Kid Can Drive

To date, Emily Carmichael’s films, plays and cartoons have included one jealous ghost, six witches, and two imaginary mud people. She’s been awarded $70,075 in writing prizes and scholarships, $60,000 of which she declined in order to go to Tisch film school. She currently lives with her parents and tries hard to not pay for drinks. CineVegas 2009 is proud to present TWO of her short films.

THE ADVENTURES OF LEDO AND IX is about two 8-bit video game characters who confront the void.

The film is about two characters in a fantasy video game from the early 90s. Playing those games could be totally haunting. Because the sprites were so simple, and you had to read their dialogue off the screen, you ended up investing a lot of yourself in the characters– they were great vessels.

The through line of the story is that of the two characters, Ledo has bought in more to the idea of being a fantasy adventurer, but she has an experience that changes that and makes her start to question her world. What happens to an adventurer when you take away the adventure?

But really it’s about the relationship, and that sort of weary companionship that comes from being in the same predicament with someone else.

I don’t think the world is ready yet for a feature length movie whose characters only have two facial expressions. Although I’m a great Bruce Willis fan, so I could be wrong.

It’s interesting because when I used to direct plays, the laughs came in completely different places every night. With films it’s different. I’ve seen the movie with a bunch of different audiences and the laughs landscape is very similar every time, it’s just higher or lower overall depending on audience energy.

That’s a great question. The role of festival as marketplace has declined in recent years, and was never really the point of festivals for shorts filmmakers. I think the most important thing festivals provide is an alternate financial model to get films in front of audiences.

His house is haunted. His girlfriend’s not pleased.

The Ghost and Us is about a girl and a ghost who both love the same guy. It’s about how past relationships can haunt present ones, how you end up having a relationship to the people your lover has been with, even if you never meet them.

You know, I never have in the past. I’m a little scared that I could get really really into it–but I have the same win-big fantasies that everyone else does!