By: Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 12/22/2024 – In life, everyone encounters difficult times, emotionally, physically or even financially. How we respond to the challenge says a lot about our character, and our relationships with those around us.
This certainly takes center stage in “Auganic,” a brilliant short film with a quirky twist. Nick and Kai, a gay couple, are financially struggling when one night they discover an unusual phenomenon that ultimately tests the boundaries of their relationship, bringing them closer than ever.
The phenomenon definitely is unusual – Kai has an orgasm while making love to Nick and the ejaculate is pure gold – not golden in color, but real liquid gold, like the miners found in the California Gold rush of 1849.
But while the premise might seem weird, the story is strangely beautiful as these two men make their way through a thought process ultimately coming to a conclusion that many couples with a real connection would make.
Director Krit Komkrichwarakool visited with The Hollywood Times recently to talk about “Auganic” ahead of its L.A. premiere. He explained that the story comes from a weird dream he had during the COVID pandemic, when many were stuck in some way when it came to earning an income. He too had to take work outside the film industry as the pandemic basically shut down production.
Click below for our exclusive interview:
“That whole experience inspired me to write about an artist going through this financial hardship and he had to choose between his artistic integrity and what he had to do to earn an income,” Komkrichwarakool said. “This strange phenomenon just happened to be one of the things I dreamt about – I have some weird dreams.”
Komkrichwarakool said he keeps a “dream journal” in which he writes down his recollections, and this was one of those dreams, the gold being the embodiment of the financial gain. So, he took his original idea of the artist and filtered in the golden semen element.
“I combined the ideas through the lens of two gay men, which is very dear to my heart”, said the award-winning Thai Canadian director/writer who is based in Vancouver.
On the surface, this film is about a strange phenomenon, but a deeper look reveals that it’s a love story about two people making a choice at a time when the lure of financial gain might be overwhelming and detrimental to a couple’s relationship.
Komkrichwarakool said casting his film presented a bit of a challenge, particularly when it came to the part of Kai, which is played by Matt Dejanovic. On the otherhand, casting the role of Nick was much easier as he had worked with Kenny Brain previously and felt he was a perfect choice for that role.
“I knew his work, I knew his range, and I knew what he could give to this film, but the other half of the couple – the one who produces the gold – was tricky. That one was challenging, and we went through a few months of casting before we stumbled upon Matthew,” Komkrichwarakool said.
Dejanovic originally had auditioned for the part of Nick, but after Brain secured the role of Nick, a second look at Dejanovic’s audition tape, Komkrichwarakool and producer King Louie Palomo felt he really fit into the other lead role; thus, he was cast as Kai.
“We did a chemistry test between him and Kenny, which was very important for this film, because they have to live as a married couple on screen, and once we saw them together, we knew these were our guys.”
Komkrichwarakool’s previous credits include “Platonic,” which premiered at the Inside Out Film Festival, and “Freefall,” for which he won the “Best Director” honor at Moscow Shorts. Palomo is a Queer Filipino Canadian producer and director who has produced short films that have been screened at international festivals like Hollyshorts and the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Shortfest.
One of the highlights of the film is the beautiful cinematography created by award winning Canadian cinematographer Joseph Schweers whose narrative and documentary work has been screened at TIFF, Tribeca and VIFF amongst many others.
“Auganic” has qualified for consideration for the 2025 Academy® Awards.
