Inspired by the “Me Too” movement and a childhood friend’s personal experience, longtime actor Sara Gaston (theater and dance, ‘90) recently wrote, produced and directed her first short film “I Was Gone for Awhile.” The film tells the fictional story of a young girl’s encounter with a sexual predator. Numerous film festivals have featured and awarded the film throughout 2024 including the Austin Revolution, Hollywood International Diversity, New York City Independent, Manhattan, Long Island International and Marina del Rey film festivals. The Daily Texan spoke with Gaston about how her experience producing the film turned her career unexpectedly from acting to writing and directing.
The Daily Texan: What made you decide to produce “I Was Gone for Awhile” after so many years of acting?
Sara Gaston: I was never interested in directing. … But this idea wouldn’t go away, and I knew it was my story to tell. I had been in so many films, … I knew what to do and what not to do. I already knew so many crew people and post-production people that (the idea) just wouldn’t let go.
DT: How did it feel receiving praise for your work despite never having previously wished to be a writer or director?
SG: It was really validating. … (But, it was more like) “Yay! Another acceptance means another audience, (which) means another chance to get the story out there so that we can start talking about this (issue) more.” The film doesn’t have a horrific ending, but the idea behind it is … these experiences women have, especially when they happen routinely over a lifetime, they just begin to wear away at a woman’s sense of safety in the world, a woman’s sense of self, a woman’s sense of autonomy, empowerment — it can’t help but have an impact. We tend to focus on the very obvious, very dramatic instances of somebody jumps out of the bushes and grabs you, (which is) horrifying of course, but these microaggressions have an impact too.
DT: From the success of this experience, would you want to write and direct again?
SG: Yeah, I’ve been infected with the bug. I just finished writing a grant for the next film I’m going to make, which is about women’s lack of reproductive rights in so many places across the nation. I’m pretty adamant about getting that film made. I took a playwriting course at UT (during my undergraduate studies and) wrote a play back then and recently submitted that to a playwriting contest. I started doing some sketch writing through The Groundlings School in Los Angeles (called “Sanchos and Ponchos!”), … so that’s making the rounds at film festivals. … The writing and the directing is gonna stick around, but it’s a lot of work. I have a feeling I’m only going to want to tell stories I feel strongly about, and those issues are around women and what women deal with.
