MOVIES

Las Cruces filmmaker Ryan Rox wraps filming on first feature film, 'Hidden Flora'

Las Cruces writer and director Ryan Rox recently wrapped filming on their first feature film, “Hidden Flora,” an autobiographical queer romantic comedy.

Rox, 31, whose preferred pronouns are she/they, grew up in Las Cruces and has experience with writing, directing and producing short films. Each project has become more personal than the last.

“They’ve all kind of ended up becoming more and more personal to my life and my traumas. I’ve been using film as therapy for a while,” Rox said. “After I finished those four short films, I realized in my career I wanted to take the next step and do a feature film. And I looked inside and I said, ‘OK, what have I not dealt with yet?’”

Rox said she realized she was still holding onto trauma surrounding relationships and growing up queer without the support to be her genuine self.

“Not only that but there was also the discrimination factor and wanting to suppress myself, or be in relationships with guys that weren’t comfortable with me and so they would hide me, and so that comes the origin of ‘Hidden Flora,’” Rox said.

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She explained the film is a queer coming of age story that will follow a nonbinary character from high school into adulthood as they develop relationships and learn how to love themselves.

From writing to wrapping within six months

Rox said she wrote the original draft of “Hidden Flora” in January 2023 and quickly reached out to the film’s future star, Luca Silver, who is also originally from Las Cruces and nonbinary. Silver was available to fly in from Nashville in February so the first week of filming quickly took place.

“We just connected and I was just like, ‘I just see so much of myself in you’ and they're nonbinary like I am. And I just thought if I'm going to make this film about me, it's got to be with a younger actor, because it's me when I'm younger, and it's got to be truthful with a nonbinary person,” Rox said. “A lot of the times, queer people are portrayed by cis straight people or cisgender straight people and so it's important to me and it has been important to me to authentically cast in my films.”

Silver is also a filmmaker, though they are usually behind the camera directing and editing rather than in front acting. Their latest project was a multimedia film parody of a sex education film, titled “What Is Sex?”

They said that they could not pass up an opportunity to work with Rox on a project in their hometown.

“I thought this is a once in a lifetime maybe sort of opportunity to lead a film like that … that was something that I absolutely could not say no to. And the experience so far has been exceeding whatever my wildest dreams were about it,” Silver said. “At the same time, this is probably the hardest thing that I’ve ever done in filmmaking.”

Silver added that they felt they were growing as a person by taking part in “Hidden Flora” and have a much better understanding of actors and the communication between directors and talent positions.

Rox said the original plan was to finish filming during that week in mid-February, but instead of releasing something “choppy” they decided to take their time and “get it right.”

After a week filming in their childhood home, a nearby park and RAD Retrocade, Silver returned to Tennessee and Rox started planning. She said during the following five months she was able to reach out to several locations in Las Cruces, Albuquerque and El Paso, including several private homes around Las Cruces and the Electric Playhouse in Albuquerque.

The film will feature a glimpse of the “Microdose” exhibit shown at the Electric Playhouse for a limited time. The immersive art installation is the work of artist Lea Anderson of Albuquerque.

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Post-production and premiere

Filming for “Hidden Flora” wrapped on Sunday, July 16. The project is now in the editing and post-production phase of production. Rox said ideally, the film will be completed by the end of 2023 and ready to premiere in early 2024 and submit to film festivals for the 2024 circuit.

“I just really want to let queer people know that it gets better and you deserve to be embraced and loved and never hidden and allowed to bloom to your fullest potential,” Rox said.

In the meantime, the production is raising money via a GoFundMe campaign for the funds to complete post-production. The goal is to raise $3,500 through the campaign. People can support the production at www.hiddenflora.com.

Updates on “Hidden Flora” can be found on Instagram at www.instagram.com/hiddenflorafilm or Facebook at www.facebook.com/hiddenflorafilm.

Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, LRomero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.