We “met” Francisco Lacerda – a very, very talented Portuguese-American moviemaker – at this year’s Chattanooga Film Festival. That is, we met a short Francisco made called “They call it… Red Cemetery“. Red Cemetery is both an homage to Sergio Leone and his brand of exploitation moviemaking and a statement of moviemaking talent all by itself. We’d even call what Francisco’s got “killer talent”.
Like a lot of young film makers (from outside Hollywood), Francisco has had to find his own way (and find the money to make his movies). He’s struggled with crowd-sourcing (and he’ll talk about his troubles) and even with his own (Portuguese) government. The establishment film community in Portugal is pretty staid, reserved and unimaginative.
At least, they were. Francisco sees hopeful signs of change. Self-described horror movies are starting to find acceptance (and officially-sanctioned financing). Francisco has also found a home in the Troma-verse (some of his work can be found on Troma’s YouTube channel.
We’ll also pick at the early horror movie “wounds” – the ones that inspired Francisco’s own movie-making dreams and ambitions. Especially important to Francisco’s creative evolution: “Alien”. We will do a deep dive into how “Alien” helped shape Francisco’s vision and aspirations.
We compare Francisco to early Sam Raimi or early John Waters. Their early work pushed the envelope repeatedly but always with a big dose of irony. It’s what helped make them both the killer talents they became.
We really enjoyed meeting Francisco and we think you will, too. We’re dead certain that you’ll enjoy Francisco’s work, too.
You can find some at of Francisco’s work at the Troma YouTube Channel.
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