“Layers” – Faith Dixon

We had the opportunity to interview Faith Dixon, the filmmaker of Layers. Layers will be playing at 7pm on April 1st as part of the Utah Film Festival monthly screenings at the Town Hub. 

What was the inspiration to make Layers?

My biggest inspiration was for a younger me to have closure, and for other people that may have gone through similar issues to not feel so alone, and to find hope within all their chaos. I needed that closure myself and I wanted to find a way to get the pain out of me whilst still making art out of it.

From idea to completion, how did this production change?  

At first I wanted to make it very raw and aggressive to show the real true story of me so that whoever viewed my film could get a true perspective of what it feels like to go through these things. However, as the filming went on, me, (and my friend that helped film) noticed that it got progressively more difficult, and with that I realized I could make it into something much more beautiful. I wanted to show that through all this pain and sorrow that there could be something blooming within the midst of it.

What was the biggest challenge in getting Layers made? 

I think honestly, being reminded of all the hardships I went through in those traumas was the most difficult part of filming this. It brought a lot of memories that weren’t the nicest to me, and so my friend helped the emotional side of it greatly. Tapping into those emotions again while being filmed isn’t the easiest of tasks, but it was worth it to push through all of it to be able to have this film exist.

What do you think is the most important takeaway from Layers?

I think to know you aren’t alone, and that you can find something new within dark times. There is something always teaching us, even if we didn’t deserve it, you come out stronger in the end. I think it’s good to takeaway that you are allowed to be angry, you are allowed to be sad, you are allowed to hold onto the hate, but through all of it, try to find something good to hold onto through that experience.

If you could have a do over with Layers is there anything that you would do differently? 

I honestly feel very content with my film, it felt personalized whilst keeping a distance from the real hard truths of what made me feel the need to create this. I would say however, I wish I had more locations and shots to create a bigger diversity of emotions.

What do you have next in the works?

For my next film I think I want to follow up a previous story but with a slight change in a different location. I like my films to often symbolize my current life and feelings through a lot of detail and metaphors.

How can we learn more about you and your projects?

You can learn more through Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts, specifically through the Media Conservatory class, and just by me providing you more information whenever you need!