One of the best things about being a Film and Digital Media teacher is seeing alumni continue to create and grow in this art form. In today’s digital landscape, where competitive algorithms impact the arts and audience engagement across constantly shifting platforms, filmmakers must innovate to connect with collaborators and viewers.
The community effort required to make a film is both humbling and challenging, but finding the right crew and friends to work with makes long-term projects possible—and repeatable.
May Suri was a brilliant student when we worked together at Maggie L. Walker in Richmond before she moved on to the VCU Cinema Program. She has continuously leveled up her production work, on-set experience, and industry knowledge. Connecting with fellow filmmakers in Richmond and later through TikTok showed her how powerful social media can be in forming international collaborations and fostering a youth-led digital cinema movement—real people meeting reelpeople.
In the fall of 2024, Suri and her Portugal-based collaborators screened and released their mid-length film, Into The Shadows. The movie is now available on YouTube, with behind-the-scenes stories cross-posted across social media.
I had the opportunity to catch up with May Suri (Writer and Co-Director, Richmond, VA), Jacinta Alves (Co-Director and Producer, Portugal), Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca (Cinematographer, Producer, and Editor, Portugal), and Marlowe Fawcett (Producer, Portugal) over Zoom shortly after the film’s public screening. Our discussion has been condensed and clarified for readability.
TRav: You all just had your screening in September 2024. Can you tell me a little bit about the night? How did it feel and how was the project received?
Jacinta Alves: We spent a lot of time thinking and rethinking whether the premiere was ever going to happen. It made sense to have it in Portugal, and we actually postponed it a few times.
When it finally happened, it went by so fast. It was an amazing event. We had around 250 people watching the film, which we never expected—we didn’t think that many people would come.
The reactions from everyone who talked to me afterward were incredible. A lot of people told me, “I would easily watch an hour and a half of this. Where’s the rest?”
There were a lot of positive comments about the film. So many people really felt the emotions we wanted them to feel. There were also a lot of conversations about the setting and the world of the film.
It’s obviously a very distant reality, but at the end of the day, it’s not really that crazy to think about.
So I was very happy because, overall, the reaction was really positive.
May Suri: For me, it was a little bit crazy. It was kind of like how we did filming. You’re dropped somewhere and then we start work right away. But everyone there really showed me the ropes because I’d never done a premiere. I’ve never shown my film in that way before. And I agree with Jacinta it went by really, really fast. I don’t even remember half of the night.
TRav: Where was the premiere? Was it at a specific movie theater or event space?
Jacinta Alves: It was in Porto, Portugal. Actually, like 2 minutes away from the set that we filmed at, in an auditorium owned by a church that was recently rebuilt a few years ago and no one had ever used it, the first event that they did was this one. It was a beautiful room, but it was not made specifically for film, which we had a lot of trouble with sound at the premiere, because it wasn’t a room that was fully prepared to show a movie. But at the end of the day, it did just fine, and it worked for the film.
Marlowe Fawcett: When it comes to preparing for this premiere, I don’t live close to Porto. I live further south outside Lisbon, so I wasn’t really able to be that involved. I was so impressed with what you managed to pull together. It was an incredible fortune to have that place in your neighborhood. I know there were some technical issues, but it was great. It was Comfortable. It fit everybody, pretty much everybody. And it felt like a premiere. So that was exciting.
TRav: How did it feel seeing the film with an audience?
Jacinta Alves: It was a bit unreal, especially since none of the directors were very involved in post-production. Post-production was basically all Gonçalo—he did it all.
The first time he showed us the film, it was a shock. We had spent ten days filming, and then, a year later, we finally saw what we had created. It was like, “Whoa!” I couldn’t even believe it was on the screen.
I had two very different feelings—one when I watched the film for the first time, and another when I watched it with an audience. I had to watch it multiple times after that initial viewing, so by the time we screened it, I wasn’t focused on the film itself anymore.
Instead, I was paying attention to how everyone reacted—the gasps at certain moments, the laughter at others. I was just appreciating the live reactions from the entire audience.
TRav: Excellent. Gonçalo, did you have anything to add to watching it in that space with the audience?
Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca: Not just the experience of watching the film, but everything before and after—the energy of everyone who came to the premiere—felt very special. People were genuinely happy to be there, and that was one of the most important things.
Obviously, I’ve watched this film way too many times. We did multiple test screenings before the event to check the sound and adjust the equalization. Since we only had two speakers in the front of a large room—one that felt like a cinema but wasn’t equipped like one—we had to fine-tune the audio.
The challenge was that we couldn’t know exactly how it would sound until the room was full. During testing, we had issues with reverb, and we were basically hoping that wouldn’t be a problem on the night of the premiere. When the film started, and I saw that everything was playing smoothly, it was a huge relief.
Then, like Jacinta mentioned, seeing how people reacted—the way they responded to the most intense moments, the most emotional moments—that was incredibly rewarding. After everything we went through to make this film happen, watching people experience it as a real film, flowing naturally for those 37 to 40 minutes, made it all worth it.
TRav: Let’s rewind all the way back to a year and plus some time.
How did this, it’s an international collaboration, how did it start? Everybody has a different timeline to when you got involved. Where did it start for each of you?
May Suri: Jacinta and I connected over TikTok and we had been in contact for a while and I would just be cooking in my kitchen and I would call her about ideas. I pitched ideas all the time. And then one day I pitched her Into the Shadows and she was like, “This is a cool idea. I want to do it.” And we had another collaborator who was also in the loop, and then all of a sudden it just became a thing. And she said, “Do you want to come over and film this?” And I said, “Yes, of course.”
Jacinta Alves: I remember May telling me her idea. She said, “This will be set in a safe house. We would need a bunker—like a destroyed bunker kind of thing.”
The next day, I told her, “May, book your tickets. I have the place. I know where we’re going to film.” I also said, “I have a spare room. We can share my house. You can come over.”
May and Sophie booked their tickets three months in advance. It was so rushed. I spent those three months designing the set—just me and my dad, working every single day in one of my family’s abandoned houses. It was completely empty, and I decided to fill the room with apocalyptic props.
My dad is an iron engineer, so his company is full of metal and very rusty materials. For me, it was like going to IKEA with a basket—“I’m going to get this. I’m going to get that.” I built the set from scratch, and in three months, we were ready to film.
Gonçalo and I had worked together on three or four projects before as Director and Director of Photography. We always worked really well together. So when May and Sophie talked about bringing a cinematographer onto the film, my mind immediately went to, “The only person I would trust with this whole thing is Gonçalo.”
We also needed another producer. Marlowe has been my mentor since I started filmmaking at 16. He taught me everything I know. When I made my first short film, I had no idea what I was doing—I just knew I wanted to make it. Marlowe guided me through the entire process. He’s incredibly organized and rational, and we really needed that in our production.
Bit by bit, the rest of the crew came together. Except for May and Sophie, everyone was from Portugal—people I knew, people I had worked with before, and people I had always wanted to collaborate with.
We built a great energy on set. It really felt like a strong, collaborative community. We weren’t a huge crew—maybe 15 people on set—but it worked. We didn’t need anyone else. It was a really solid production.
TRav: When was that initial pitch?
May Suri: It was March 2023.
Jacinta Alves: And then when we decided to do the film you guys booked tickets in May ‘23 to come here in August.
Marlowe Fawcett: In terms of the timeline—yes, it was probably around then or shortly after that. I had produced a film with Jacinta the year before, in the summer of 2022, in a similar genre. It was just as bonkers and crazy trying to get everything done as this one.
I remember in the spring of last year, she said, “Yeah, we’re going to do another one in June. Do you have time to produce?” And I was like, “Wait—okay. Remember what I told you? The best thing is to give yourself some time. Don’t rush. Does it really have to be then? Can we wait a little longer?”
But honestly, that was just my way of saying, “Well done to you for making this a priority.” You three came together, the space was available, everything was in place—so you just went for it. And you did it.
I’m learning to trust Jacinta on this.
TRav: Instincts are precious and they’re not often bottom lined but they do drive it all.
So August of 2023 was when the production happened?
Jacinta Alves: 18th of August 2023, is when May and Sophie landed in Portugal. And that same night we started filming.
TRav: Wow, you said a ten day production?
Jacinta Alves: In August we filmed for I don’t remember if it was eight or nine days, I think it was eight. And then we had a few scenes left to shoot that we weren’t able to fit in that space. So we ended up filming later in October two other scenes. It was a sunrise and a night, so two more days.
May Suri: The last shot of the film. And then the scene where they’re in the tunnel with the device. So those two were filmed in October 2023.
TRav: How long did it take to write the script? How much collaboration was in the script or how much was it already prepared? And then in that time between May and August, how much time was able to be put towards pre-production?
May Suri: Gonçalo and Jacinta handled the on-the-ground pre-production. I had written the first draft and sent it to Jacinta and our other collaborator, Sophie, and they gave me notes.
I did a complete rewrite because the original script had three more locations, three more fight scenes, and a lot more action. After talking to Marlowe and Gonçalo, Jacinta came back to me and said, “We don’t have the capacity to do all of this, especially in the short amount of time. So we’re going to need to re-conceptualize the main point of the story.”
So that’s what I did. The script went through 30 changes, and the 31st draft became our shooting draft—which I was still rewriting as we were filming.
Jacinta Alves: Pre-production was very rushed, yet it was probably one of the simplest I’ve ever done. We had most of the locations secured, but our biggest problem was that we didn’t have any money.
Two weeks before filming, we still had no budget. I have this video of me and Gonçalo on set, brainstorming how we were going to come up with €5,000 because we had no idea how we were going to rent equipment. The crowdfunding campaign we launched in those last two weeks ended up raising close to €5,000, which was an absolute lifesaver. Otherwise, I don’t know what we would have done.
The main part of pre-production was figuring out how to work with such a low budget and get things for free. As young filmmakers, we couldn’t just go out and rent every location or piece of equipment we needed. Pre-production lasted about four months, but a lot of things were still being figured out once we had already started filming.
We had to improvise a lot—especially with lighting. It was often a case of, How are we going to light this room? We only did rehearsals for three or four of the 26 scenes, focusing on the most complicated ones. At a certain point, we just had to say, “Okay, we’ll go with it.”
I wish we had more time to prepare. I wasn’t as ready as I thought I was. Three of our actors were from Lisbon, not Porto, so they couldn’t come up for rehearsals. We also didn’t know exactly what equipment we would have until the last minute. A lot of things remained unpredictable right up until the day we started filming.
TRav: Kind of bridging off that to get to the performers. When you say the three, is that the clique of the three survivors or the two sisters? What is the breakdown of the cast?
Jacinta Alves: The three actors who were already in the house—Rodrigo Carmona, Rafaela Guido, and Gonçalo Dias—were all from Lisbon. Then there were Carolina Lopes and Beatriz Aguiar, who I consider to be the leads of the film, and they’re both from Porto.
Gonçalo and I worked a lot with Carolina and Beatriz over those months. They were on set almost every day. I had worked with both of them before, so we already had a good relationship, which made it easier to dig deep into their characters.
We didn’t have that same opportunity with Rafaela, Gonçalo, and Rodrigo since they were based in Lisbon. We did rehearsals over Zoom, but it’s never quite the same as working in person.
TRav: In the psychology of the film, it almost works that they’re outsiders. Even though the two sisters are welcomed into the safe house, they’re still the outsiders. There’s something you’re articulating about the two very different groups of characters—each playing their own game, trying to figure out how to reach their goal—which, in the finished film, was really enjoyable to watch as different things were revealed. Is there anything to add about the casting?
Jacinta Alves: We had Beatriz in mind because we had worked with her before, and both Sophie and May really liked her. I had also worked with Gonçalo before—in fact, Gonçalo and Beatriz had played love interests in one of my first short films, so I knew they had chemistry.
At some point, we debated, Do we take the risk with someone else? But knowing we wouldn’t have much time to prepare, we had to decide whether to go with someone new or stick with who we knew would work.
We were a little indecisive about doing it again, but in the end, it worked.
TRav: While on production was there a really great success moment on set where everything just comes together and where the work is happening and it’s an enjoyable experience?
Jacinta Alves: I think we’re all going to have very different answers, very different.
Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca: Yes, I can start with the complete opposite of that—the moment where everything went downhill.
In my experience on set, the first day went very well. It was a short night shoot, about six hours. We were filming the first scene of the film, and we got what we needed. We had to do a lot of takes because it was our first time seeing how everything worked, and it was also my first time using the specific equipment we had rented.
It was a very technical scene, combining equipment, movement, and timing. The camera had to move in sync with the actors, they had to deliver certain lines at precise moments, and even the flashlights had to be pointing in the right direction at the right time. But everything went smoothly.
Then came the second and third days, and suddenly, we were having a lot of problems—mainly with lighting and coverage. We weren’t getting exactly what we had imagined in our heads. In some moments, we were overcompensating with too much coverage, trying to fix things as we went.
On the third day, we had planned to shoot a morning scene. But when we looked at the timeline of the film, we realized it didn’t fit—it wouldn’t make sense in the story. This was the one major thing that slipped through in pre-production.
We had to switch to day for night, which meant blacking out all the windows and coming up with solutions on the spot. I hadn’t prepared properly for that scene to be set at night, and we didn’t have any practical lights to make it work naturally. I had to create a lighting setup that I really wasn’t happy with, but we had to push through and get the scene done.
By the end of that day, I felt like it was a nightmare—everything was going wrong. (Laughs.)
I felt like the work I was doing wasn’t even meeting my minimum standards of quality, and that hit me hard. Those two days, especially the second one, were really tough.
But then, things started to get better. Everything felt lighter and easier, and we were filming really important scenes—and filming them well. The coverage, the performances—yes, we were taking way longer than expected, but we were getting results that made us happy.
There were specific moments where we could tell we had captured something powerful. For example, the shot of Isa (Carolina Lopes) lying down after overhearing what the group is saying. The camera tilts down, and we see a tear drop from her eye. That moment was incredibly strong, and we knew we had something special.
Then we had to do 21 takes—for example, in the scene where they are walking, and then Isa falls and they start running. We had to do 21 takes, and it took about four hours on a cold night in the middle of a street where cars were passing by. Every time someone yelled, “Car coming!” we had to clear the street and move to the sides.
As we kept going, we were watching the time, thinking, It’s going to be daylight in four hours. Are we actually going to get these shots or not? It was extremely challenging—both technically and in terms of performance. The combination of sound, lighting, camera movement, and the actors running—all of that had to come together in one perfect moment.
Actually getting the shot in the end was incredibly rewarding.
Jacinta Alves: Marlowe, I’d love to hear what your moment was.
Marlowe Fawcett: Well, sadly, I wasn’t able to be on set for all the days—I was there for the first three or four days, maybe four or five. I’m pretty sure we managed to get all the scenes that were on my call sheets in those first few days. I think we got them all in before I left.
After that, I remember just getting messages. I’d wake up at seven in the morning and see a message saying, “We just went to bed half an hour ago.”
There I was, sitting three hours away, just hearing the updates and feeling very proud. I remember you guys sent me a little video of the final take with the slate. I can’t even remember where I was at the time, but that was a proud moment. Day nine or whatever it was, and there it was—you did it.
Jacinta Alves: It feels like it was all one big day that just blended together.
But one thing I do remember was filming my favorite scene—the one I had been looking forward to the most—which was the final scene with Cora, when she comes into the room screaming. That was the scene I was most nervous about.
I was nervous for Beatriz. I was nervous for us. We had never actually seen Beatriz act that scene out fully, start to finish. We trusted her with Cora, but this was the first time we were really seeing it play out.
I remember watching her first take, and I think we actually got it right then. We did way more takes than that, but if I remember correctly, we ended up using the first one. Correct me if I’m wrong…
Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca: Yes, that happened a few other times in other scenes as well. But yes.
Jacinta Alves: Seeing it on screen while we were in the director’s room—we didn’t even need to put the headphones on. We could hear everything from the next room because the wall was so thin.
That was the moment I thought, Okay, this is it. The film is working. It was probably the moment I believed in the film the most.
For me, that was definitely the moment. But also, every night when we wrapped, we would come home, and even if things had gone wrong that day, we always had a great time. I kept thinking, Even if this film turns out really bad, I had a great time and I learned a lot.
It wasn’t like I was beating myself up for things I had no way of knowing would come up.
May Suri: For me, I think Gonçalo already talked about that moment where the tear ran down her face. That really showed how all of us worked together.
I told Gonçalo, “I imagine we see the three of them in the background, and then…” I used the word “elevator”—“we elevator down, and we see her face.”
Jacinta was like, “I don’t understand what you’re saying, May. I don’t know what this means, but I trust you.”
But Gonçalo got it immediately. He understood exactly what I was trying to say. And then Jacinta did the actor direction, guiding the emotions of the scene.
That whole synergy—it just worked perfectly to get that one shot. And I think that’s just one example of how well everyone worked together.
TRav: If I can go back to that moment—days two and three were a real crucible moment, where you had to come up with solutions on the fly. Things that you had planned had to be reworked in the moment.
When you were editing, did you ever look at the footage and think, This isn’t what I was seeing on set because you were in the middle of the struggle?
After production, when you had some distance and had made all the necessary adjustments, did you have a different perspective as an editor than you did as a cinematographer?
Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca: Normally, I feel like I can see very clearly whether a shot is going to work even before we film it. When I look at the framing and see the characters on screen—before they even act—I already have a sense of whether it will work or not. And once the performance happens, I remember exactly how the shot played out.
When I see the footage later on the computer, I’m never really surprised by anything—except maybe for one of the shots from that scene on day three. That one actually turned out a little worse than I expected. (Laughs.) But feeling so bad on set that day was already telling me something—I knew something was wrong.
In the edit, I didn’t see anything that felt different from what I had experienced on set. It was very clear what we got, what we didn’t, and which shots we were going to use. I wasn’t really surprised by anything in post-production compared to what we had seen while filming.
In terms of the final result, it was something that was sculpted over many months. I can’t say it turned out exactly as we originally imagined, but it was something that evolved over time. The film was built piece by piece in post-production, and there were many elements that were unique—things that only came up after shooting.
TRav: I love thinking of film as sculpture, where it’s both additive and subtractive and the piece finds itself as you’re making it. Certainly there are other methods and budgets that allow for pre visualization to a way where it’s always the same thing.
Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca: We did some, for example, there were some specific transitions where we thought about them, I wouldn’t say from the beginning, but in production we thought about some specific transitions and actually one of my favorite ones, which is the one May was talking about the scene where the the camera goes to the tear of Isa and then we transition to Isa outside. So emotionally this worked very well technically as well. Because the technicality helped telling the story in this case and we thought about it in that way.
TRav: I appreciate that. In terms of where the technical exercise of what you’re going for is both made as you’re making it, and then there’s the ideas that come up on set that are then executed in the edit.
Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca: The final scene was also very well thought out before shooting, and in the edit, we already knew how it was going to be cut. The only real question was the exact moment when she turns around and goes back inside to get the box—when would be the best moment to cut?
We shot the entire scene, rolling a little longer on both the previous shot and the second one so we would have some flexibility in deciding the cut. But I mention this because, for many other scenes, we already knew where the cut would be, so we didn’t shoot longer than necessary.
There were definitely some things that felt very well planned, but there were also discoveries made in post-production, in terms of the final structure, the performances, and how the scenes actually played out. However, I think for all of us, they turned out exactly as we envisioned during production.
May, Sofia, and Jacinta were always analyzing every single shot, second by second. The moment they knew they had the performance they were looking for, they would say, “We’re done. We can move on.” Even if I sometimes wanted to do a few more takes for focus or technical reasons, they prioritized the performance.
If they knew a moment wasn’t going to be repeated in the same way again, they made sure to lock it in. They were very aware of what was happening on screen, making selections in real-time. May was also taking notes on every single shot as part of script supervision. So, overall, we all had a very clear understanding of what we were getting during filming.
TRav: Is there a sequence that really stood out as the film’s construction? I was surprised when the fight combat scene happened, how good that was. I didn’t expect it to go there for the brief interchange.
May Suri: For that scene. Marlowe loves to give us shit about it because we spent… How many hours on that scene?
Jacinta Alves: 17 hours, I think if I had to tell, like Gonçalo says, for him the hardest was Day two or Day three. I don’t know what day that fight scene was…
Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca: It was day six.
May Suri: Six and a half, Day Six and a half, is what we called it. (Smiles)
Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca: Day 6, part 2. (smiles)
Jacinta Alves: It was definitely the hardest day for me. It was the toughest scene to film and the hardest for the actors too. They didn’t hate filming it—they hated filming it for so long.
The truth is, we had been filming in the morning, which was a complete mistake. Then we arrived on location at 11 a.m., and the next day, we wrapped at exactly 8:21 a.m. I remember that number.
We wanted something very specific, but I think we didn’t rehearse anything camera-wise for the fight scene. We had to re-block it over and over, and it was a complete mess. On top of that, we filmed that scene right after shooting the most emotional scene in the film. There was a lot happening—for us, for the actors, for the crew. And you could tell that everyone was exhausted.
Out of those 17 hours, I think we spent at least five just going through the motions, barely thinking, until finally, we had to stop and say, “Okay, let’s reset. Let’s get this done. Let’s come together and figure this out.”
We had a stunt coordinator on set who had trained with the actors two or three times before, but the stunts only fully came together as the slate went down and we started filming. We rolled for a lot of takes.
Now, seeing that scene and thinking about those 17 hours of work, and then watching it play out on screen for just a couple of minutes, I can’t help but think, Wow. They have no idea how much time and sweat this cost us.
It was a very proud moment for me—“Well, okay. We did it. It was worth it.”
Marlowe Fawcett: I still feel guilty that I was not there to help on that day, but also very glad that I wasn’t there that day. Being the age I am, not 21 or 18, I don’t think I would have made it till 5 in the morning.
Jacinta Alves: We were there until 8 a.m. We were at 5 a.m. the day before that.
Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca: The day before that, we had one of the most emotional scenes in the film—one where we had to recreate daylight. It was the opposite of when we had to do Day for Night.
We were up late, and even after wrapping, we still had to clean up and get the actors home. But it wasn’t like we went to sleep at 5 a.m.—we ended up going to sleep at 6-something. And then, the following morning, we were back at it again.
We had to transport all the equipment to a new location where we were going to shoot through the entire night. We thought we would wrap by 2 a.m. at the latest. But at 7 a.m., we were still getting the last shot.
It was just an accumulation of exhaustion that pushed some people to their limits.
TRav: There’s a comment at the beginning about how the script had more scenes, more ambition and then had a restructuring. And then there’s as was mentioned the question “What happens now?” Is there any furthering of this story being developed?
May Suri: I don’t really know how to answer this question because we get this question all the time. It’s probably the most asked question on TikTok, on actual comments. I remember looking back when Gonzalo was editing the first cut, he said that “it’s structured less like a short film and more like a pilot.”
Jacinta Alves: We would love to take this further. Obviously, we need to get attention on the film and see if someone wants to pick it up and help us develop it.
We’re young filmmakers—we’re just getting started. We don’t have many resources. Into the Shadows was a really messy production, and I wouldn’t want to do it the same way again. I’d want to do it better, to do it bigger.
Only time will tell what happens next. Only the future knows where this project will go. But I hope this isn’t the end of it.
Marlowe Fawcett: The concept has legs, that’s for sure. That doesn’t mean much, but it has legs.
TRav: It’s got a heart and it’s got a breath to it, hopefully it can keep walking. Is there a submission plan? Are you sending it out further or are you focusing on social media for its post premiere tour?
May Suri: We thought a lot about this. We had several meetings discussing our plan for submissions.
Jacinta’s channel already has a strong following (@jacysfilmss), and with our social media presence, we decided that the best way to get attention for the film was to do an independent release on YouTube (watch here).
Our goal is to see how many views we can generate and then potentially use this as a proof of concept, along with a script plan, to develop something bigger.
TRav: You have to make a film to have it be seen. Make the production relationships that can then be the next pitch, the next idea, the next thing that takes on a life of its own. I did notice in the credits there was a special section of people who I guess have informed the film in some way?
Jacinta Alves: Crowdfunding was a huge part of this project. Depending on the amount donated, supporters could access different packages, and those who contributed received a credit in the film.
We wouldn’t have been able to make this film without every single person who donated and everyone who helped us bring it to life. Initially, the Creative Advisers—the lowest donation tier—weren’t even supposed to be in the credits. Only the Associate Producers and Executive Producers—who contributed larger amounts—were going to be listed.
But as the project progressed, we realized how important everyone was. Every single person who supported the film played a role in making it happen, and we owed it to them to acknowledge that. Including their names in the credits was our way of saying thank you.
There were only 15 people on set, but so many more outside of it who made this film possible.
For example, our set design featured drawings on the walls—those drawings came from all over the world. I posted on Instagram that I needed apocalyptic-style artwork and created a Pinterest board for inspiration. Every week, people from different countries sent in drawings to be used in the film.
I also had friends come to set to help paint and add details to the walls.
I think of Into the Shadows as a film where everyone who helped left their mark on it in some way. We wanted to reflect that in the credits because, at the end of the day, we wouldn’t have made this film without the help of every single person who supported us.
TRav: Is there anything else unique to this production that you want to share that is in that line, this new 21st century filmmaking? or anything about the project you would like to add?
Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca: The impact of the film’s premise and why May and Jacinta wanted to push this idea forward comes from the fact that this is a real problem we’re seeing everywhere—climate change. It’s not something completely unrealistic. It’s something that could actually happen in this world.
Nature is something that has control over us. Sometimes we think we have control over it, but only to a certain point. That’s why I believe in this premise—because of how important it is and how captivating it can be for audiences.
Jacinta Alves: It was very important for us to address global warming. Climate change was always a key topic that we knew we wanted to communicate with this film.
We’ve seen a lot of documentaries about it, but I don’t think I’ve seen a film that talks about climate change from the perspective of young people. We often see older generations discussing it, but we don’t see how we feel—how we’regoing to grow up in this world.
We wanted to share our vision as young people experiencing climate change firsthand. That’s why we chose a younger cast—to express that we’re just getting started in life, and yet, we’re already scared of what the future holds for us.
May Suri: Being vegan and always hearing about environmental issues, I guess this idea was just sitting in my brain.
A little Easter egg—the original concept for this story actually started back when I took Mr. Raviotta’s Digital Video class in high school. He was my film teacher, and the original version of this short was even shorter. It was just that rooftop scene—the moment where she gets burned.
I think Gonçalo also pointed out that the story has a double meaning. There’s the climate change aspect, but also the love burns metaphor—the idea that you can be emotionally or physically scarred.
I had this idea years ago, but I didn’t know how to execute it. I ended up doing something completely different for my thesis project. But later, when this project came together, the idea returned—and it finally found the right place.
TRav: That’s amazing! The articulation of multiple messages through cinema metaphors—I’m so happy to hear that.
When I watched that scene, I was thinking about the balance between science fiction and science eventuality—the reality of that moment. There was also something in it that reminded me of vampire lore or the idea of being burned by the sun. But hearing how it was emotionally conceptualized beforehand—it makes me appreciate it even more.
Marlowe Fawcett: As an outside producer, these guys did the bulk of it. And Jacinta, thanks for thinking of me as your mentor—I really appreciate that. But honestly, you’ve been just as much of a mentor to me. It’s been a pleasure to be part of this.
These three creatives right here—Todd, Jacinta, and May—are incredibly talented. Jacinta, I’ve worked with you for two or three years now, but all three of you have a strong awareness of what it takes to tell a story through cinema.
You understand it technically, you understand it narratively. Some of you have studied it in school, but more than that, I think you instinctively get it, and that’s really impressive.
Maybe it’s just this generation, growing up with so much media—though I hope you still read books! (Laughs.)
No matter how many tools we have to make filmmaking easier, it will always be hard. It will always require a lot of people and a lot of effort. Recreating reality in a little box is never easy.
But you’re already good at it—so just keep learning.
TRav: The movie is made—and that’s an incredible accomplishment.
Thank you all for sharing so many great stories. What’s next?
May Suri: Next up for us, we are launching Alluminance Pictures, a production company based in Porto, Portugal, dedicated to telling bold, cinematic stories from the next generation of filmmakers.
Our focus is on crafting visually striking and emotionally resonant narratives across film, television, and commercial work. With our first slate of projects—including a web series and multiple feature films—already in development, we’re creating a space where fresh voices can thrive.
Alluminance Pictures is more than just a company; it’s a creative movement, and we’re excited to share this journey with audiences and collaborators around the world.
Watch & Follow
📽️ IMDb: Into The Shadows
🎬 Film on YouTube: Watch Here
😂 Bloopers on YouTube: Watch Here
🎥 Follow the Filmmakers:
📷 May Suri
📷 Gonçalo Claro da Fonseca
📷 Jacinta Alves
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