discover Victoria's personality and her way of looking at the world. It's very different from mine — she created a world of her own. Victoria, how would you describe and what do you hope the audience takes away from it? VICTORIA FRANCO It's a film of regeneration through addiction and hardship, weaving themes of family and heritage. I have my own personal connections to the story, however it is important for me not to impose my way of feeling. I want viewers to connect in their own ways. You cast your own mother in — what made you decide she was the right person for the role, and what was that experience like for you emotionally? VICTORIA FRANCO The mother in the film is a symbol, and my own mother has such a strong instinct for maternity — I didn't even think about casting someone else. It was hard emotionally, especially because her character represents death. Seeing her like that was difficult, but at the same time, it was relieving. Maybe it made me a little less afraid. Now that you've established yourself as a director, will you still collaborate with Michel? VICTORIA FRANCO I think we'll always work together. We've collaborated since we were kids, and we still learn a lot from each other and our processes. MICHEL FRANCO One film at a time, but for us there's no split between life and film. Whenever we need help — in life or in work — we're the first person the other turns to. It comes naturally. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
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4 days ago
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‘Twelve Moons' Debuts First-Look Clip Ahead of Tribeca Premiere, Director Victoria Franco Speaks About Societal Pressures on Women (EXCLUSIVE)
'Twelve Moons,' the feature debut of Mexican filmmaker Victoria Franco, premieres on Saturday in the International Narrative Competition of Tribeca Festival. Variety debuts an exclusive first clip from the film and speaks to the director. The film stars acclaimed Mexican actor Ana de la Reguera, whose career bridges Hollywood and Latin American cinema, alongside Ariel Award winner Enrique Arreola. Filmmaker Michel Franco, Victoria's brother, is a producer on the film, and the Match Factory is handling international sales. More from Variety 'Billy Joel: And So It Goes' Directors Share Inspirational Message From Ailing Singer: 'He Will Be Back' Tribeca Festival: Miley Cyrus' 'Something Beautiful,' Barbara Walters Doc and 11 Other Films We're Excited to See 'The Shadow Scholars,' Executive Produced by Steve McQueen, Debuts Trailer Ahead of North American Premiere at Tribeca (EXCLUSIVE) 'Twelve Moons' follows Sofia, a 40-year-old architect in Mexico City, who has suffered a devastating loss, and must navigate her complex emotions while trying to stay true to herself. As she struggles with her fertility and identity as a woman, both her personal and professional life begin to deteriorate forcing her to look inward to find the light that will lead her forward. In the clip, we see that Sofia has an issue with alcohol consumption, and in the film, we discover she is also a drug user. 'For me, it's really important to portray people who don't feel comfortable with social conventions,' Franco says. 'There are many people who don't feel that they are part of society but feel societal pressure. And as a woman, there is the added pressure to have a child, have a family, be the perfect woman, and I really admire people who are really authentic and don't give in to these pressures.' Sofia is portrayed with empathy and her alcohol and drug dependency should be seen as a 'disease,' Franco says. It is Sofia's way of relaxing when faced with societal expectations and the pressure to conform – to feel 'normal,' overcome her insecurity, and appear self-confident. Unable to conceive, Sofia's life – both personal and professional – starts to unravel. 'She has no boundaries, so she doesn't know how to separate her professional and personal life, and she takes them both so seriously,' the director says. 'She feels that through her architecture, her feelings can become connected with other people. She tries to work in a way that is parallel to her feelings. Architecture is very important in this film, because I portray many places that are representing her feelings through their architecture.' Franco describes Sofia as an 'ethical' architect who tries to create buildings that encourage a feeling of freedom in those who inhabit them. We see her visiting buildings in Mexico City that exemplify that approach, like those designed by the architect Luis Barragán. 'She fights to create spaces that allow people to have more liberty within them. There's a conversation where she's arguing about putting fewer parking lots in order to create more green spaces so people can be happier in these places. 'I love Luis Barragán, who talks about a spiritual architecture, about architecture where you can feel the connection between the space and the mind, and you can feel connected with it, and it's the architecture of silence too. He won the Pritzker Prize, and his acceptance speech was amazing. It's beautiful.' Speaking about Ana de la Reguera, Franco says: 'Ana has great presence. She has a lovely face. She's a person with a deep, deep soul. And when I talked to her about the script, I felt that she was very connected with the matter of being a woman in her 40s and the social demands that people make. 'And she's an actress who has like 20 years of experience, so I was really amazed when we were talking and playing around, like, 'Imagine the camera is here, and what would you do?,' and she was improvising and doing things that I was amazed by, because sometimes I felt that she had known the character for her entire life, like she has lived with her.' Regarding the cinematography, she comments: 'First of all, I decided that the movie should be black and white, so the spectator had no distractions with the colors, and he could be really connected with the emotions and the state of mind of the character. 'And also, the movie is about architecture as well, so it's very geometrical. We looked for many locations that were really hard to get permission to film there, but we made it. There's a beautiful fountain by Isamu Noguchi, the Japanese artist, for example. 'The cinematographer, Sergio Armstrong G., is a genius. We improvised a lot. We never felt that we were in control of everything. We played with the freedom of being in the moment and sensing where to put the camera. We didn't have a shooting list of everything, and I felt so free. If I didn't have this cinematographer, Sergio, it would be pretty difficult, because I was pretty sure of the emotional state and everything but the visual things… it was Sergio who put everything together to make the movie look like the state of mind of the character.' As in film noir, the film uses light and shade to reflect the internal landscape of the character, but there were other cinematic influences. 'Many times, I felt inspired by Italian Neo Realism, because we didn't have much budget for lighting, but with its realism sometimes the film feels like a documentary, and the camera was very, very humbled, because we didn't need so much lighting to make it look beautiful. And the shadows and the geometric forms are so important.' There are similarities to how she and her brother work, she says. 'We both film chronologically. That was very helpful, because the actress was really involved with the process of the character and the emotions, and we improvised a lot, so the script changed a lot while shooting. Michel also does that, so I believe we're similar in terms of production.' She is full of praise for her brother's contribution as a producer. 'I think he was the best producer because he really got my back, and he just cares about the creativity and the process that I wanted, and he never gave up, for example, in getting some locations. Even though we didn't have enough money, he'd fight for everything. So, it was a paradise working with him.' Next up for Franco, she says, is a film about a teenager in New York, for which she is writing the screenplay now. Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
