The trailer for Neal Dhand’s neo-noir detective thriller Dark My Light is out, and it plunges the audience into a nightmarish sea of uncertainty when a severed foot washes up on the beach, puzzling a detective.
Written and directed by Dhand and produced by Sergio Uguet de Resayre (Crumbs, Jesus shows you the Way to the Highway, Ramona) and Neal J. Sampat, Dark My Light stars Albert Jones (Mindhunter, Respect), Keesha Sharp (the Lethal Weapon series), and Tom Lipinski (Suits).
The film had its premiere to a sold-out audience in April in Fantaspoa, the Brazilian genre film festival.
Set against the backdrop of a sleepy beach town, Dark My Light delves into the mind of detective Mitchell Morse as he investigates a chilling serial killer case. But there’s more than meets the eye: a severed foot on the beach, a fractured relationship with his wife, and his sanity slipping away.
During development, the filmmakers participated in labs including NAFF at BIFAN, the Brussels Genre Film Market, Blood Window Lab, and were an honorable mention at Sitges Pitchbox. It also received support from our own MovieMaker Production Services.
Director Neal Dhand on Making Dark My Light
“With Dark My Light I hope to visualize memory via a fresh structure, and to revitalize and revise genre tropes. There are three distinct genres for each act, and the film shifts from intentional clichés at the outset to something new each time,” Dhand says.
Shot in Bradenton, Anna Maria Island, and St. Petersburg, Florida, it also had support from the St. Petersburg Clearwater Film Commission. It was shot in 16mm Kodak film by cinematographer Charles Ackley Anderson, whose past work includes Diamantino and The Unity of All Things.
“We shot on 16mm, partially because of my love of the format from my time living near Kodak, and partially to better capture tones of the past. Dark My Light’s genesis is in fact a real memory: I had a physical run-in with a police officer in 2002. It’s an event that’s stuck with me, even as the meaning of it has altered for me over time, again and again. Perhaps odd to say for a film that dabbles in many genres, but it’s also inspired by my relationship with my 3-year old daughter, whose growing up frequently warps my mind and seems to revise my idea of time,” Dhand adds.
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“There are a lot of films that influenced this one. The structure of Last Year at Marienbad, quiet of Le Samouraï, mood of Cure, compositions of The Headless Woman, camera of The Ascent. With all of these in mind, I wanted to make a movie that has enough bite to keep one watching the first time but asks for repeat viewings; where there’s an unshakeable sense of doom in not knowing nearly as much as the main character; where our alliances change as the film reaches its final act; and where the main goal is almost absurdly Sisyphean in its singularity and duration.”
The film is currently playing the festival circuit with new festival dates to be announced soon.
Other cast of Dark My Light includes Steven Sean Garland, Kimberlee Oren, Mandy Mills,
Kim Crow, G.J. Thompson, Alexander Jesus Burgos, and Fletcher Barnes.
You can watch the trailer for Dark My Light above.
Main Image: A still from Dark My Light
