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Haunted by her tortured childhood and the violent loss of the great love of her life, troubled dental assistant Eni finds escape in Los Cos, a mysterious underground club where cosplay and burlesque intertwine and heroes and villains blur the line between fantasy and reality. But when a cosplayer dressed as “Merman” shows up dead on a New Jersey beach and a mysterious stalker gets up in her DMs, Eni must confront the traumas that have shaped her life and transform herself into an altogether more formidable force.
By Nefeli Soteriou
See the feature film Lost Cos on February 23 @8:30PM at Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street) as part of New York City’s 11th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival. Tickets now on sale!
In film production, collaboration is very important. Collaboration is about planning, listening, organizing, troubleshooting, and using the team’s talents to the fullest. Good candidates for partnership are those who can start and see a project to completion. The team of Lost Cos yielded satisfying and inspiring results; they produced an action-driven fiction film staged around the life of Cosplayers in NYC.
Nothing forced creativity more dramatically than the partnership of Director Robin De Levita, Producer Catriona Rubenis-Stevens and Producer/Lead Actress Evgenia Radilova. An additional creative element in the film is the use of animation. Beginning at the beginning, the team of the independently produced Lost Cos, explains at the interview below, how the film came about. Useful are also their tips for emerging filmmakers:
What is filmmaking to you?
Robin De Levita: My background is primarily in theater. Of course, in my work as a theater/film and television producer the creation of media has been a big part of it. Therefore, I have been filming and editing stuff for decades. Filming in theater is extremely challenging. Actually, I believe it is close to impossible for it to look good. The actors are performing completely differently, and sets look almost silly when exposed on a screen. Meanwhile I’ve always loved movies. I always wanted to direct a movie and one day this opportunity arrived.
How did you decide to make movies? Was it out of inspiration or life circumstances?
Robin: When you are producing for theater, you collaborate with many people. If you have a certain vision, you need it to be accepted by a big group of people. Especially the authors and the director. I wanted to challenge myself and as an exercise find out what would happen if I wrote and directed myself.
What brought you together as a team to complete Lost Cos?
Robin: This came together through Evgeniya Radilova. We met in New York when I was investigating to create a documentary about the relationship between Trauma and performance art. When we met, Evgeniya mentioned a big ambition to create a movie from the character Vampirella. She showed me a few wonderful pictures of herself shot by Jeff Smith George who specialized in shooting artful images of Cosplayers. I suggested that I write a story about a woman that performs as Vampirella. That’s how it all started. Evgeniya was instrumental in the movie. She basically cast the whole cast and crew. Cat was an experienced producer and ran the production, I brought my friend Stevan in to help edit and his role grew as the project grew.
Why was it important to tell this story?
Robin: The story is based on my belief that creativity and art can be an important tool in life under challenging circumstances. It offers a sense of escapism and distraction. It offers a way for people to express themselves. In some cases, the arts can provide a sense of community. I have seen all my life how big a role this can play to people who have been exposed to trauma.
Tell me more about the art of collaboration, the advantages and disadvantages in making a film from start to finish.
Robin: When we started filming, we thought we were making a pilot. I collaborated with Mike Tosner, who was our DP on the scenario. Writing a pilot, a lot of loose ends serve as cliffhangers. My whole life I have been involved in storytelling and when I started editing, I started to get frustrated that the pilot would not resolve. The team and I disagreed often on where the story had to go. Then Covid broke out and I had more time on my hands. This is when I finished the actual structure for the feature, and we shot it in two more sessions. I collaborated closely with the team, but typically everybody had their own strong ideas. We clashed a lot during the process. I love to find the best idea in the room, but I am also extremely stubborn. The process was intense, but for whatever it is worth, I am really happy with the result; the movie I wanted to make.
What are the key elements for success?
Robin: This is not an exact science. I believe the story needs to be the center of everything. I was fascinated to learn how often actors have a completely different idea of a scene and how this can also spark new ideas. Many times, I find I am stealing a scene. An actor only has to give you the performance you want once in a lifetime. It does not matter how, but If that happens, I feel like I found the gold.
The protagonist seems to undergo a personal hero’s journey, a classic approach to storytelling. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Robin: The movie is Eni’s story, many circumstances challenging her in many ways. She needs to fight and cope with losing a lot in her life. She becomes a superhero as a result, not by choice.
Who’s the villain in that case?
Robin: This remains a question until the end of the movie. Therefore, I prefer to leave this to the audience to discover.
The film is centered around the culture of cosplayers. How did you go about researching and learning about them?
Robin: I had a lot of help. Evgeniya, Jeff and Mike knew a lot of people in this community. I learned how broad and diverse Cosplaying is and how much joy people have in taking on a fantasy character. Lost Cos is a club where Cosplayers and Burlesque performers find a home. It provided an interesting playing field for drama and a home for these artists to come together. My idea is to actually create the club as a live extension to the movie.
Elaborate more on the screenplay writing process.
Robin: I would say it was chaotic and controversial. I decided on a controversial process where I allowed the producers to give a lot of feedback and suggestions during the process. Later I decided to work more on my own and teamed up with LA based Tayler Braasch. I really love what we ended up with.
Any changes that took place to accommodate the cosplayers?
Robin: Lost Cos is their home. The sense of community was important. We found a Bulgarian underground club Mehanata in the Lower East Side. I loved it the first time I walked in. To my great sadness it no longer exists.
Did you hire performers or real cosplayers who acted as themselves?
Robin: Actually, all the Cosplayers are real, not necessarily actors in the movie. I loved working with them. They were all open minded and talented. Some surprised me as really gifted actors.
If they were non-actors, did you face any challenges directing them?
Robin: We had a blast. I loved these people. They were so generous as performers and I think they were often acting as themselves.
In the opening of the film we see a young girl punished for dressing up in costumes. Is the scene added for dramatization or based on personal experience?
Robin: I feel this scene is representative for most of us. We all have trauma in our childhood. Young Eni experiences extreme anger and repression. She puts on her butterfly wings and escapes.
How did you go about organizing the scenes in the club? Many costumes and performers need outstanding set coordination, space and time to get ready. How did you go about accommodating them on the set?
Catriona Rubenis-Stevens: Organizing everything that went into the club scenes was a big project – and we tackled it almost as if it were its own separate production. We luckily had the help and support of a lot of cosplayers in NYC – and they really rallied together to design their own unique costumes and characters and come out in full force and spirit! We put a lot of time and resources into the few days that we filmed the exterior and interior of the club, and it involved hiring a few more crew members and extra equipment to help make that happen.
Was there a marketing advantage to add the animation, or a stylistic approach?
Robin: I’m in love with the animation by Adriano Moraes. In the movie fantasy of the characters explodes into a cartoon animation. It shows us things we can only imagine. Sometimes it resolves a certain story line, sometimes these sequences can even be interpreted in various ways.
Tell me more about your process in selecting choreography and the musical composition. How did you go about choosing each one?
Robin: Sarah Miles choreographed the Vampireniya sequence for Eni, Other acts came with their own existing staging.
Some of the key music was composed by Cecilia Lin, but most music was chosen by me during the long editing process. I chose a highly diverse underscore.
You produced Lost Cos over the span of three years. Could you break it down, time spent writing, planning filming, editing, to festival submissions? Were there any acting continuity challenges you overcame during the span of these years?
Evgenia Radilova: The process actually took 4 years. We started with a script for a short story, then we expanded it to a pilot and then we decided to complete the project into a feature film. Two and a half years of production and almost the same time for post-production.
Catriona: The actors all did a fantastic job of holding onto their characters deep within them – and even though a year may have passed between some of the shoot days, the actors all luckily had no issues for continuity – and if they did – we made it work! After all – our film is all about the masks, makeup and costumes – it was easy to transform people!
What works best for filming NYC short length exteriors? guerilla style filmmaking or permits? What was the best approach for your independent film?
Catriona: We did get permits for certain scenes – like the beach in the beginning, but honestly – a lot of shoots that weren’t on the subway or streets were done without a permit – because as long as we didn’t set lights down or use a tripod, we never had to apply for one! It really helped to keep us nimble and fast-moving on set, and also – with covid, we were using a smaller crew anyway!
Did you build any new costumes for the cosplayers?
Catriona: Some of the cosplay costumes were created by our costume designer, Patrick Saint Jean, and Mike Tosner and Jeffrey Smith Georges created Vampireniya. But actually, a lot of our cosplayers in the club created their own original characters! Some of the performers are real circus/cabaret/burlesque artists in real life and we were able to tap into their world as well. They are the biggest NYC entertainers. Both communities are fascinating and very talented.
How did you secure funding?
Robin: I paid for it!
What camera did you use and how many crew members did you work with?
Catriona: We used the Canon C500mii and the Black Magic 6k. Mike our DP used a small crew of about 1-2 camera assistants.
What was the most unexpected problem that you had to resolve? What challenge turned out to be a blessing in disguise?
Evgenia: I almost lost my life in the end fight scene by a so-called breakable object, which turned out to be harder than I expected. But the scene looks very real and authentic and thank goodness I was ok at the end.
Please elaborate on the technical details, like software used to edit and days of rendering the animation.
Catriona: The film was edited on Premiere Pro by Tayler Braasch, and all our animation was created and crafted by Adriano Moraes. Tayler spent the best part of a year editing, and Adriano spent about that drawing over 8000 comic book style images.
Where can we find the film? Where did it screen so far in festivals and where is it planned to be screened? Is there a plan to show it on television?
Evgenia: Next for Lost Cos is the amazing Winter Film Awards, which will take place in February in NYC. We were accepted and are thrilled to be a part of this fantastic festival! We had our world premiere at the Chelsea Film Festival where we were honored with the Audience Award, and I was honored with the Best Actress. We are beyond excited to share our movie with WFA and the world. Thank you for your recognition.
In your view as a producer/filmmaker/actress, what is the way forward for young filmmakers that want to make it in the industry?
Evgenia: Never give up on your dreams! Don’t wait for someone to give you a job. Start creating your own work. Hands on is the best education. Always stay curious.
What are the advantages of producing a film in NYC? In your view, is NYC still the mecca of independent filmmaking?
Catriona: Oh absolutely – I think NYC is the best place to start your career as a filmmaker. It’s a small enough place to get around and stumble upon incredible locations, and there’s a huge network of indie filmmakers and incredibly talented actors all starting out.
Based on your experience, how can independent filmmakers develop feature films, and successfully sell them today?
Evgenia: I was incredibly lucky that Robin De Levita trusted me enough that he invited me to work with him on his first feature film with him, for which I will be eternally grateful! I am grateful for his humor and relentless resilience to finish the project even when at times seemed like it was impossible.
Catriona & Evgenia: Don’t wait on anyone and just start creating small projects, music videos, scenes and short films. Try your hand at writing, directing, producing, acting, lighting and editing. Each one of these departments will help you develop the one that got you there in the first place. Keep going at it and eventually you will create something that sticks and takes you to that next level of your career.
What is your next project about?
Robin: My love/hate relationship with musical theater. The script is practically done. It is called. MMM. (Musical Musical Musical…the Musical)
Evgenia: I am writing and producing an Immersive Theatrical Experience as a dinner theatre show at an amazing club called Gospël, In The heart of Manhattan.
Catriona: I am currently in pre-production for my next feature film that I’m producing called Regarding Veronica, about a woman who is fired from the Catholic school system when they discover that she is transgender, and I am in development for a feature that I will be directing called No Rules about the boom of the drag scene in New Jersey in the early 90s.
Nefeli Soteriou
Nefeli Soteriou’s background is in Film and Media Arts, Creativity Coaching with Coaching Psychology, Behavioral Coaching for Mental Health, and Education. With significant, real-world experience as a Life Coach and Filmmaker, she specializes in helping filmmakers with every aspect of the filmmaking life, from completing unfinished films to handling the stresses and pressures that they face.
About Winter Film Awards
New York City’s 11th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs February 16-25 2023. Check out a jam-packed lineup of 73 fantastic films in all genres from 21 countries, including shorts, features, Animation, Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Horror, Documentary and Music Video. Hollywood might ignore women and people of color, but Winter Film Awards celebrates everyone!
Winter Film Awards is an all-volunteer, minority and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. Our mission is to promote diversity, bridge the opportunity divide and provide a platform for under-represented artists and a variety of genres, viewpoints and approaches. We believe that only by seeing others’ stories can we understand each other and only via an open door can the underrepresented artist enter the room.
Winter Film Awards programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Promotional support provided by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment.
For more information about the Festival, please visit winterfilmawards.com
