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Jared Huizenga

TCFF 2024 Spotlight: The Midway Point

2024 marks 15 years of the Twin Cities Film Fest, which runs October 17-26 at the Marcus West End Cinema at the Shops at West End in St. Louis Park.

 

Nearly 150 films – including features, shorts, animation, and documentaries – will screen over the course of the festival, both in-person and online (through TCFF’s Streams platform). Additionally, directors, producers, and actors will walk the red carpet, present their films, and take part in Q&As and discussions about their work.


Over the course of TCFF 2024, we’ll be chatting with some of those filmmakers and stars to find out more about what they’re bringing to the TCFF screens.


 

Film:                                              The Midway Point (tickets/info)

In-person screening:                    11:30 a.m., Saturday, October 26

Filmmaker in attendance:            Yes    

Streams Pass:                                Yes


When I was 22, I could generally be found nursing a hangover and scrounging through the pockets of my previous night’s pants to see if I’d saved myself enough cash to buy frozen burritos. When Lucca Vieira was 22, he’d written and directed his first feature film. That film, “The Midway Point,” which features names and faces you’re sure to recognize, including Thora Birch (“American Beauty”), Julie Benz (“Dexter”), Sean Ryan Fox (“Henry Danger”), and Catharine Daddario (“If”), will have its world premiere at TCFF on closing weekend. The first time feature director shared his insights on his film in advance of its premiere.



 

Q: Tell us a little bit about your film.

“The Midway Point” is a coming-of-age drama about an alienated high schooler on the autistic spectrum who falls in love with the supposed girl of his dreams, only to discover they share a deeper connection than any of them could imagine.

 

Q: Now tell us something about it that we might not be able to glean from the trailer or description.

When writing the film, I loosely based the story on my own experiences growing up on the autistic spectrum, particularly during my time in high school, where I oftentimes struggled to fit in.

 

I wrote the script during my junior year of high school and spent almost a year and a half trying to pitch the project to anyone and everyone I could with even the slightest connection to the film industry. After little to no success, I bumped into a series of producers through complete coincidence. Those connections eventually snowballed, and I suddenly found myself in the director’s chair within less than a year.

I wrote, directed, and helped compose part of the soundtrack for the film.

 

Q: If someone is only going to see one film at the Twin Cities Film Fest, why should it be this one?

“The Midway Point” was a really personal story to me. So much of my generation, Gen Z, is surrounded by a constant sea of noise, disruption, and mistrust of the world. Neurodivergent or not, it has become increasingly difficult to find deep, meaningful relationships. In making the film that I felt compelled to make a story featuring characters who, despite all the odds, find a way out into a better world.

 

Q: Prior to TCFF, where has the film screened, and what has the response been so far?

TCFF will be our film’s world premiere, but the response from friends and family who I’ve screened it to has been overwhelmingly positive. Whether I like it or not, I managed to write and direct my debut feature film at 22, and the amount of support from the people I love has only increased my drive to keep making stories.

 

Q: What was it that drew you to submit your film for the Twin Cities Film Fest?

I was mostly drawn in by past indie films within similar genres that screened at TCFF in the last few years.

Q: What’s next for your film after this festival?

“The Midway Point” is set to screen at the St. Louis International Film Festival, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, and have its L.A. premiere all in the upcoming month of November.

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