Radiance

2 Edison Model G III handheld 35 mm camera

2 Edison Model B II handheld 35 mm camera

3 diving suits

1800 m. breathing tubes, various sizes

(Primary funding provided by Oxblood Films, Inc. Secondary funding provided by Prithvi Dairy Products, Hathor Brand Callowmilk, Crosse & Blackwell, Redrose Deep Mars Mining Corp., Chanel, Carnegie Steel Company, Lumen Molnar.)

I Left My Sugar Standing

in the Rain

Transcript from 1946 debriefing interview with Erasmo St. John, property of Oxblood Films, all rights reserved. Security clearance required.

CYTHERA BRASS: Begin recording. Session one, day one. The time is eight-fifteen in the morning on Tuesday, January third, 1946, at the Oxblood Industrial Park, 1770 Endymion Road, North Yemaya, Luna. I, Cythera Brass, Chief Security Officer for Oxblood Films, Ltd., am the sole conductor of this final postproduction interview. Would you please state your full name, age, and place of birth for the record?

ERASMO: Erasmo Leonard St. John. Thirty, Guan Yu, Mars.

CYTHERA: Am I then to assume you hold dual citizenship?

ERASMO: I believe my Chinese citizenship can best be described as “lapsed.” Why? Will I need to call down to an embassy for lunch? Or are you just wondering who might find my incarceration irritating?

CYTHERA: You are hardly incarcerated, Mr St. John. Don’t be absurd. And your last employment?

ERASMO: Director of Photography on The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew.

CYTHERA: [sound of a ballpoint pen clicking] All right, then. Are you ready to begin, Mr St. John?

ERASMO: Nope.

CYTHERA: I think we’ve been exceedingly patient. It’s been nearly seven months. If you prefer, we can provide you with materials and you can prepare a written statement, but either way, we see no reason to delay further.

ERASMO: Then why bother asking if I’m ready? You’ve decided I’m ready. And you didn’t even bring me a cup of tea. Some interrogation this is.

CYTHERA: This is not an interrogation. This is a standard debriefing conducted by the studio at the conclusion of all off-Moon shoots.

ERASMO: I’ve worked on…twelve? No, fourteen Oxblood pictures. I’ve been debriefed ’til I can brief no more and I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a swot over the age of twenty. Debriefing is intern’s work. The CSO wouldn’t shine her shoes with a DP’s report.

CYTHERA: [intercom crackling] Would you bring two espressos, Jane? And some toast with butter. Thank you. And yet, you still decline legal representation.

ERASMO: Oh, entirely. And I asked for tea.

CYTHERA: Mr St. John, you are entitled to access the full resources of our legal department, as an employee of the studio. These resources are both substantial and free of charge. Given the circumstances, I highly recommend you use them.

ERASMO: [short, sharp, quite humourless laugh] It strikes me as more than a little backward to allow a gaggle of Oxblood suits to look after my interests when, at the moment, you lot are the only ones accusing me of anything.

CYTHERA: I don’t know what accusations you’re referring to. This is just a conversation between colleagues. It doesn’t have to be anything more stressful or unpleasant than that. Everyone else has already given their statements and gone home.

ERASMO: Then you already know more than I could possibly tell you. How about I get my own tea down at the Savoy and never have to look at your fucking face again?

CYTHERA: Don’t you want to go home, Mr St. John?

ERASMO: I couldn’t possibly give less of a shit.

CYTHERA: There’s no need for belligerence, Mr St. John. Let’s start with something easy.

ERASMO: [laughs]