IN REALITY
A Feature Film by Ann Lupo
Co-written and Co-directed by Esteban Pedraza & Aaron Pryka
An award-winning feature film, IN REALITY takes you on an autobiographical rollercoaster ride through the fantastical mind of a young woman falling in and out of love.
WINNER: Special Jury Prize LA Film Festival
WINNER: Audience Award and Jury Award Austin Film Festival
STATEMENT
I was the first person that Ann Lupo asked to collaborate with her on what turned out to be the feature film, In Reality. At its conception it was meant to be a short film, no longer than 10 minutes. Maybe not a short film, more of a dense dissection of an unrequited romance in audio-visual form. While Ann and I worked as lead and assistant editors, respectively, on Ford F-150 campaigns, we would brainstorm and produce on our lunch breaks. The short dissection turned into a 60 minute mini-series that was meant to live online. Then, after deciding that we still had more to say, we decided to extend it into a feature film.
I, along with Aaron Pryka, helped Ann craft the script, providing an objective point of view to her completely subjective project. Then Ann asked me to be her co-director on set. I kept an eye on Ann's performance as well as the other actors. Eventually Aaron and I shared this job and we had a blast doing it.
My proudest moments as a collaborator were crafting and guiding the performances throughout as well as writing the climactic scene.
After many phases of production, a successful $45k Kickstarter campaign, votes of confidence from top notch production companies, Ann and I sat down to edit the film. Several months later we took In Reality on a festival tour. We played all around the country and won over ten awards.
In Reality started as a humble idea in the summer of 2015 and now, it’s available for the world to see.