Page 100 - S/ Fall 2023
P. 100

98
with a weekend of buzzy press events and Q
& As—the latter moderated by Julia Fox, who came on as an executive producer after seeing Something You Said Last Night and felt compelled to champion it.
Currently, De Filippis is a 2023 TIFF Writers’ Studio participant and receives additional support through the CHANEL Women Writers’ Network. This recognition matters, De Filippis explains, because despite her burgeoning success, she still sometimes faces misapprehensions
about her presence as a trans woman filmmaker. Though she feels at times “disillusioned by the film industry,” De Filippis’s faith in her own voice—she wrote and directed Something You
Said Last Night as well as her earlier Sundance Special Jury Prize-winning short For Nonna Anna—and her collaborations with people she trusts, especially other trans women, remains motivating for her.
Something You Said Last Night is critical within the Canadian cinema landscape because of
De Filippis’s insistence on representing trans characters and narratives beyond stereotypes. The film, as De Filippis puts it, “is not about Ren transitioning. That’s already happened
and it’s about her living her life with her family where she’s already been accepted.” Scenes with Ren’s family at the beach, Ren and her younger sister quibbling at the dinner table, and tipsy encounters with local boys unfold languidly— the stuff, in short, of many films about carving
out your identity within a family context. However, unlike a more typical coming-of-age story, Ren already knows—and loves—who she is.
The same confidence emanates from De Filippis, who expresses excitement about Canada’s “wave of fresh voices and new talents in filmmaking.” In an effort to ensure this
wave supports trans artists, De Filippis has co- created the Trans Film Mentorship to provide opportunities for emerging trans and nonbinary creatives to gain experience in film and television. Reflecting on her own opportunities, De Filippis is pensive: she’s delighted that Something You Said Last Night has received so much positive attention, but she’s ready to
dig back into writing. What kind of project might come next? “Something epic, maybe a fantasy film.”
Taking Off
Director Luis De Filippis charts her own course with her debut film Something You Said Last Night.
By Esmé Hogeveen
I t’s been a major year for Luis De Filippis. Her debut feature, Something You Said Last
Night, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, garnering the Canadian-Italian filmmaker the 2022 TIFF Changemaker Award and new levels of professional visibility. Almost a year later, De Filippis’s gentle yet affecting film about Ren,
a trans woman in her twenties who joins her family on a week-long trip to Ontario cottage country, celebrated its theatrical release in July
  SMAGAZINEOFFICIAL.COM FINAL SAY
Photos courtesy of Fra Diavolo Films & Elevation Pictures.














































































   98   99   100   101   102