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Roy Szuper Presents His New Film (CAN’T) LET IT GO at the 21st FICM

Omar Sosa Topete

During the 21st Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), Roy Szuper presented (Can’t) Let It Go (2023), a film written, produced and directed by him.

Film director, screenwriter and FICM special guest James Ivory, who played a crucial role as producer so the film could be made, was present at the screening. “I have known Roy for a long time. He made a comedy out of an American tragedy: President Trump's election," he said.

Film critic Jorge Negrete was responsible for introducing the film. He pointed out the similarities between Slaves of New York (1989) and (Can’t) Let It Go (2023), this being Ivory's reason to be part of the project

Prior to the presentation, the director spoke briefly thanking Ivory: “I will let James do the talking and I will just say thank you for your support. This was truly an independent, self-funded film that also had the support of the James Ivory foundation (Merchant and Ivory Foundation). I deeply thank my mentor and friend.”

Esther Levy, actress of the film and producer of the short film (Can’t) Let It Go (2019, dir. Roy Szuper) which was kind of a sketch for the feature film, was also present at the screening.

At the end of the screening, Esther Levy and Roy Szuper stayed for a Q&A session with the audience where they shared their perspective on what it meant to them making this film. “I think it is a political dystopia. I would describe it more like a raw post-election. For months, New York felt that way, because it used to be a democratic city and now relationships were breaking up between people,” stated Szuper on his work and its reflection with reality.

For Esther Levy, something crucial so the film could be released was the teamwork, since shooting it during the pandemic posed a great challenge. Many people close to the filmmakers ended up getting involved in the project, many of them were extras, and even several crew members played more than one role.

Both agreed that, despite beginning this project almost immediately after the 2016 election, the subject is still relevant, in particular because extremist politics are beginning to emerge all around the world and they could be replicated in the United States.