‘MESOPO TAMIA, TX’ is the latest short film by New York-based Peepaw’s Films, set atop a familiar Hill Country landmark during April’s this year’s solar eclipse.
‘MESOPO TAMIA, TX’ is the latest short film by New York-based Peepaw’s Films, set atop a familiar Hill Country landmark during April’s this year’s solar eclipse.
Filmed on Enchanted Rock during the eclipse itself, the 19-minute feature has just wrapped postproduction and is set to be screened across the eclipse’s path of totality and at film festivals across the nation.
The project was led by director and Arlingtonnative Lucy Gamades, who was inspired to use the location because of a school field trip.
“I had been to Enchanted Rock on a seventh grade field trip, a while back, and I remembered being like, ‘Oh, this is really cool,’” Gamedes said. “Then when the eclipse happens, you get a really nice sort of sunset effect around the horizon, because you’re so high up which was really beautiful.”
As if regular pre-production work wasn’t enough of an undertaking, Gamedes and producer Michael Spencer had the added difficulty of getting all the shots they needed as the eclipse happened in real time, while shooting 16-millimeter film. Spencer said they spent scouting days at the rock talking at-length about every single detail.
“We got really nitty gritty with details, like this is how we’re going to pack bags because we shot on this 16-millimeter film, meaning that we had to take magazines, 400-foot rolls of film and it all had to be preloaded,” Spencer said. “We’re going to work really hard to get up there and then whatever happens, we’re going to film it.”
Even though shooting in this manner added extra pressure, for Spencer and Gamedes, it was worthwhile to take the risk to create a project with a unique look and feel.
“You only get one shot to do it anyways, so there’s no reason not to,” Spencer said. “The workflow of film forces you to be so specific about your choices, and it requires so much preproduction and such discipline, and this project, from the beginning, required all of that. We could be shooting it on a potato and we would still need to know what time the sun’s going to cross behind the moon.”
Gamedes said the title of the film is inspired by the early-human type of awe that an event like an eclipse inspires, as viewers cheer for the moon. She said the eclipse created, both in the film itself and in the shooting process, a unique temporary community.
“Everyone was very friendly and curious about what we were doing and people were having a good time with their families,” Gamedes said. “There was definitely a feeling of community there that I think couldn’t be faked. You couldn’t have brought a bunch of extras and mimicked the same thing.”
Spencer said he felt this same sense of connection to those sharing the space at the top of Enchanted Rock.
“We were all up there for the same reason, we had tacked on making a movie, but ultimately the reason I went to Texas was I wanted to see a solar eclipse,” Spencer said. “I think a lot of us were fueled by the same thing, which was, this is going to happen, there’s no question about it, that it’s going to happen and we’re all up here to experience it together.”
While there were plenty of other locations considered for the film, Spencer said Enchanted Rock was undoubtedly the right choice.
“What an incredible place to watch a solar eclipse,” Spencer said. “Ultimately, it was like for the story to work, Texas, I think, was the way to go … Capturing it on film, too, it’s got such a quality to it, [Enchanted Rock] is almost a character in its own right.”