Since it began, the pandemic has inspired many filmmakers and storytellers to examine the crisis through a creative lens. Of all of the pandemic-themed films that have come out, however, Demi’s Panic is one of the elite few to spotlight the visceral effects the pandemic has had on our individual and collective psychology. “I realized that there was this invisible drama that was playing out in our home, in other peoples’ homes, and really everywhere,” Danny says in our email interview below. Indeed, filmmakers (and real-life married couple) Lorena Hernández Leonard and Danny Leonard, in collaboration with the legendary artist Bill Plympton, have created a film that uniquely traces the psychology of someone in a state of panic, crisis, and helplessness.
Demi’s Panic is such a visual triumph that it’s hard to believe that this is the Leonards’ filmmaking debut. “I’ve always had an interest in writing and wrote a script for a feature length film many years ago, but never pursued getting it made. Lorena is also a writer and is currently working on a memoir about her experiences growing up in Medellín, Colombia during the drug cartel war.” They are natural storytellers, and with Demi’s Panic, they’ve created a story that, though inspired by personal events and sentiments, is capable of reaching out to everyone in the world that have been devastated by the coronavirus. The film ultimately makes you feel seen and less alone. It assures you that there is hope and light on the other end.
Before we get into Demi’s Panic, I wonder if you might talk about your own individual / collective filmmaking journeys? Where did it all start for you?
Lorena and I are first time filmmakers. I’ve always had an interest in writing and wrote a script for a feature length film many years ago, but never pursued getting it made. Lorena is also a writer and is currently working on a memoir about her experiences growing up in Medellin, Colombia during the drug cartel war. She is doing this through the Memoir Incubator program at Grub Street in Boston. As part of her journey into memoir writing, Lorena had an opportunity to do a spoken word story onstage through World Channel’s Stories from the Stage. This led to an opportunity for me as well. Writing is one thing, but live performance storytelling is something else entirely! It was a crash course in crafting a well-constructed, entertaining short story. This was great preparation for writing a script for a short film.
The pandemic has been a source of inspiration for many filmmakers and storytellers, but what I loved most about your film was how deeply it dove into Demi’s inner state. It’s a very poignant story of the psychology of someone in a state of panic, crisis, and helplessness. Can you pinpoint the moment the idea for the film first sparked? What exactly about the pandemic made you see a story in it?
The idea for the story came out of the experience of having our youngest daughter, 2 years old at the time, get very sick in April of 2020, right at the start of the pandemic. One night we heard this horrible coughing coming from her crib. At the time, that sound alone was terrifying. She had a high fever and the next morning we made a doctor’s appointment for her. They would only allow one person, so Lorena took her in, and when she arrived it was under full covid protocol – the doctors had HAZMAT suits on and the office had a heavy duty HVAC system. The doctor looked terrified through her face shield. In the end, they wouldn’t test her for covid because she was a baby and tests were still in limited supply. For the next 5 days she wouldn’t eat or drink, was crying constantly, and was up all night. Not knowing if she had covid or not was really hard.
We also have an older daughter and we were scared that she would get sick too. I wondered if our little one had covid and viral particles were spilling out of her and floating around our home. When I had that visual image of the particles, I realized that there was this invisible drama that was playing out in our home, in other peoples’ homes, and really everywhere.
An incredibly dramatic situation might be playing out for someone, and they wouldn’t even realize it – covid particles floating in a subway station that suddenly get whisked away by a rush of air from a train right as they were about to fly into their nose and mouth. But maybe those same particles fly into someone else’s nose, getting them sick and dying. Just the pure randomness of it… I wondered what it would be like to make that invisible drama visible through film.
That was the spark for the idea for the screenplay and it grew from there to include other invisible aspects of the pandemic – the “waves” of the pandemic that Demi sees in her nightmares, and importantly the anxiety that manifesting itself in so many people in unprecedented numbers, including me. It was my first experience with clinical anxiety, and I realized there is a very physical component to it, and you can see it manifest in the character of Demi through Bill’s amazing animation.
I’d like to note that our daughter recovered and is doing well now, though we’ve had a few more covid scares since then.
Bill Plympton is an animation legend! How did you know his style was perfect for your story, and what, more generally, was the collaboration process like?
We were incredibly lucky to get connected with Bill. In the process of writing the screenplay I knew that it had to be animated to be able to show what I wanted to show. In addition, because of covid, you couldn’t easily film live, so animation was a good option. I spoke to some friends who work in the film industry, and one of them had a connection to Bill and made an introduction. I sent Bill the script and my expectation was that he’d give me some advice on how to improve it and perhaps some names of animators to reach out to. Instead he asked me a few questions, most importantly why I had written the script, paused, and said “let’s make it.” I was quite literally speechless, which was pretty funny.
The collaboration process was amazing in some ways, and incredibly challenging in some ways. Amazing in that Bill, a legend of filmmaking and animation, treated me as a complete equal in the process and there was a tremendous amount of back and forth on story ideas, animation ideas, from the storyboarding process all the way to the final film. Bill’s style is perfect for the film, the kinetic movement that his drawing generates conveys the anxiety viscerally. All in all, it was an amazing learning experience, and truly an honor.
However, because of covid, everything had to be done via phone calls and Zoom calls. It is just not an ideal way to work collaboratively. We went to Bill’s studio in NYC once, and it was amazing how much we got done, but it emphasized to me how limiting our circumstances were. We also had a very limited budget and very little time. Our feeling was that this film needed to come together quickly because of its relevancy in the moment. Who knew if it was going to be relevant in a year? Ironically and sadly, it is more relevant now than ever. The final scene with the unexpected rising of a viral wave was written long before the Delta variant arose, but it is describing our current situation very presciently.
I loved how a Latina woman and her family are at the heart of the film. How important for you was it to bring cultural specificity to your film? As producers, would it be fair to say that visibility and representation are major priorities for you?
One the one hand it was important for us that the protagonist is Latina, but on the other hand, it was kind of natural. When I had the idea for the film, I had our daughters in mind. Lorena is originally from Colombia, I’m born and raised in Boston, so our daughters share that mixed heritage and our household is very multicultural and multilingual. Our reality is reflected in the characters. It occurred to me that it might be confusing to people – why does the mom speak Spanish, but the dad sounds like he’s from Brooklyn? And Demi has a neutral accent. But hopefully people can roll with it. It’s just an everyday reality for us and a lot of other people in multicultural households. Having said all that, during the early days of the pandemic NYC was definitely ground zero, and the Latino community in NY, Boston and everywhere else, were and are disproportionately impacted by covid. Therefore, it felt important and factual to have the characters be part of the Latino community in NYC.
Was there anything you learned during the height of the pandemic? (It can be something small like a new recipe, or something more philosophical. I’ll leave it to you to interpret!)
As for learning something new during the pandemic… so many things. Filmmaking for one! How to run a Kickstarter campaign – we ran a successful campaign and are incredibly indebted to all of our amazing backers! For me the biggest learning was about mental health. Prior to covid Lorena had already embarked on a journey as a mental health advocate and had done a number of talks through a platform she created called Gritty Girl. But I had never experienced a mental health crisis firsthand. It was a massive eyeopener for me, and the journey in recovering from that has taught me a lot of important skills as well as a deeper sense of compassion that I will carry with me for life.
HollyShorts is an excellent platform for indie filmmakers. What does it mean for you to have Demi’s Panic play here? How will you be celebrating?
When the film was completed and we began to submit to festivals, I had no idea what to expect. I was going to be overjoyed if we got into one tiny festival. When I heard of the selection to HollyShorts was very emotional – a sense of joy, relief, and at that moment, a recognition of all the pain we had to travel through to get to that point. It felt like such a validation of not only the film, but everything we went through leading up to it. The festival itself is our celebration. From what I’ve heard, the first time you see your own film play on the big screen is a profound moment. I’m looking forward to that happening, and at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre no less.
What’s next for you? And where can viewers follow you and your work?
Next, from a film perspective – I’m working on two scripts for short films that are very different from Demi’s Panic. Both are live action comedies. It’s time to turn the corner on this heavy stuff! One is still covid related though. A covid related comedy might sound in questionable taste, but it is about the clash of cultures arising from the covid-exodus of city dwellers to the exurbs. I’m also working on a collection of short stories and poems, as well as a spoken word piece to be told on stage when those kinds of things start happening again.
Lorena is about two-thirds of the way done with the manuscript for her memoir and is also looking to get back on stage when she can! You can follow us at rockfarmproductions.com, on Instagram @rockfarmproductions and Twitter @RockFarmProds.
It is focused on Demi’s Panic right now, but we’ll expand to these other projects when the time is right. But right now we want to give everything we have to Demi’s Panic – screening it at other festivals (Woodstock, Spark Animation, as well as others), and an Oscar-qualifying run at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco.
