Honey to the Moon
A vulnerable exploration of queer relationships
Directed by Rob Woodcox
Words by Katie Celia Huelin
Directed by Rob Woodcox, Honey to the Moon stands out for its deep, rich, and vulnerable exploration of queer relationships.
In a world often dominated by heteronormative and "Disney" portrayals of love, this short film authentically captures the nuanced and sometimes tumultuous nature of relationships through the story of Moon and Sun - highlighting the significance of self-discovery and raw emotional honesty in the process.
Honey to the Moon beautifully portrays the journey of falling in and out of love, while also exploring the profound theme of self-love. How did you achieve this delicate balance between illustrating the dynamic interplay of relationships with others and the relationship with oneself, particularly in the context of queer identity?
Everything you see on screen takes direct inspiration from real life experiences. I have a process of sifting through my emotions and refining what I discover into written and then visual language- a sort of meditative journaling. In the case of Honey to the Moon, I spent a holiday season alone in my thoughts, processing all the experiences I’d had up to that point regarding romantic love. This time I chose to express through poetry, writing a few paragraphs per emotion that came up. In the end I discovered 18 unique emotions or phases I had gone through whenever I fell in and out of love and had to nurture myself back to a healthy mindset afterwards.
We mostly see hetero-normative and “Disney” formats of love in media, but those are not usually deep, rich versions of what we’re capable of as humans. Ever since being true to my identity as a queer person, I’ve had to face things in life head-on to make progress, so I’m no stranger to processing my emotions in a world where we’re often taught to bottle them up. I suppose this entire process of being vulnerable with myself translated to what you see on screen.
The sound design significantly adds to the intimacy of the film. Can you elaborate on how you approached crafting the soundscapes working with composer Federico González to enhance the emotional depth of the narrative?
Fede is incredibly talented at what he does! This was my first time being able to personally participate in the process of crafting sound around my visuals. It started with me creating a sound map that followed the story board; I spent days pulling sound bytes and segments of music that inspired me for a certain vibe, along with natural sounds and beats. I played instruments for 8 years when I was younger so I have a good understanding of the technical side of music. I created this layered package and delivered it to Fede to see how that inspired him. What he came up with was completely unique yet reminiscent of the vibe I was trying to create for the film. He really hit a home run from the first pass.
From there we spent a couple weeks going back and forth sending updates and once we were getting close we had a studio session where we really got to dive in with our producers Ana and Coco. We would ask for more drama here, or a pause there, but for the most part the final result came from the pure genius of Fede’s trained mind for music. The sound design for this film elevates the experience tremendously- it wouldn’t be the film without it.
You incorporate many surreal elements in the film, such as the symbolism of trees representing cracks in the foundation of relationships. Can you discuss the significance of blending reality and memory in your storytelling?
Combining memory, reality and dream touches on 3 states of our experience- the past, present and future. Life is simply a culmination of people’s dreams coming to fruition. Humans wouldn’t have achieved building skyscrapers or landing on the moon or developing modern computer technology if someone hadn’t dreamed that reality first. My work often serves as a portal from my imagination to inspire a different future for humanity- one where we let go of negative learned societal habits and implement more positive solutions to things like mental health, self love, community development, and how we treat our environment. I believe our past can serve as a vital lesson in how we redirect our future.
Could you elaborate on your partnership with Eduardo Cifuentes and how you both developed unique choreography that truly captured the journey of intimacy through dance?
Eduardo is my life partner. We started to fall in love a few months before Honey to the Moon became funded and ready for production. At that time I asked if he’d consider being the star of the film. His sensitivity to movement, emotion and playing convincing characters in his theater performances captivated me. I didn’t yet know we would develop into a more committed relationship, and the working title for the film at the time was “Journey of Love” which we’ve since used as part of the synopsis for the film. It feels quite serendipitous looking back that it all came together this way, as we are both quite inspired by our real experiences when creating work.
I shared my writings and story board with Eduardo, including movement references, and he created his own ideas for the details of movement scene by scene. It was extraordinary bouncing back and forth about how to best convey emotions I had written about from a vulnerable place. We conducted 6 rehearsals before filming, 3 with just the two leads and 3 with the entire group of dancers, and after tumultuous days of reinventing the choreo, it all went quite seamlessly on set. Eduardo and his co-star Akeem both threw themselves completely into the narrative and delivered captivating performances.
“Queer can look like a million different things. Every key person behind the creative decisions was queer, so this is our cumulative, queer result.”
Through dance and art, you delve deep into the emotions and experiences of queer individuals, offering a perspective often overlooked by mainstream media. How did you balance creating a visually stunning film with thought-provoking storytelling?
I think when you surround yourself with equally passionate and talented creatives, making visually stunning content is easy. However, creating a thought-provoking narrative is much more challenging. It took many days and nights of writing, shifting, rearranging, trusting input from the team and landing on final decisions for scene, composition, direction, etc. Sometimes you cannot predict what will happen on set, so you have to be open to spontaneity. Being on set is often a reflection of what people are going through in real life.
When you’re in a time crunch with limited resources to achieve the final result, you have to be decisive. Having spent 16 years directing visuals at this point, I try to listen to my intuition and let that guide how I make each choice. I trust my cumulative experience to guide me. I also believe in letting each member of a team excel in their own expertise - so for example I give liberties to the sound designer, editor, choreographer, etc, because I know their knowledge on their subject of focus surpasses mine. In the end, film making is a massive community effort and it wouldn’t be possible without every single person involved on set or in post.
Queer can look like a million different things. Every key person behind the creative decisions was queer, so this is our cumulative, queer result.
We appreciate that collaboration is essential when bringing a project like Honey to the Moon to life. How did you and your team work together to cultivate an open space where everyone involved felt valued and heard?
Collaboration is essential to every production I’ve ever been a part of. I feel extremely lucky to have been surrounded by open minded, collaborative energies at every stage of Honey to the Moon. In this production in particular, we would have brainstorming sessions with heads of departments involved to figure out how we could effectively achieve each scene as desired - it was an incredible learning process. I remember the day we experimented exploding various milks and powders in a bath to achieve the milky water effect in the second to last scene of the film.
I aim to create supportive environments where every talent is heard and allowed to express their unique thoughts and expertise. So many scenes were made possible by suggestions that we hadn’t thought of initially. My role as director is to channel and guide everyone’s talents in a direction that will create the desired result. It’s such an extraordinary feeling to land on a final film that feels so aligned with what I had originally imagined, while still feeling like everyone got to be their unique selves.
The location of Huasteca Potosina added a natural depth to the film, symbolising the journey and intimacy of the relationship as inherently intertwined with nature. Why did you choose this landscape to shoot the film and how did the location enhance the visual narrative and overall message of the film?
When I’m falling in love, it feels like I’m floating in an extended dream. I feel light, airy, fluid. These locations gave me that feeling since I first started exploring them during my formative years in Mexico. They had served as retreats for me during moments of healing. I wanted to convey that beautiful energy with a location that matched how surreal falling in love can feel.
We as humans are a part of nature as well, so intertwined with the story of loving ourselves before, during and after external relationships, is a message of loving our environment and the power of coexistence. When we take the time to accept and love ourselves, we become a healthier contributor to larger communities. I believe humans will reach our pinnacle of success and liberation when we learn to value self love, community participation and environmental care equally.
With your undeniable passion for photography, art, and celebrating diversity evident in your work, what can audiences anticipate from your next project, currently in pre-production?
I’m really excited to create bridges and elevate knowledge and understanding with my next production, which will combine my love of dance landscapes with documentary to celebrate frontline climate communities implementing solutions to the crisis. We’re exploring a format that I’ve never seen associated with climate change and I hope to catch new audiences with this artful narrative piece.
I expect many more people will start to align with the hope many of us have in reversing the effects of climate change. Often the communities most devoted to protecting nature are indigenous communities who have preserved ancient practices of coexistence with our environment for centuries. I hope we can serve as another platform elevating these incredible communities.
Written and directed by: Rob Woodcox
Produced by: Violeta Films, Ana Cardona, Constanza Perez, Irlanda Tapia
Executive producer: Art On Internet
Co-director/Movement director/Lead: Eduardo Cifuentes
Director of Photography: Angello Faccini
Co-star: Akeem Biggs
Supporting cast: Nico Iturbidesch, Alberto Durero, Catalina Navarrete, Vinicius Dakota, Erandi Mondragón, Estefanía Ríos, Vale Olavarrieta, Gamma Peralta, Estefanía Silva, Sarai Navarrete, Cesar Oswaldo
Assistant Director: Diego Rodriguez
Line Producer: Mariana Tamés
Composer: Federico González
Production designer: Aileen Ruelas
Editor: Sebastian Sedas
Distributor: Sherpa Films
Special thanks: San Luis Potosi Turismo