Film & TV Editor Cillian Howley chats with Lunna Correa de Carvahlo, UCD student and star of DIFF short film Another Perfect Day.
The genre-bending Another Perfect Day from student director Devlin Murphy stars UCD’s own Lunna Correa de Carvahlo. The short takes place in a single room, featuring a single onscreen character. Protagonist Amelia spends day-in, day-out washing clothes and listening to a coercive voice speak from the radio. Mysterious notes appear and tempt her to venture into “The Outside,” the mysterious world outside her door.
The film debuted alongside seven other short films on February 27th, in the Hothouse Programme at the Dublin International Film Festival. In partnership with RTÉ, Screen Ireland and the Arts Council, Fresh Film runs the programme to spotlight and support up and coming filmmakers across the country. Ahead of the festival premiere, I spoke to Lunna, a first year Music student, who stars as Amelia.
Another marks the second collaboration between Lunna and Devlin following last year’s coming of age More than Peanuts which won ‘Best Concept’ at the Fresh Film Festival. Lunna, who played blue haired cool girl Nicole, had to miss the premiere because it clashed with school. She made it to the award ceremony, which took place on the evening of her Leaving Cert Art practical.
“Devlin and I went to secondary school together,” Lunna tells me, “We both went to Stratford College in Rathgar.” Following the success of Peanuts, Devlin wrote the part of Amelia specifically for Lunna. I ask if she felt more nervous or excited about taking on the leading role in a one-woman short. “A bit of both,” Lunna explains. Her character has sparse dialogue which would mean “a lot of acting with [her] face.”
On set, writer-director Devlin did not allow Lunna to watch her takes back as he believed it would interfere with her performance. Lunna agreed, “It’s bad for actors to see themselves acting.” Prior to the premiere, Lunna had not seen the short, despite filming it last year, over five long days. Much of the film is close ups of Amelia, which Lunna did not anticipate when reading the script. Devlin is specific in his directing and writing which helped her conjure hope, fear and all at once. Like her character, Lunna did not know anything outside of the short’s single room setting. This allowed her to “do [her] own thing.”
The audience can interpret Another Perfect Day in a thousand different ways. Is it about escaping the monotony of everyday life? Is it about how technology controls us? Does the ominous radio voice symbolise how our own minds hold us back? “I think it's being stuck in a prison of your own doing,” Lunna says, “thinking you have to live a certain way when you don’t.” Still, Lunna thinks the meaning the viewer takes away is more important than any one explanation the filmmakers can offer.
Lunna’s love for performing flourished at Spectacular Performing Arts in Firhouse where she got to take on parts such as Cinderella and Maleficent in pantomime productions. She started musical theatre at fifteen which she considers “kind of late.” Originally from Brazil, Lunna moved to Ireland and began speaking English at ten. If Lunna started late, she has more than caught up with her peers. The partnership between Fresh Films and RTÉ means that Another and fellow Hothouse films are streaming on the RTÉ Player. At nineteen, not many aspiring performers can watch their work on the public broadcaster’s streaming platform.
“At nineteen, not many aspiring performers can watch their work on the public broadcaster’s streaming platform.”
Musical theatre and film acting are “very different,” according to Lunna. The transition from stage to screen is not so straightforward. On stage, “emotions are loud. Film is the complete opposite.” Lunna believes that “performing for a smaller audience is way more difficult than performing for a big audience”. The skeleton crew behind Another consisted of Devlin and two others, paling in comparison to the pantomime audiences she is used to.
For Lunna, performing is “the goal.” Despite her impressive resume and burgeoning acting career, music is her true passion. Lunna performs in a band, writes her own music and is teaching herself to produce. Her inspirations include Evanescence and Paramore. She intends to release her own music “eventually” but has been procrastinating starting a TikTok to promote it.
Knowing that pursuing a career in music, or in the arts in general, is an uphill battle, Lunna considers that she might benefit from “a more structured lifestyle” that a traditional occupation brings. Still, performing is an important part of Lunna’s life and she hopes to keep doing it, if only as a hobby. Should she choose to act or sing professionally in the future, we ought to keep an eye out for the multitalented Lunna Correa de Carvahlo.