Lavenza

Lauren Eden

Lauren Eden is a director, writer, and producer working predominantly in Toronto. Visually, her approach is most often theatrical, bold, and whimsical. She recently graduated with a BFA in Film Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly known as Ryerson). Lavenza (2024) was made in her final year of film school with a 10K grant that she received from The Society of the Creative School.

Director Statement

Lavenza was inspired by many of the Universal Studios horror films of the ’30s and ’40s. While I love those films, one thing that I felt was missing was monstrous female villains. Gothic Horror speaks to me as a genre because it visually represents feelings of alienation and loneliness in a vivid way that can be oddly comforting. The melodramatic film language of that era represents the rigid, black-and-white world our protagonist, Lavenza, lives in.
Our antiheroine’s self-surgery is a visual metaphor for women tearing other women down. The story of Lavenza satirizes how far women will go for love, Lavenza’s rage is irrationally targeting the women her lustful husband desires. Despite the changes Lavenza made to please her husband, it means nothing in the end when she discovers he had been cheating on her all along. I hope the audience’s takeaway is that you cannot change yourself to receive the respect you deserve.