At 17 years old, Lola Bond is an Aussie filmmaker and actor with big ambitions and a firm future in the creative arts. “The Eulogy” which played as part of the Sydney Short and Sweet Festival saw Lola winning the Best-Actress Runner Up Award despite being the youngest female actress in the festival.
Venturing from in front of the camera to behind the camera with youthful ease, Lola loves to tell her own stories through film. Lola wrote, directed, shot and edited the sci fi short film “Eve” which is set in the near future in a society where all movements and tasks are performed for humans by paternalistic android figures.
Currently in selection and screening at the Femme Filmmakers Festival 2019, we catch up with Lola Bond and the star of “Eve” played by Lisa Hughes to talk about the filmmaking process and the future of technology.
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Adelle Drover: Why don’t you tell me a little bit about “Eve” and how you were inspired to come up with this story?
Lola Bond: “Eve” is set in the near future where humans are given a paternalistic android figure to help run their lives and they perform every single task for them. It limits the amount of autonomy that any person has. So we follow the story of this woman who has lost her autonomy and is going through the monotonous routine of life that the android has created for her.
And then one day the android starts to take on humanistic features and that’s scary, so Eve turns the robot off. That’s where the real story begins. That’s where the messages are. When she turns that android off and she has to relearn everything for herself and relearns the beauty of her everyday.
AD: What was that inspired the technology and that futuristic element?
LB: The futuristic element was obviously taken a lot from today’s society because we are moving towards a bit of a scary innovative world. I just really wanted to showcase what our world is moving towards. For this film I did a lot of research behind different technologies that are starting to appear, and also different philosophies behind those technologies. How are they going to help us but also hinder us.
AD: Are you plugged into the technology yourself? Are you very dependent on technology and could you live without it?
LB: I don’t know if I could live without it. I have lived in the generation where we’re surrounded and bombarded by it but I will say that I try not to depend on it as much. As a teenager I think I use it less than most.
AD: Lisa, how did you become cast in the project and how did you two meet?
Lisa Hughes: I actually know Lola’s mother very well. I’m a mature age student studying performance at Wollongong University so Lola reached out to me see if I wanted to audition for “Eve.” Lola clearly is an inspiration without even bringing age into it – she’s a 17 year old who has such insight to what’s going on in the way we are evolving.
I was very excited to be part of that story. The short story is, I have this wonderful connection with Lola’s mother and having known Lola for many years and to see her evolve in her journey I was delighted to be able to audition and get the part.
AD: What’s your relationship like with technology? Do you rely on it a lot?
LH: I am highly aware of it. I have two daughters in their 20’s. I’ve lived in both the generation where we didn’t have anything and obviously now where it’s everywhere. I’m highly aware of how I interact with technology and yes it can be wonderful but it’s also a tool you have to learn to use.
AD: That’s one of the things I love about sci fi, it looks at how technology is going to change and influence us in the future. On that note, Lola, tell me more about the android in the film.
LB: The android is played by Lisa’s husband. He was the perfect height and he fit the costume so it was great. How I came to the costuming choice – it took a lot of hours just searching through eBay and Aliexpress, trying to find the right thing that would be suitable for the piece. When I was creating it, I didn’t know whether I wanted to make it more humanistic that had human features then put them in a suit with gloves.
In the end, I decided to go with the fully fledged robot vibe because you see the robot take on these humanistic features. I wanted to show that even though something can be so technological and so different to a human that it can still show a wanting and motivation… that’s a bit scary.
AD: This is a passion project and a low budget short film, what were some of the production challenges you came across?
LB: I had to get a lot of favours. I know so many people within the industry and so many people who are willing to support me. I am also an actor and have a lot of contacts. One person I know, Nigel Miller, who is a videographer in Australia, he kindly offered to lend me his equipment which was amazing. Not only this but he also helped mentor me through the process and helped me rework ideas. And funnily enough one of the times we were discussing the project, I was looking around his house and it just struck me right then, “oh my god, this is the location. I’ve got to film here.” His house is completely futuristic and modern. These are some of the ways I stayed within budget!
AD: Can you talk about any scenes during the shoot that were particularly challenging?
LB: There is a scene which was a bit painful for Lisa… the end shots in the sea. I think that day it was 6 degrees celsius or something ridiculous, it was absolutely freezing. I forced Lisa – thank you Lisa so much – to get into the ocean a couple of times. I actually followed her in there with my jeans on, tracking the shot. In the film, just moments after the final shot cuts out, if you saw 1 second after you would see Lisa get smashed by a wave!
LH: This is how passionate I am! Haha. I totally forgot about that challenge because it was such an incredible ending and the full sensory experience, but also what the ending represented as well. The awakening in that final ocean scene pretty dramatic.
AD: Yes it’s a really visually stunning shot to end the film, worth the cold! So how is the film being received? Have you been able to show it to many people?
LB: All the responses I’ve been getting so far have been really great. The film’s now on Vimeo and also on YouTube. I’ve been getting lots of family and friends watching it, it was also shown at my school and I’ve gotten really great support there. It’s also been at a couple of film festivals as well as with you at the Femme Filmmaker Festival and the Short and Sweet Film Festival, Sydney.
AD: Will there be a sequel to Eve or are any other projects on the horizon?
LB: Maybe not a sequel, but in terms of the creative industries I go to acting every single weekend. I spend my time improving my skills and at the moment I’ve just finished filming for a short film that I helped create, write (I haven’t filmed it myself this time and I won’t be editing it) and I starred in it as well. I am sure that in the future I will definitely create more pieces of film because I have such a passion for creating and to improve my craft.
LH: Lola is a really exceptional through her dedication and commitment. In what she does as a writer, director and actor. She’s still a student and nearly finished high school… watch this space. She truly is an inspiration and I would love, of course, to work with Lola again.
