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| Aleigha Burt in Noseeums |
Holding its US première today at the Mill Valley Film Festival in California, Noseeums was a hit at Frightfest earlier this year. The feature début of young Texan Raven Carter, it follows student Ember (Aleigha Burt), who takes a trip into the countryside with wealthy white friend Abigail (Tabby Getsy) and two others, only gradually coming to recognise the degree to which they think of her as inferior because of the colour of her skin. It deals with themes around land ownership and the cumulative effect of microaggressions, and wraps it all up in a horror package which fans loved.
A few days ago, in the run-up to the screening, I spoke with Raven and asked her why she had chosen to take on such a complex piece of work for her first feature.
“A friend of mine, Jason-Michael Anthony, he brought the story concept to me, and I loved it. I thought it was great. And it was an immediate ‘Yes!’ I was like, ‘Absolutely. These are the type of stories that I'm interested in. These are the type of stories that I feel like need to be told.’ I was immediately attracted to it and wanted to join in as the director on the project.
“Biting midges was definitely used as a metaphor, and it was juxtaposed to Black people. If people don't know, biting midges are this super annoying bug. They're really tiny. You can hardly see them, but you can feel them. So I think of them as like a very miniature mosquito, but worse, because you can't swat them, you can't kill them. You don't really know how to get rid of them. So people used to, especially in Florida, along the coast of some of the beach towns and stuff, they would vacate the areas in certain seasons. It might be something they still do, but they would vacate the area in certain seasons because the bugs were so bad. So when Jason learned that, he was just kind of fascinated.
“He's also an African American man, and he was thinking about how Black people would move into certain neighbourhoods and people would vacate those neighbourhoods. And so we just got to thinking about land and ownership and leaving land and who owns what. And that's kind of how the story came about, and that's where the metaphor came from.”
I say that I’ve noticed the subject of land ownership – and the way that a lot of Black people were swindled out of their family property – coming up a few time in film recently, after decades of neglect.
“It definitely feels like a part of a conversation,” she says. “There were things that I wanted to do more of because I feel like you can always, you know – a film is never finished. There were definitely some scenes and some ideas that I wanted to bring to light and some interesting things around real estate and paperwork and signing the dotted line and. But we're definitely a part of a bigger conversation. That's a joy to be a part of. I think in the moment, you're just trying to make the best movie you can. I'm just trying to direct scenes that are good, I'm just trying to make sure that I believe the actor's performance. I'm just trying to make the day.
“I definitely felt the intensity of trying to make the day. I wasn't constantly thinking about this overarching message and conversation. But now that the film is finished and I get to watch it, I take a lot of joy in the fact that we got to say a lot, even from one of the earlier scenes in the school. That was really awesome to have written and gotten to see play out on the screen.”
It’s a richly layered film, and getting it to hit the spot involved a careful balancing act.
“There was the horror element, but also theme of the film and the dramatic element. I think that they're both very important. The main thing was just making sure that they were written in the script from the very beginning, like getting a pulse of what each scene was like, noticing that some scenes were heavy dialogue – they had their place – and then trying to hit the nail on the head with some of the horror elements and scares and things like that.”
We talk about the character of Tessa, whose allegiance is complicated because of her race, and who finds her loyalties torn as a result.
“Yeah. I remember we definitely wanted a non-Black and non-white friend. Tessa is a really interesting character because she does have so much going on. I just hope we did it justice. But, yeah, it was in the early conversations of writing the script. We only had about eight weeks to write this, so we had to make very quick decisions because were about to be on set shooting. And I love her character.”
Ember is also a complicated individual, and not always straightforwardly heroic.
“Yeah, definitely. A big thing that we wanted to communicate with Ember was that she was just disconnected. Disconnected from herself, disconnected from heritage, her lineage. And that she was, like you said, also a complex character. She was in a relationship with a white guy, and she goes on this trip with these girls who obviously don't seem like the greatest friends, but she's there and she chooses to be there, like you said, over staying with another friend who the audience probably loves and wants her to be with the entire movie.
“I think a lot of Black women at that age, especially if you are juggling a lot of racial tension growing up and things like that, you start to just see who's who and what's what, and you have to just call things for what they are. And I think Amber just hasn't learned to call things for what they are yet. She's got this mask on. She does definitely struggle with some confidence, and she’s just disconnected.”
Then there’s Tabby’s magnificently feral performance towards the end of the film, when her veneer of civility is all worn away.
“Yeah, yeah. Tabby, who plays Abigail, is a bundle of comedy and joy and fun. She's just a really great actor, and she blew me away with her audition. I'm sure she would say playing this person was difficult at times, but she really nailed it. From the first time that she came in and auditioned, we just knew that she was going to be our Abigail. I love what she brings to the movie. I love some of the dialogue she had. I hope that we killed it as far as the antagonist.”
It’s an intense film for all the actors, and they didn’t have long to shoot in. How did she manage that?
“I don't know if we manage that,” she says humbly. “It being my first feature as well. Yes, our actors have all these emotions that they're having to process. They're crying on screen and in front of the crew and things like that. And then I'm super young. I'm directing this at 24. I turned 25 halfway through shooting. So I'm young, and I'm going through my own life changes, and I want to make the best movie that I can. And there was such little time that I'm sure most days we felt exhausted.
“There were a lot of overnights, a lot of shooting, so we were all super tired. I remember everyone was super tired and it was a scene with all of the girls, and I just told them to lean into it. I was like ‘Keep in mind that these girls would be tired at this time, so don't fight it. Just lean into how tired you are.’ And I think that took a lot of the pressure off, and I think we got a lot of great work out of that encouragement. So I believe we did the best we could with what we had available to us, considering that for a lot of people, again, this was our first feature. I'm super proud of what we did. Everyone made it through a lot.”
Was she able to bring experience from her short films to bear, or was she learning on the job?
“I definitely felt like I could bring a good amount of skill and a good eye to the project. I went to Florida State University Film School, and they do an incredible job of teaching you how to make films, because you just do the thing. You just make films versus, like, you know some film schools you go to and you never pick up a camera. At the beginning of the year, before classes even start, when were just meeting people, we had cameras, we had lights. I'm setting up, I'm pulling cords, I'm pulling cables. So, yes, I was confident that I was selected to do this feature for a reason, and my goal was just to show up and be my best self every day. To not flee the scene when it got hard - not physically flee, right, but there's such a thing as fleeing mentally and emotionally. I just was committed to pressing in and trusting that I was chosen for a reason, and I'm really proud of my first feature, and I know that the team is too.
“We had a big encounter with noseeums ourselves on set. We were shooting by a lake one day, and they were terrible. I mean, everyone got bit up. My. My first assistant camera, he had bumps all up his arms. And I would say that was pretty crazy. For a lot of us, that was our first experience with noseeums, so it was on point.”
She’s thrilled by the film’s reception to date.
“Oh, man. I mean, that's humbling. That's a blessing. That's exciting. A world première at Frightfest, is...” She catches her breath. “You know, I'll never forget that. I got to go out to London for the first time, got to meet some amazing people. I had terrible jetlag, but I enjoyed myself, and it was really fun doing a Q&A. Noseeums showed twice at Frightfest, and both screenings were incredibly different and wonderful. I feel incredibly blessed and humbled, and I'm excited for what’s coming next.
“We're headed to Atlanta for the Atlanta Film Series, and then from there, we're headed to Santa Fe for the film festival there. And then there's definitely some buzz around the things that happen after festivals, so I'm excited to keep posted on that.”
This will include working on another film project, she assures me.
“Oh, yeah, that would be great. You know, you're always thinking about the next thing. I think most artists who get to do this consistently, they're always juggling multiple projects, they're thinking about what's next. Nowadays, it really feels like you have to. So, yeah, I’m always thinking about what's next and hoping I can definitely make another feature.”
