Filmmaker Mac Escalante explores themes of loss and empathy in his short films “Aubrey’s Understandings” and “Armande 1968”

Mac Escalante, a recent entertainment and media studies graduate from the University of Georgia strives to make art that inspires audiences through empathy. At twenty-one he released his first student film, “Aubrey’s Understandings,” which follows a young college student who, when grappling with insecurities and loss, finds the courage to open up about his past trauma to his therapist. The film was an official selection in the “Washington DC International Cinema Festival,” “New York Movie Awards,” “Athens International Monthly Film Festival,” and the “Tokyo International Monthly Film Festival.”

Inspired by French history, Escalante also released his most recent film “Armande 1968,” which was accepted as an Honorable Mention for Best Cinematography in the “Athens International Monthly Film Festival.” He is now furthering his studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland pursuing a Master’s degree in comparative literature.

Can you talk about the artistic approach you took with “Aubrey’s Understandings?”

I use a lot of symmetry in “Aubrey’s Understandings.” A lot of shots are reverse shots and revolve around one point perspective. I wanted the audience to feel as if they’re the ones sitting down in therapy looking at each other.  I even added some quirkiness because a lot of my inspiration comes from watching a lot of Wes Anderson. I added a little bit of quirky indie humor, like random moments that come out of nowhere.

STREAM “Aubrey’s Understandings” on FilmFreeway.

What was your original idea for “Armande 1968?”

I was a big history lover and I had the idea of wanting to depict a historical French event through a short film. It didn’t need to be a big budget. So when I learned across French history sources about this duel in 1718 between Armande and Vicomtesse—that they had a duel because of the affair that she had with a French diplomat named Vignerot—that idea then sparked my mind: “Why don’t I start to film a dual scene through a short film?”

Because we had a limited budget and we didn’t know how to film this period piece. I had in my mind: “Why don’t I switch the setting of the Armande duel into the year 1968 during the Paris protest? And we’re going to do a little compare and contrast between how 1718 France is very similar, but also very different from 1968 France during the Paris protests. 

I reset the characters and decided to reimagine Armande as a union worker, Vicomtesse as a rich woman of the bourgeois, and Vignerot as a French veteran, and that’s when it really came to be this modernized 1960’s adaptation of Armande.

STREAM “Armande 1968” on FilmFreeway. 

Could you tell me a little bit about the artistic approach you took with Armande 1968?

Armande 1968 was a bigger film than “Aubrey’s Understandings,” even though it was a shorter film. The production itself was a much more ambitious approach in artistic value to the film. So with Armande, the first artistic approach I took was filming it in black and white and I decided to do it that way because I was very inspired by filmmakers from the French New Wave. 

The second approach was filming it in widescreen. I had never shot anything in wide screen before. It was the first time I filmed something using a Cinemascope aspect ratio, but a 335 anamorphic wide screen aspect ratio. 

The artistic approach I took with Armande is finally having a costume team help me out. We had my actress Priscilla Jackson, dressed in a beret in a red sweater that fits the Armande character. And then I had Vignerot and Vicomtesse dress in white because it’s like “their pure class and their pure way” of saying that their characters are supposed to be untouched.

What kind of gaps do you see in the entertainment industry that you hope to fill?

I would say the gap that I see is the lack of creativity and the overbearing of AI in the film industry. I am someone that is not like a complete hater of AI. AI has helped me come up with other solutions. But in terms of filmmaking, [there’s] been a humongous debate among filmmakers and [it] has been something that has been very problematic with AI replacing actors, replacing directors, replacing crew members. So if I were to be the person that would really like to fill in the gap into what’s missing in today’s film industry, it is to advocate for more original filmmakers, more original stories and putting more trust into newcomers who are entering the industry. 

Do you find yourself returning to a specific theme?

Oh yes, I would say the type of theme that I love to return to is loss because it’s a theme that has definitely been overused in countless ways though drama, comedy, action, sci fi, but it’s been a type of theme and concept that has been sticking deep into my thoughts and the reason why is because the past five years since 2020 have been absolutely difficult with the world trying to rediscover themselves after the pandemic, after the strikes, and after all these things because of how unusual this decade has been. So as a filmmaker and since we’re just five years into the 2020s, I hope to return to the concept of loss in filmmaking and to rediscover that theme through different characters and through different genres.