Why are we afraid
to let go?
Cesar, an emotionally stunted masochist, must confront his self-loathing after his dissatisfied-yet-caring Dom, Bear, reinterprets the rules of their game. They arrive at a paradigm-shifting result neither one of them expects.
genre, style, and tone
genre
A character-driven drama, Safe Word is defined by the psychological and emotional arc of our protagonist as he navigates an extraordinary moment in his life. For both Bear and Cesar, the events of the story are high-stakes and highly emotional.
style
Stylistic elements of the film will evoke the constant dance and negotiation of intimacy while emphasizing the contrast between alienation and closeness.
We will accomplish this through our use of camera and a rich, confessional style of photography.
tone
In total, the tone of the film will be serious and emotional. But rather than melodrama, we seek to create moments of intimacy and emotional complication that feel honest as much as they feel amplified. The film will contain moments of levity and sensuality. As a result, the tone will avoid a dour or grief-stricken quality and instead focus on the beauty of living rather than just the pain.
sound
Score and sound design will evoke a melancholy, sensual atmosphere. We will create a soundscape inspired by movement and bodies - the movement and visual presentation of the characters’ bodies provide sensual entry points into their changing emotional states. Emphasis on clothing foley, footsteps, breathing, and other sounds that originate from the bodies on screen we will create intimacy between the viewer and the characters.
score
The score will draw from Portuguese Fado music, which will connect the emotionality of the film to the cultural heritage of the lead performer, while also providing a sonically rich and musically sensual backdrop for the performance. Fado is highly emotional and theatrical, and this characteristic will heighten the drama on screen. We also draw inspiration from classic Portuguese, Venezuelan, and other Iberian and South American artists.
Musically, we look to singers like Amalia Rodrigues, who sang often about the realities of everyday life and the fraught experience of love. She did so with a simultaneous sense of resignation and a sparkle of hope. Fado evokes a penetrating sense of saudade - a deeply felt melancholic yearning.
Sensual acoustic guitar and stringed instruments arranged in simple orchestration will help illustrate the sensuality of solitude and robust tension between the characters.
playlist
camera
The camera will underscore the shifting power dynamics between Cesar and Bear. At times, and early on in the film, wide shots will show their distance from each other or their own isolation in the moment.
Angle of camera will communicate the power dynamic between the characters, with Bear shot more often from below, implying dominance, and Cesar from often above, implying subservience.
Where appropriate, close-ups and extreme close-ups will focus the audience on specific moments or images and create a sense of intimacy with the material on screen.
As Bear and Cesar become more intimate with one another the camera will shift to progressively tighter, more intimate compositions. We will use longer lenses as the film progresses, flattening space and putting more focus on the characters vs. their environment.
The climax of the film will be shot with extreme close ups to emphasize the character’s newfound intimacy and vulnerability.
lighting and color
With large windows on location, the film will be lit with natural light. When and where needed, we will emulate natural light with on-set lighting. We will use this lighting style to create visually dynamic images. Some moments will be cooler and softer lighting, while other times will be high contrast, directional lighting illuminating one side of the face. More hopeful and tender moments will be brighter with actors facing the windows while darker or more fraught moments will take the characters into darker areas of the set, light them with more contrast, or arrange the camera so the talent is backlit against window light.
Earlier in the film, we will use colder, “overcast” natural light that, as the film progresses, will become progressively warmer in color. This will evoke Cesar’s emotional thaw.
design, themes, imagery
the apartment
Cesar’s apartment, meticulous and modern, should communicate the restraint and control he exerts over his life and environment. Large windows, refined design, and restrained decor tell us that Cesar himself is exacting and successful. Cesar overcompensates for his emotional wounds and inability to connect with himself and others through his accomplishments.
the orange
Bear peels an orange as he interacts with Cesar, representing his role in Cesar’s story as the force that removes his toughened exterior to reveal the sweet, vulnerable parts below. It is also a symbol of their transactional dynamic, with Cesar required to supply Bear with fresh fruit in their sessions.
vulnerability and risk
The idea of vulnerability being interpersonally risky will be underscored through the duality of light. Front-on, back-lit, and high-contrast lighting will underscore when our characters feel enlightened, lost, or confused. Moments of vulnerability vs. moments of obfuscation are reinforced with moments of darkness and moments of light. Camera angle will reinforce the feeling of vulnerability and the idea of disclosure and intimacy.
filmmakers
Christopher Cunetto
Director, Writer
Christopher Cunetto is an award-winning filmmaker, visual artist, and creative strategist based in Washington, DC. Beyond his work in commercial video, his narrative film has been screened at diverse venues - from the premiere of his short film Jeux, a love letter to DC LGBT nightlight, at local bar Number 9, to a selection of shorts celebrating Iberian poets at The Kennedy Center. He recently completed post-production on a short he wrote and directed, titled Gateway, about a grieving widower’s desperate attempt to reconnect with his late wife using a fringe-science meditation technique.
“A filmmaker, artist, and designer by trade, I'm a passionate creative leader hell-bent on making things that move people. I have built a creative career on top of my passion for incredible visual experiences, my technical skills, my commitment to showing up and doing the hard work, and a belief that art and story are the most effective tools to inspire action in those around us.”
Mauricio Pita
Executive Producer
A Venezuelan-American actor, director, and producer. Mauricio is Arena Stage’s current Community Programs Manager where he oversees the Voices of Now program (VON) which produced two feature docudramas during the pandemic and most recently nine short films for the 2022 VON festival at Arena Stage. Mauricio served as Creative Producer for the 2020-2021 Virtual Season of IN Series Opera. His projects with IN Series included the film Orphée et Eurydice, the audio play A Fairy Queen, and the interdisciplinary film/theater piece Boheme in The Heights. All three were featured on DC Metro Theater Arts’ 2021 lists of outstanding productions. In addition, Mauricio currently serves as Artistic Associate with We Happy Few Theatre Company and recently directed two Sherlock Holmes audio experiences as part of their at-home Detective Play Series which received praise for their crisp style and directing. Maryland Theater Guide called Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Norwood Builder “...a perfect adventure.” In addition, Mauricio is scheduled to direct the world premiere of La Llorona written by Gabby Wolfe in the fall of 2022.
Mauricio worked previously with Christopher Cunetto as a producer on his latest short, Gateway.
Eva von Schweinitz
Story By, Writer
Eva is a German-American interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker. Her films, both documentary and narrative, have screened at Tribeca Film Festival, Palm Springs International ShortFest, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and others. Eva was a pitch finalist at Tribeca Film Institute's If/Then Documentary Program in 2018. Her short film Heads or Tails won Best Short Film at Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival 2017 and her projection design for Measure for Measure (Public Theater) was nominated for the Henry Hewes Design Award 2018. She was the Associate Designer on Arguendo (The Public) which received an OBIE Award for Outstanding Projection Design. Fellowships and residencies: 2018/2019 Devised Theater Working Group (Public Theater), 2018 Harvestworks Artist-in-Residence, 2017-2018 The Civilians' R&D Group. Eva holds a B.A. in Film from International Filmschool Cologne and an M.F.A. in Performance and Interactive Media Arts from Brooklyn College.
Fernando Rocha
Cinematographer
Fernando Rocha is a Mexican-American Cinematographer based out of the U.S. East Coast whose work spans both scripted and unscripted genres. He is a 2022 Southern Exposure Film Fellow and Part 107 certified Drone pilot. Fernando was also selected as a 2022 Sundance X Adobe Ignite Fellow, a program which “identifies and supports new voices and talent from the next generation of filmmakers by providing artistic and professional development to advance filmmakers to the next stage in their filmmaking.” In 2021, Fernando won a Fulbright Grant in order to create a short-documentary project about water rights and accessibility in the Bajo Lempa region of El Salvador. He is currently working as Cinematographer on his first feature-length documentary, an anthology regarding Central American immigration to the United States. This film counts with the support of the Sundance Development Lab as well as other patrons including Firelight Media.
Fernando’s visual approach merges the organic and intimate nature of documentary filmmaking with the attention and care to detail of the narrative field in order to create a visual language that is right for each story regardless of genre. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. from American University in Washington, D.C. and was a member of the school’s prestigious Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholars program. He has also supplemented his studies at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles as well as the FAMU Conservatory in Prague, Czech Republic.
Tepui Media
Production Company
Founded by Mauricio Pita in 2021, Tepui Media is a new interdisciplinary arts company based in Washington, D.C. Tepui Media’s mission is to produce bold films and plays about people navigating remarkable events.
Tepuis are table-top mountains in the Guiana Highlands of South America that host a unique array of endemic plant and animal life. The word Tepui, pronounced (The -‘poo -ee), means house of gods in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the region.
Inspired by these powerful ecological islands of the sky, Tepui Media aims to provide a unique ecosystem of support and a platform for exciting new stories and emerging artists Click here to learn more about Tepui Media.
cast
Mauricio Pita
as Cesar
A Venezuelan-American actor, Mauricio’s early breakthrough roles include the Bridegroom in the 2013 New York stage production ofBlood Wedding by Federico García Lorca, which earned him a nomination for Best Male Breakthrough Performance from the New York ACE (Asociación de Cronistas de Espectáculos de Nueva York/New York Entertainment Journalists Association). He continued his stage career with multiple collaborations with The Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Theatre 167, Repertorio Español, Superhero Clubhouse, The Bushwick Starr, and Columbia University. Mauricio was featured in the film You, Me, Bathroom, Sex, Now directed by Francisco Lupini. The film became an official selection at the Festival de Cannes and went on to receive multiple awards in film festivals including Best of Festival at the Palm Springs Shortfest, Jury Award at the NCGL Film Festival, Best Comedy at the Global Accolade Film Competitions, Audience Choice at the Cinema Diverse Film Festival, and Best LGBT Short Film at the Columbus International Film and Video Festival.
Mauricio is a proud member of Actors Equity Association (AEA), Mauricio is a graduate of the Acting Program at Marymount Manhattan College and the Shakespeare Conservatory for Actors at Yale University.
Jonathan Adriel
as Bear
Jonathan Adriel is an award-winning actor and dancer based in the Washington, DC area. He has performed on many stages in the DMV including Ford’s Theatre in The Wiz – and fondly remembers a visit from First Lady Michelle Obama for the performance and after-show backstage conversation. He was in the first class of men to dance in The Washington Wizards’ NBA Dance Team. His favorite work was at the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, North Carolina where he worked as Dance Captain and child-actor wrangler.
Jonathan is a former DC Public School educator and professor of Dance ad Howard University. He is a member of the Actors Equity Association and is a graduate of Winthrop University with a BA in Dance and Theater Performance. He holds a Master of Education from Strayer University.