Writer Ilana Turner on Her New Horror Short ‘Lacktate’
When I had my first daughter, I was grateful I was able to breastfeed. I also started pumping right away to stock up on breast milk. But while the baby was cute, the Pump was not. And somewhere in the seemingly endless process of trying to work while feeling like a failing dairy cow, I started to hear short phrases in the Pump’s repetitive, mechanical noise. I low-key mentioned it to a friend, trying to gauge from her reaction exactly how close I might be to a padded cell. And without missing a beat she said she heard her pump say things, too. And so did another friend of ours! I remember thinking, This is a thing??
So I decided to talk about it. Lacktate is a short film about a woman, played by the riveting Rochelle Aytes, who goes back to work after the birth of her first child to find that being in her office with only an AI assistant and her Breast Pump exponentially amplifies her new-mom anxiety. Having always been an entirely competent, high-functioning person, this woman starts to feel like she’s cracking up when her Breast Pump starts to voice her darkest fears.
Originally, I wrote Lacktate as an absurdist short play—with an actor in a giant costume playing the Breast Pump—for Playwrights Night at Inkwell Theater in L.A. When my frequent writing/producing partner, Adam Scott Epstein, told me Francesca Ling was looking for a short film to direct, I sent her a more visually intimate film adaptation. Thankfully, she responded to it.
With Francesca’s input, the film evolved into an eerie, darkly comedic exploration of the psychological toll isolation takes—not just on a new parent, but on anyone. Coming out of the lockdown, we’ve been dealing with the societal and personal ramifications of being alone with technology as our only way to connect. Even post-lockdown, we still rely heavily on technology to reach people. So, while Lacktate takes a darkly funny look at isolation through the lens of a new mother, I hope it speaks to everyone who has felt a persistent haze of loneliness despite seemingly endless connectivity.
On set, I read the Breast Pump opposite Rochelle, and I could really track the growing anxiety her character felt. Getting to take that experience with me into the V.O. booth was as cathartic as writing the script. To play my former psycho overlord, the Breast Pump, I actually gave voice to some of the harshest things I’ve ever thought about myself. Since those harsh things turned out to be things lots of other parents have thought about, too, and since an incredible team came together to tell this story, it turns out making this short film about isolation has brought me real, human connection—which is lovely.
Lacktate world premieres at the Los Angeles Shorts International Film Festival on July 26, 2024.
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