“Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist,” a skillful and imaginative charmer of a short film playing Thursday at the Coronado Island Film Festival, is the product of local director Devin Scott’s very unique approach to filmmaking.
The 1960s-set short details the story of the narrator’s mother, who trades in a failing marriage with an unhappy husband for a European romance with a woman the narrator simply calls Aunt Cindy. The lovers trek along the seaside in a golden Ford Mustang they call The Alchemist, ignoring the occasional stares of locals surprised to see two contented women so openly in love with each other.
Then there’s a twist that comes as a total shock, but also makes complete sense. It feels strikingly modern, yet sensible. We won’t reveal it here, to avoid spoiling the film.
The Coronado Island Film Festival would be an ideal place to see “Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist, not just because it’s one of our 50 Film Festival Worth the Entry Fee, but also because its set in a sun-kissed, sand-slung locale as breezy and photogenic as the seaside escapes in the film.
But whether you can make it or not, please be advised that we’re about to get into spoilers about Scott’s process that may change your understanding of his work — or perhaps deepen your appreciation of it.
Devin Scott on Making ‘Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist’
Scott, a San Diego native, came from a family of storytellers and realized he wanted to make films himself when he visited Universal Studios as a child in the 1970s and “saw a giant telephone prop that was used in several movies and TV shows,” he recalls.
“I was so entranced by this moment of make believe that the course of my life turned toward that direction, and it’s been magic and make-believe ever since,” he adds.
He graduated from San Diego State’s Department of Film and Television, and later partnered with his producer, Jeanne Scott, in the San Diego production company American Dream Cinema, which is just across San Diego Bay from Coronado Island and has counted Hewlett Packard, Fox Sports, ABC Sports, Kaiser Permanente and many more among its clients.
In addition to their corporate work, Jeanne and Devin Scott create films by watching hours and hours of other people’s home movies, usually without knowing anything about them. Then they’ll discuss their interpretations of the footage, and Devin Scott will write stories based on those interpretations.
The story he wrote for “Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist” is so convincing that some trusting viewers — like your humble correspondent — initially took it to be true. But Scott is forthright in explaining that his film is, in fact, a work of fiction.
“My producer and I will watch probably 18 to 20 hours of home movies to put these stories together,” Scott tells MovieMaker. “Usually there is one image that will spark a conversation while the movies are rolling, I’ll then record the audio of these viewing sessions so I can go back and listen to the most interesting conversations paired with the footage, and the story is born from there.
“I have to write the script immediately because the footage and where to find it is fresh in my mind,” adds Scott. “The story follows the footage, not the usual other way around so, I need to edit it right away too before I forget where the shots are. It’s a unique process but a great exercise in film making.”
Though the process is experimental, the emotions behind it are pure.
“Everyone deserves the right to be happy,” he says. “Love is love and looks the same from every angle. I think that’s why this film resonates with audiences. Most people have some sort of ‘Aunt Cindy’ in their lives, whom they love dearly.”
The image of the golden Ford Mustang stood out so strongly that Devin Scott considered calling the car the El Dorado, after the legendary city of gold. Then his producer reminded him that there’s already a car called the El Dorado.
“So I thought about what other metaphor I could incorporate into the film, and then Alchemy seemed appropriate,” he says. “Turning something into gold is what we all want to achieve in life. All of our found footage films have a universal truth to them that audiences can spot and measure with their own life experiences.”
“Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist” is playing Thursday morning as part of the No Place Like Home: Local Shorts program at the Coronado Island Film Festival.
Main image: “Aunt Cindy and the Alchemist.”