Interview: 2015 Chicago Latino Film Festival Welcomes Filmmakers for ‘Day Release’

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CHICAGO – The film festival circuit is not for the faint of heart. Two young Spanish filmmakers – Geoffrey Cowper and Jesús Lloveras – are making their way across the U.S., as they promote their film “Day Release” (Tercer Grado). The pair started out in California – with a couple of film festivals there – and then stopped in Chicago, for the 31st Chicago Latino Film Festival.

“Day Release” is a gritty heist film, set against a scenario in which a prisoner (portrayed by Jesús Lloveras) is given a short time release from his sentence, and uses it to try and redeem what is left of his life. When his only relative kicks him to the curb, it is up to a stripper that he had met on his first night out to help him on the road to redemption. Geoffrey Cowper directed the film, and co-wrote the script and produced the film with Lloveras.

Jesús Lloveras
Jesús Lloveras in ‘Day Release,’ at the 31st Chicago Latino Film Festival
Photo credit: Chicago Latino Film Festival

The native Spanish duo presented their film at the 31st Chicago Latino Film Festival, which concludes on April 23rd, 2015. It’s the second week of the 31st edition of the Chicago Latino Film Festival, and the closing night film is “Ciudad Delirio,” which will be followed by a reception at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Chicago. For details and to purchase tickets click here.

HollywoodChicago caught up with the traveling troupe, the night their film was being screened at the festival. Their enthusiasm and deep passion for the excellent film was all over the interview.

HollywoodChicago.com: Geoffrey, ‘Day Release’ was as much as a treat in your imagery as the tight and amazing story. Which particular image in the film do you think symbolizes what the characters were going through?

Geoffrey Cowper: I really think the image of Mark [Lloveras] opening the Jack Daniels bottle has gained a reputation as a symbolic moment for the film. Also the scene in which he follows the burglars as they’re changing vehicles, with the look that is in his eyes. It’s all about him, a well contained character, and he does an amazing job communicating all that in his eyes. It was very photogenic and energetic, and in that expression the whole movie is realized.

HollywoodChicago.com: Jesús, your character goes through a specific transformation in his journey. How did you and Geoffrey come up with the look for him, both before the main event in the film and after? Was that a specific decision?

Jesús Lloveras: Definitely, we wanted the character bearded in the beginning, to symbolize the shield or armor that he wore. He did commit a crime in the past, and is being jailed, but that is not the place he should be. There are very strong feelings of remorse, and his relationship with his brother is broken, so he feels alone. I wanted to express those feelings through that shield. After he opens up to Mia, he cleans up his past – symbolized by the head shaving – and is on the road to making things right.

HollywoodChicago.com: Geoffrey, the story essentially is about the search for family, the loss of family and the family that you eventually develop. Why was it important for Mark to feel all these things in completing his ‘mission’ in the film?

Cowper: We wanted to tell a story about someone who didn’t have much to lose, and all he really has left is his brother. In the Spanish culture, family is a link that you don’t choose but are loyal to, and that’s a key point in the film. We needed a reason for why he does what he does in the film, and he saw it as doing something decent, to show his brother he does actually care.

HollywoodChicago.com: Jesús, you had great chemistry with Sara Casasnovas, and her character Mia - with blessings from you both as writers - and it was so appropriate to the reality of the situation. How did you and Sara help each other to stay in the moment?

Lloveras: I didn’t know Sara before we began shooting, and our relationship evolved outside the set in the same way the characters in the story did. At first, in doing an acting method, I wasn’t very nice to her, but as we became friends – in the same way we do in the movie – the chemistry happened in a natural way. Both characters were alone and lonely in different ways, and how they meet randomly, and help each other, made the connection work.

HollywoodChicago.com: Geoffrey, the choreography of the heist in the film had a specific vision, and was conducive to what created the subsequent desperation. How did you plot out that ballet, and what specific part of the chaos did you want especially heightened?

Jesús Lloveras, Geoffrey Cowper
Jesús Lloveras and Geoffrey Cowper in Chicago
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Cowper: I actually was around this type of robbery when I was working at movie theater in Spain, and this doesn’t happen there that much. That was the beginning of the idea, and that robbery would be the beginning where everything changes. I wanted to make it like it happened in real life, and make it fast, so we could see it through Mark’s eyes in the film.

I wanted an American action film look, and we knew it had to be spectacular. It was a key scene, set in a similar shopping mall as the real event took place, and we recruited a bunch of high school kids to be the extras. It was lucky that we shot the robbery toward the end of the shoot, because then the production team had bonded, and we got it right.

HollywoodChicago.com: Jesús, what did you most understand about Mark and his plight, and what tribute to your own life did you give him, that someone watching the film would notice?

Lloveras: Well, as an actor I use my imagination and my experiences. I have a couple of older brothers, and I’ve been away from them for extended periods. I love being with my family, and I really tried to imagine what it would be like if there were only one of them, and being in a bad relationship. The brothers do love each other in the film, but when things go bad, everything goes bad. I learned a lot in this film, so what is specifically me is the action in the film, and I did all my stunts. If anyone does know me they’ll see that immediately in those sequences. Even when I hurt myself, it was a pain that I enjoyed. [laughs]

HollywoodChicago.com: You told me before the interview that the story of the funding for the film came from an unlikely source. What is that story?

Lloveras: Geoffrey and I had first worked on five short films together, and we have this amazing trust. My family has also seen my efforts to make it as an actor in Spain. Three years ago, my grandfather – who was 85 years old at the time – ask me how much it would take to make a movie. I named a figure, and he replied, ‘Let’s make a movie.’ It ended up being a bit more, [laughs] but that is what happened initially.

Cowper: This film was the kind of film we wanted to make. We want to continue to produce good scripts, and character driven stories. That is our aim, and our goal. Our upcoming projects have the same intense drama, big emotions and family.

Lloveras: And if we have to punch somebody in the face, we will. [laughs]

The 31st Chicago Latino Film Festival opens concludes on April 23rd, 2015. All films at the AMC River East 21, 322 E. Illinois, Chicago. Click here for more information.

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Writer, Editorial Coordinator
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2015 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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