It's one thing to go to South by Southwest festival in Austin for the first time, but to go because your film is premiering there is quite another.
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The Light of The Moon is the creation of filmmakers Carlo Velayo and Jessica M Thompson, who met on the first day of film school at the University of Technology, Sydney in 2003.
Wanting to put the issue of sexual assault on the big screen, the now-New York-based duo launched an online crowdfunding campaign to bring their idea to life back in 2015, with filming going ahead the following year.
The feature-length film was shot in three short weeks in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and attracted a big-name cast including Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Michael Stahl-David (Cloverfield, soon to star in Narcos), Conrad Ricamora (How To Get Away With Murder) and Catherine Curtin (Orange Is the New Black). The duo also worked with a third producer, Michael Cuomo.
The film will premiere as part of the South by Southwest film festival on March 12, where it is also in the running for a number of awards, and Velayo and Thompson will travel to Texas for the event.
"That's the only place you can see the film for now. But we would love to premier the film in Australia maybe at a film festival - that would be a dream," said Velayo.
"It is a 'watch this space' in terms of distribution but we are very excited at the prospect of sharing this film at SXSW and then hopefully sharing it further when we're able to distribute it more widely.
Velayo decided to pursue filmmaking after working for the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations in Canberra from 2008-11 and studying at ANU.
Ahead of the premier, Velayo travelled back to Australia to see family, and visited Canberra for a catch up with friends and former colleagues.
"There's been real changes over the last six years that I've been away from Canberra so it's nice to come back and see familiar faces and for them to be proud of what I'm doing, pursuing my dreams," he said.
"They were a part of that decision [to pursue filmmaking], saying, 'we support you regardless of what you do and where you go' so that's why I just have nothing but wonderful memories of Canberra. I know a lot of people joke about it, but there's something really lovely about it."
