Chelsea Lupkin

In Lena Tsodykovskaya’s (Luisa and Anna’s First Fight) darkly comedic meta-film Storm, a couple wakes on a stormy night only to find themselves trapped in a horror movie. Putting the audience in a front row seat, this cinematic POV makes you part of the plot in a twisted game of hide and seek that rouses terror for those on screen. A sophisticated dissection of filmmaking, Tsodykovskaya’s seven-minute short is incredibly fun to watch, for horror fans and movie lovers alike.

Sometimes, the best inspiration for a filmmaker comes from revisiting old scripts. For many writers, a screenplay or concept needs to brew a bit before it’s ready to be explored again. When Tsodykovskaya and her husband and creative partner, Taylor Sardoni, initially wrote the screenplay for Storm, it was for the Jameson First Shot competition, where three selected shorts received full funding and the chance to work with an A-List actor.

Though the competition no longer exists, it gave the duo an opportunity to test what they’d learned as second-year film students at Columbia University and Storm emerged as a playful rebellion against the rigid storytelling rules taught in their classes. While the film wasn’t selected for the competition and they missed out on collaborating with Maggie Gyllenhaal that year, the script would eventually make it to the screen – almost ten years later.

Tara Raani (L) & Justin Tanks star as the couple who find themselves trapped in a horror movie.

Reflecting on the film, Tsodykovskaya revealed that Storm holds a “very personal meta-meaning” for her, as it bridges two sides of her identity – the “raw dreamer” and the “experienced, skilled Lena.” A reminder of that “whimsical world of ideas” that inspired her to make movies in the first place, the director adds that “today’s Lena is actually capable of executing them and then taking it further.”

But bringing this meta-film to life wasn’t easy. “The most challenging (and exciting) part of directing Storm was engaging the audience in the film. Not just breaking the fourth wall – we’ve seen that often – but truly interacting with the viewers”, Tsodykovskaya explains. She cites films like 12 Years a Slave and Funny Games, where characters engage directly with the audience, as sources of inspiration. “Ultimately, it is up to the audience to decide if I succeeded, but when watching Storm on a big screen, I did feel uncomfortable, as if caught red-handed, which has always been my goal.” 

However, there’s an additional layer to the meta-world that Tsodykovskaya expertly builds, specifically through the language of the horror genre. Reminiscent of The Final Girls, Storm offers a cheeky commentary on horror movies tropes. When characters get separated for no apparent reason other than to heighten suspense or when using a sharp object becomes both a tool for survival and the cause of another’s demise. Storm deconstructs the mechanisms that make a good horror movie, while also giving the audience a good laugh in the process. The film embraces its over-the-top nature, which only adds to its charm and makes it even more engaging.

“Storm was a burst of fun rebellion, a game we wanted to play with all these strict new storytelling rules we were so tied up in for our school shorts” – Tsodykovskaya discussing writing Storm

“When developing Storm for the screen, I realized I had to work with standard filmmaking tools in unconventional ways. Every choice not only affected the cinematic journey, but also became a character choice, because the audience is that character, the whole film is ultimately your POV,” Tsodykovskaya tells Short of the Week. “The trick was finding the right voice for you”, she adds, before explaining this “you” could vary from “screening to screening, and from theater group experiences to solo at-home streaming”. With this in mind, Tsodykovskaya was intent on ensuring that the camera wasn’t motivated by the characters, a common feature in POV films. This allowed the audience to feel the absurdity and disconnection of the situation – a normal couple living their ordinary life until ‘we’, the camera, enter the scene.

Lastly, Tsodykovskaya’s Storm is an incredibly motivating piece of filmmaker for a deeply personal reason that will resonate with many female filmmakers. The short was made just as she and Sardoni were about to enter parenthood. Tsodykovskaya was developing the script while pregnant and started scouting locations with a very large belly that “freaked out” location owners. While they were set to shoot three weeks before her due date, they ended up pushing back until their son was three months old. Tsodykovskaya brought her newborn along on location scouts, worked with department heads while pumping milk on set, and even Ubered milk deliveries for two nights straight – all proof that motherhood and filmmaking can coexist. What a badass. 

Storm screened at Palm Springs ShortFest, Beyond Fest, Sitges, FilmQuest, and HollyShorts. There might be a feature version of this short in the works, but Tsodykovskaya is currently developing her first feature called Bitsy, a twisted psychological thriller about love.