Filmmaker and UCA alum Noah Arthur Woods’ first feature film was showcased at the Arkansas Cinema Society’s Filmland: Arkansas Showcase on April 20 at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater in Little Rock. 

Woods submitted their film, “The Lights Are Closed and My Eyes Are Dark,” to the features category and won the Audience Award for Favorite Feature in October 2021. 

“I remember when it happened, it almost didn’t seem real, I didn’t expect it. There was a lot of really good competition and a lot of really wonderful films in that category, and I’m honored mine was selected, I felt honored just being in the running. It was a little overwhelming when I got the award,” Woods said. 

Woods started working on the film in their film production II class while at UCA. The film was originally shot as a short. 

“We filmed for three days for my class project, and it was originally a short film that I had written for class in 2019, so we filmed it, and I edited it,” Woods said. “After that class was over, I kind of wanted to go back to those characters, and then my actors wanted to explore the characters more, so we started writing side shorts out of school.”

“So, when it came time for my film production four class, I wrote another section of the story, and it got picked, and then we shot that. I had written it like a feature since 2019, so after I graduated, I kind of had been building this story together, and I turned it into a feature,” Woods said. 

Woods worked with a small crew completing twenty-five minutes of the film while in their film production four class. The feature film has a runtime of one hour and six minutes. The film’s production was done in five sections.

“I wrote it spontaneously, to where I would get an idea or grab lunch with a cast member and start throwing ideas together, and then we realized we could continue shooting,” Woods said. 

“I would then go home and write a scene or two, just based on what we would talk about, and then shoot those scenes, but I didn’t let anyone see I was writing a feature out of it,” Woods said.

“I kind of had everyone shoot it and act in it as its own short film, so there was five short films in the feature that were shot over two years, with different gear and different crew members, and then at the end, I presented it as I’ve been writing it as a feature and all these characters are intertwined in the story level,” Woods continued. 

Woods added, “I think it was a really good learning experience too, not only to make a student project but also trying to formulate how to tell a story in a narrative sense and do it for so long on a feature level. 

“The Lights Are Closed and My Eyes Are Dark,” is about a character named Henry, who is an alcoholic drug dealer dealing with relationship issues and projects his emotional instability on other people. 

“The film is a character study about Henry and how he interacts with the people in his life. At one point, he sells drugs to one of his friends who then give them to their partner at the time,” Woods said. “We switch characters to another character who hasn’t been introduced yet who has to deal with the ramifications of Henry’s actions of selling drugs,” Woods said.

“It’s one part this character study on substance abuse and alcoholism and another part of being in a place you don’t want to be and being something, you don’t necessarily want to be and how those cross paths,” Woods said. 

Woods’ next film, “I Do This for A Living,” begins principal photography in May. 

To keep up to date with Woods’ next feature, visit www.idothisforaliving.com and follow the Instagram account @idothisforaliving.mov.