University of Minnesota professor Lynn Lukkas will show her first feature film, “Claire Facing North” at The Main Cinema on Oct. 29. 

The showing is part of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival’s “MN Made” film series. The film stars Barbra Berlovitz, a veteran theater artist and co-founder of the Tony Award-winning Theatre de la Jeune Lune, as Claire, and Annick Dall as Iris. After the showing, there will be a conversation with Lukkas.

“Claire Facing North” is set in Iceland, and follows Claire, a woman in her 70s, seeking to heal past wounds and spread her daughter’s ashes. Her journey is disrupted by Iris, a woman who reminds Claire of her younger self as well as her daughter. 

“It’s really about their relationship, and how they sort of reveal each other through the relationship,” Lukkas said. 

The film is saturated with emotion, Lukkas said. Iris is a lost soul and estranged from family, while Claire is mourning the loss of her daughter. Age and landscape play roles as vast as the land in Iceland in this 76-minute-long film. 

“The landscape functions as a metaphor for healing and also as a metaphor for place,” Lukkas said. 

The desolate landscape of Iceland reflects Claire’s journey of self-discovery, Lukkas said. The film is a road movie, a genre where the main characters leave home, travel and have adventures along the way. Lukkas and her team navigated through all of Iceland and filmed from location to location. 

Eric Schleicher, the cinematographer, worked closely with Lukkas on her vision for the film. Lukkas wanted viewers to feel the emotions of the characters through the camera shots. 

“She wanted it to feel like you, as the camera, are a participant in everything that happens,” Schleicher said. “It should have an energy to it.”  

The film is laden with wide views and drone shots. Schleicher said the landscape of Iceland is barren and matches Claire’s longing for something. 

“In Claire’s journey, Iceland is a special place,” Schleicher said. “To place her in the middle of this empty landscape: It’s beautiful, but there is a blue sadness to it all.”

As for age, the exact age of both characters remains ambiguous for most of the film’s duration. Dall, the actress who plays Iris, said she enjoyed playing Iris because she masks her true age, and her speech and action show that. 

“She’s not really comfortable in this masquerade, and she doesn’t quite fit the way she talks,” Dall said. 

Berlovitz, who plays Claire, is Dall’s real-life mother-in-law. This made it easier to play characters in an intergenerational relationship because the personal bond was already there, Dall said.

Lukkas said music is also important to the integrity of the film. She worked closely with the composer Phil Aaron, and Lukkas’ husband wrote themes for Iris and Claire. Lukkas had her own ideas for certain themes as well. The music helps the viewers feel immersed in the environment, Lukkas said. 

Lukkas used the voice of a medieval abbess, the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey, named Hildegard of Bingen. Lukkas also used a piece from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Vespers.”

Empathy is one of the main things Lukkas hopes audiences draw from the movie. She hopes older people will be able to empathize with younger people and vice versa. 

Lukkas wanted to do that while highlighting the stories of women. 

“I really wanted to tell stories about women that were substantive that talk about women’s lives, talk about things women experience and go through,” Lukkas said. 

Lukkas was the chair of the department of art at the University for six years. In this position, she put her creative practices on hold. She finally had the time, the determination and the funding to execute her first feature film spring of 2021. 

Only six people worked on this film.

“You can make a large-scale project with a small, very dedicated group of people,” Dall said. “When you watch it, it’s sweeping.”

Tickets are $15 and can be bought online or at the door.