A buzzy film premiering at this year's Austin Film Festival will hit close to home for many viewers: Subtopia: The Story of Hueco Canyon, is about heated drama with an HOA.
Directed by long-time best friends Clifford Wildman and Luis Caffesse, Subtopia tells the 2011 story of Wally and Julia Kaplan (played by Lowell Bartholomee and Liz Fisher) "looking for a community and [finding] the neighborhood of Hueco Canyon," the film's description reads. "But when leadership at the Homeowners Association changes hands, their idyllic life is soured. As a joke, Wally runs for President. That joke leads to the largest suburban riot in Texas history."
An advance screening of the film reveals this description doesn't begin to cover the many surprising layers of this film.
This mockumentary is shot in a Park and Rec-meets-Unsolved Mysteries style, moving from one-on-one interviews with the neighborhood's residents, to dramatic re-enactments of their stories (with actors who look nothing like their "real world" counterpart), all spliced up with professional-looking animated titles. Like this:
The movie is broken up by title pages, animations, and "dramatic re-enactments."Photo from SUBTOPIA: The Story of Hueco Canyon
In addition to Lowell Bartholomee and Liz Fisher, the cast list includes Hilah Johnson, Ellie McBride, Ken Edwards, and Lana Dieterich, all of whom are also listed as writers on the film, because the whole movie was improvised.
"We gave each actor a sort of breakdown of all the characters in the movie but everyone's breakdown was written from their perspective. So basically everyone was treated as though they were the protagonist of the story," says Caffesse. He adds, "This movie would be absolutely nothing without the actors we got."
The film does tell the story of Wally and Julia Kaplan running into some major issues with the new president of their HOA, Ellen Nickel, masterfully played by Johnson. But it also gets into some themes that are universally applicable: The rights of the individual versus what's good for the community; security versus freedom; blatant lying in politics; presidential election drama; and what can happen when it's "us" versus "them."
Themes like political drama and security versus personal freedom make this movie feel like it was filmed during this election season; not 2011. Photo from SUBTOPIA: The Story of Hueco Canyon
Caffesse and Wildman, who met at the University of Texas and filmed short works and series like Project: Rant together, started shooting Subtopia in the Austin area in 2010, yet the themes are still relevant more than a decade later.
"We started this a long time ago, in 2010, and actually the idea came shortly after 9/11 with the Patriot Act," says Caffesse. "We saw this sort of extreme reaction and we thought an HOA was a funny backdrop and would highlight the absurdity of what we were seeing."
"When we started it, it all actually felt more absurd," he adds. "But now the world has become more absurd. And so many people have told us how relevant they think it is [today]."
Most of this film was shot between 2010 and 2012 (evident in the characters' wardrobes). But this movie with a budget of just $2,000 eventually ran out of funds, and life led everyone in different directions. Production had to be put on pause.
It wasn't until 10 years later that Caffesse picked the project back up again, and then it was only to surprise his best friend for his 50th birthday. The plan: He'd finish shooting and editing the film they'd started over a decade ago and show it to Wildman as a gift.
"In 2012 we had a rough cut of the movie. So the entire spine was there, it was just missing most of the B-roll; the news articles, the titles, most of the re-enactment footage... That was all shot today," says Caffesse. In fact, the hilarious dramatic re-enactment scenes are a happy accident because of this pause in filming.
Once Caffesse was done, he rented out a theater and screened it for the two of them for Wildman's 50th.
Caffesse finished up "Subtopia" just in time to surprise his best friend and co-director with a screening for his 50th birthday. Photo courtesy of Luis Caffesse
"I pretty much cried," says Wildman. "It was a huge deal. It was an unfulfilled dream, and so for it to be dropped in my lap for my birthday... It was just so special to me to sit there with my best friend... One of the best days of my life."
Shortly thereafter, the two sent it out to Austin Film Festival, not expecting it to get in, really; just as a "Hail Mary," says Caffesse.
"But then the programmer [of AFF] reached out to us, and I think it may have been one of the best compliments we've gotten so far," says Wildman, "Because he thought it was real through a good chunk of it. When we submitted it, we did not say the word 'mockumentary' at all. So yeah, we got in, and... it's been a surreal trip."
"My goal for the last year was really just to make my friend laugh," says Caffesse. "It was a movie for two people... Originally, we got in our own way and didn't allow ourselves to finish it because it was never going to be good enough. When we finally let go of that external focus... that's when it finally got done.
"It has shown me... there's no expiration on creative projects. It's never too late."
The Austin Film Festival runs October 24-31. Subtopia: The Story of Hueco Canyon screens on Sunday, October 27 at 2:30 pm at the Rollins Theater at The Long Center, and Thursday, October 31 at 6:15pm at Galaxy Theater 6. For more information, visit subtopia-movie.com.
