Screenwriter, director and nominated BAFTA visual effects artist, luxembourgish Jeff Desom is joining our International Jury this year.
LUXFILMFEST: Those familiar with the Festival and Luxembourg’s cultural scene will remember your short films, your trailer for the Cinémathèque, or your fantastic Holorama exhibition. You’re known as a jack-of-all-trades. How would you define yourself?
JEFF DESOM In movies, there is always that one contact in people’s phone, the guy they call late at night when something went terribly wrong and they need someone with a “special set of skills” to make the problem disappear. That’s me. Or at least that’s what it feels like I’m doing a lot of the time. VFX are part of every project these days and yet the literacy surrounding it is still relatively low. Having worn both hats, that of the director and that of a VFX supervisor/generalist, I’m in a unique position where I can fill that gap for someone.
LFF You left the country for Los Angeles. What brought you there?
J. D. . It seemed like all signs were pointing to LA for me at a certain point. I won some awards and was invited to festivals here in the US. Folks like The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) were fans of my work before I ever met them. It just seemed like the doors were wide open in LA while I was struggling to get anything
made in Europe where the system is extremely rigidI recently founded my own VFX company here with the other artists that worked on Everything Everywhere All at Once. This year, among some commercials for Nike or Louis Vuitton, we had a few interesting projects and got to work with artists like Donald Glover or Gia Coppola.
LFF You made headlines as part of the special effects team on Everything Everywhere All at Once. What do you remember about that experience?
J. D. When I boarded the project no one could have predicted the trajectory of the film was going to take on. It was a very unique movie but it was still an Indie project and none of us would have dared to dream of it going all the way to the Oscars and winning best picture. We were a very small team of four guys, tinkering away on shots, each in their bedrooms as it was pandemic times. In hindsight the way we did this movie seems crazy risky but we got through it and we learned a lot about ourselves and we found new ways of creating VFX without needing teams of hundreds of artists which we believe is the way of the future.
LFF The industry still remembers the script of a fantastic project that never saw the light of day. Is there still hope that you’ll finally make a feature film in Luxembourg?
J. D. It’s hard for me to answer that question without sounding resentful. Because I have tried so many times to get a project off the ground in Luxembourg only to be
rejected on vague grounds or have my abilities as a director questioned because I’m a first timer. I haven’t given up yet but I also need to make a living.
LFF You’ll be on the grand jury at the next LuxFilmFest. What are your hopes for this experience?
J. D. I don’t think I have ever been on a jury before. I always dreaded the moment because it introduces an element of competition to art. I just want everyone to win and be happy!
Interviewed by Alexis Juncosa
