Trinidadian-born Canadian film director Gino McKoy released his new film Lumina, in Los Angeles last month, which explores the adventure of a man in search of his girlfriend who disappeared in a flash of light.
McKoy explained that this science fiction film takes the protagonist Alex and his three friends deep into the desert where they encounter life-changing truths.
"I wanted to examine how it would affect certain individuals psychologically, if they had someone or a significant other disappear or be abducted by aliens and I spoke to Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), which is basically the alien network, and they have a lot of people who claim to have been abducted and experienced this type of phenomenon.”
McKoy said no viewer will experience a dull moment while watching the film as it's science fiction that touches on the psychological impact of having a loved one disappear.
He said, "You should also expect to see some comedy, action, and even a love story. There’s an underlying love story because the movie is about a man looking for his loved one.”
Lumina was filmed in Marrakech, Morroco and this decision was highlighted by the country's business paper L'Economiste for restarting film production there. This comes as there was an 18-month dry spell with no production or job opportunities in the country. McKoy added that his movie was shot during the covid19 pandemic with nationwide curfews being in place to prevent the rise of infections.
Aside from Lumina, McKoy was working on rewriting the script for Spidersweb, another science fiction film that he wanted to personalise with his love for the genre and action.
"This story was originally written by Michael Sloan, creator of the Equalizer TV series and feature films Equalizer – parts one and two – with actor Denzel Washington. I rewrote this script which has more science fiction and action. It's now in pre-production and I will also be directing this movie."
Science fiction is his comfort as this has been an interest of his since he was a child and now he gets to share his interest with all who are willing.
[caption id="attachment_985435" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Gino McKoy, director and screenwriter, with his director of photography Raquel Gallego on location in Marrakech, Morocco -[/caption]
"Writing science fiction is a big thing for me. That’s my first love. I grew up watching Star Wars which was a big inspiration to me as a child. Reading Star Wars books at the age of three. My mum, Lynda McKoy, even has tape recordings. I always wanted to do science fiction and I always wanted to do something that was unique. That inspired me to write this screenplay and shoot this particular movie."
Not only was he inspired by the Star Wars franchise, he also credits films such as Predator, Bladerunner and Alien for his interest. McKoy told Sunday Newsday that Lumina was only given life after he wrote his first ever feature film script – Little Mizz Innocent.
"This project went i
