Interview with Cali Lili, Director/Writer and co-star of
Eve N’ God: This Female is Not Yet Rated
Hi Cali,
It’s such a pleasure to speak with you today. I’ve just finished watching Eve N’ God: This Female is Not Yet Rated, and I have to say, it’s unlike anything I’ve seen in recent times.
Hello Subhabrata and Karma and the Swedish International Film Festival Team !
Thank you SO much for your enthusiasm, thoughtful comments and excellent questions !
On behalf of my co-star & partner, movie icon, Wings Hauser and the entire cast, production & post production teams we are honored and grateful for this opportunity to speak with you and share the first of many future projects with fellow movie & music lovers!
Your film is refreshingly bold and nuanced in so many ways, both in its visual style and its thematic exploration. It’s clear that a lot of thought went into this project and I’m excited to dive into some of the concepts you’ve explored.
Thank you so much !
Let’s dive in !
Speaking of thought, while “thought” does play its part, FEELING is my compass. LOVE is my core, it’s at the heart of our studio and the works we release.
“Eve N’ God ; This Female is Not Yet Rated”
and all our projects are variations of Love Stories. Our structures perhaps don’t duplicate the status quo structure and tenor of most love stories many of us are accustomed to?
Wings and I grew in love as we became more involved in the process of our collaborations as artists and that love continues to sustain us and our work today.
As the movie suggests, there are as many love stories as there are humans because every relationship forms its own vocabulary. Every life form, species, ecosphere, the planet herself becomes stronger through biodiversity. Even simple economics shows us that a portfolio is stronger through diversification. “Even When Divided, Love Multiplies” is a lyric from one of the songs.
I love that you put together the words “bold” and also “nuanced” when referring to my film! Thank you! YES ! I was striving for both! With our debut project, I was hoping to create an “experience.” A “destination.” A “tiny-world-within-the-world” like a “snow globe.“ A place we hope movie & music lovers choose to revisit and notice something new every time.
The movie and stand-alone album / soundtrack are available now on demand at Apple TV, YouTube & Google Play Movies, just search the titles & names. An upcoming book about this debut project and our “sustainable studio,” housed in our “surf shack loft,” will be published in a few months and we hope readers will look out for that and all future music, film & book projects.
I’m thinking it might be fun to include some introductory comments here about my “process,” of making the film “by hand” guided by artisanal principles, to create a “signature blend” in a manner similar to culinary blends. Our studio is hand-built & operates sustainably. That sensibility is infused into the “special sauce“ of hand-making the movie, album and now, the upcoming book. I call it “handmade to make a difference” TM ️ and always infused with SOUL and LOVE.
Every one of our projects is home-spun, like handmade cookies, instead of store-bought. Here is a brief excerpt and preview of the upcoming book about the movie “Eve N’ God This Female is Not Yet Rated,” the album, as well as the process and studio :
“Our sustainable studio organically blossomed from our desire to infuse projects with an authentic ‘mom & pop-up family farm’ essence, a ‘signature blend’ grown from the soil or ‘terroir’ (term used in the making a fine wine) of ‘Classic Hollywood’ nourished, then harvested in our own ‘microclimate’ extending beyond ‘the farm,’ in a manner that resembles ‘farm to table’ or in the case of ‘aquaculture,’ ‘aquaponics,’ ‘Sea to table.’
We view it as the most natural way to ‘grow art’ with roots and traditions, but also offshoots of innovation and then we should be able to ‘bring it to market.’ The “market” may not be quite as ‘organic’ as the art. That’s definitely a problem for many artists (and farmers) throughout the centuries. Certainly still a problem today. But I’m looking forward to a time when more independent artists can simply bring our ‘fruits to market’ just like the farmers market.
Or a painter selling a canvas without all of the gate-keeping complications that serve to shut many artists out. That was the original inspiration for simplifying this process. If a painter can put paint onto a canvas and sell the canvas why can’t an artist do the same with a film? “
©Cali Lili Hauser (Excerpt from the upcoming book )
“Eve N’ God This Female is Not Yet Rated” is our debut project and we consider it our “first harvest.” Unfortunately Covid and other things delayed the start of the next project, as it delayed the lives of so many people on this beautiful blue planet. We hold hands with everyone affected by forces beyond our control. For us, this ‘ first harvest ‘ paved the way for upcoming projects. The fact that our studio name includes this description :
“Pictures, Words, Music in Motion ™”
hints toward the fact that each project was intended to be realized in all three mediums: movie, album and book.
The book is set to be published in the next few months, completing that phase of the first while we are already preparing the next project.
The entire world is experiencing so many hardships. We are all in this together and our projects intend to share love & encourage kindness & community across boundaries. In fact, one of the themes in “Eve N’ God This Female is Not Yet Rated“ involves communicating beyond boundaries.
Written and shot before Covid two of the main protagonists speak to each other via Zoom throughout the entire movie. But their communication, their connection across that boundary is electric. We are not even certain they’re on the same dimension or planet. Yet their connection is palpable, visceral, eternal. Ultimately for us, it would become somewhat autobiographical.
As a matter of methodology, I was also keen to attend to experiential / feeling factors when it comes to physical production employing methods of organic sustainability. This includes maintaining an organic culture amongst the team. I wanted to create the atmosphere that resembles the intersection of a band and an athletic team. That’s how I think of our teams and as Wings and I are both athletes as well as musicians, this worked really well for us and the team.
Another example, I enlisted local diverse farmers to donate fruits and flowers to the set dressing and crew lunches. So our set dressing is sustainable and to some extent, “edible.” It was important for me to include local farmers. Other culinary aspects involve the fact that we include a scene where Eve employs a huge cleaver to hack open a fresh coconut.
Anyone who has hacked open a Thai coconut understands it’s a little risky. But the reward is divine. I’m pretty sure that was done in one take and that was a bit scary with the size of that clever but the result was delicious. Doctor Goddard cuts lemons throughout the movie and drinks straight up lemon juice. There is an essence of hunger and thirst for “Mother Earth, ” and “SisterOcean™”.
Another example involves the “sustainable wardrobe” with repurposed fabric & clothing. Additionally, the paintings featured in the film were painted by myself and Wings every New Years Day for the past few years. And then there were fun things like some of us doing two jobs. Wings, who co-stars in & co-produced the movie, has a special fondness & facility for serving food! He loves feeding people. So he insisted on managing craft services on the set! For fun! The crew loved what he served! During one lunch, he brought everybody a whole rotisserie chicken, lol the crew was stoked!
In our personal life, although I had spent most of my time living on arugula, I had to learn how to cook because I loved providing nutritional meals for Wings but he was a tough customer because he loves great food and he used to be a chef in a diner. So while he doesn’t cook healthy food, lol he cooks delicious food. I could not serve him healthy food that wasn’t also delicious so I had to learn.
The upcoming book will include recipes I developed that were healthy but became super delicious too! Part of our food theme stems from my concept that media (like meals) can be “nourishing.” For me personally, I think the first “grown-up“ thing I ever did was take responsibility for my own nutrition as soon as I learned what was going on with organic farming and small family farms. The second thing was to take responsibility for any other person that I feed. It was like a bolt of understanding that our food is our future. We are indeed what we eat, what we consume. And it became one of the most palpable and heartfelt ways that I could take care of my beautiful partner. I truly grew to adore cooking for Wings. I still cook for him.
Same with media consumption. The intellectual / creative / informational understandings or misunderstandings are “food for thought.” That’s also what we become when we consume media. Multiple aspects of what we’re doing stem from this methodology and it begins with what I call a “sustainable idea.” For me, that’s an idea infused with both thought & love, both heart and soul. Movies and music take time to seed, water, bloom and harvest and cook. Like fruits, vegetables, and aquaculture / aquaponics which I find especially endearing & inspiring.
As a person who practices & embraces sustainability, wellness, nutrition, and as a dancer / former yoga instructor, I choose to take responsibility for the “sustainability“ of the core idea. If it’s not an idea I can sustain with passion for long periods of time literally from “Farm to Studio” ™️ and beyond then I know it’s not something I can responsibly bring to my brilliant partner & talented crew & the audience in good conscience. I’m applying not just a passion test, but also testing for sustainability through consciousness. I’m very grateful to have experienced an inner compass since I was a kid.
As I mentioned, this debut project is meant to pave the way for our future projects and I’m SO grateful my partner was able to experience the acknowledgments, screenings, and awards the film garnered in 2024 and 2025 ! Several years after the initial release! I had always wished that the film & album could be timeless. The way Wings expressed it to me :
“I told you ! Your Project Got ‘Legs’!
Just Like You!”
Wings Hauser
(referring to the classic phrase for a project that becomes a ‘sleeper’ hit )
1. Let’s start with the biblical references in your film. The title itself, Eve N’ God, immediately evokes ideas of creation, temptation, and divine power. Is there an intentional inversion of traditional biblical themes here, or are you playing with those ideas in a more subtle way?
I like that you highlight “creation, temptation & divine power” with regard to the first part of thetitle : “Eve N’ God.” The second part of the title: “this female is not yet rated” (which happens to be the title of the album / soundtrack ) is intended to lend a hint of irony to the fact that as you rightly pointed out, I am inviting us to “play.”
One of Eve’s lines of dialogue highlights the concept that our most important “work” involves opportunities to “play” : “Doc ! I want to PLAY !
Put me back in the game !”
(dialogue from “Eve N’ God this female is not yet rated “)
This encapsulates the motivation for Eve, representing the “Every-Woman” enlisting other women as well as men, to ask questions about choice, voice, freedom. To “PLAY” is to participate, to choose, to be afforded opportunities to make a difference. If we are barred from “PLAY,” we have no choice, no voice, no opportunity.
“Creation, temptation & divine power” can all be employed as tools for opportunities to enhance people’s lives, cultures and societies but they can also become tools to hinder progress. So the story is a “meditation” asking questions and instead of forcing answers, as is often done with cultures that worship, dominance and supremacy, this meditation invites more questions and offers opportunities for cooperation as a means of defeating competition.
When you think about it, the “cooperation frame of mind” when applied to solving societal and cultural problems really does out-compete – the “competition frame of mind” because cooperation invites bonding, while competition invites separation. If “survival of the fittest” is slavishly applied to solving cultural and societal problems, and if that survival of the fittest model depends upon whomever has a larger bank account, no matter how that bank account was fattened, whether it was by true merit or by cheating, it seems that it might be wise in the 21st-century to consider new models, paradigms.
I think it’s also important to mention here, that “Eve N’ God This Female is Not Yet Rated” suggests that the “original Eve,” often conflated with “original sin,” and the myth of “Lilith” examined in the context of the myth of “Adam and Eve” is inextricably intertwined with my idea that “Lilith,” represented by our character named “Lila” (meaning “night”) is a black woman. That she is inextricably intertwined with the concept of “mitochondrial eve,“ the concept that we are all sisters and brothers from one mother in Africa. In our movie, the light-skinned “white” appearing character named “Eve” who is not in fact “white” considers herself the twin of “mitochondrial eve. ” The film is also pondering the fact that both of Adam’s wives both Lilith and Eve refused to be subservient and my script asks the question, perhaps Lilith and Eve found comfort in each other?
I think that’s worth chewing on.
2.The first scene is extremely significant. It can symbolise resistance, difference, perseverance and what not. What inspired you to begin the film with such an intense moment of confrontation?
I love hearing about your experience with the film. The intense scene you are describing, which takes place early on, is like all the scenes in the film, a matter of poetry and music. It’s an essential piece, a building block, a molecule that appears in a sequence forming a rhythm that ultimately gives life to the whole organism, the poem, the “world” of the movie. Editing is so much fun and SO CRUCIAL as it’s the “time signature” of the movie, just like a metronome clocks a piece of music. People may be unaccustomed to unconventional forms of editing because we have all been trained to accept certain ‘conventional storytelling rhythms’ depending on the culture we were raised in or the dominant culture we can choose to either blindly accept or question.
It is a scientific fact that if you are exposed to a certain rhythm, your body / heart will sympathize / synchronize with that rhythm. Editing is about rhythm just like music. I posit that movie lovers have been somewhat indoctrinated into accepting certain editing rhythms dominating much of cinema. I have always felt we would benefit from remaining open to new rhythms including the rhythm of our own hearts.
For me, the first “scene” in the movie is actually a black screen with the sound of a mourning dove. It’s the empty page or stage and a cry from earth, from the heart. I don’t vibe with the “move fast break things” mentality so prevalent in too many cultures. My wish is to create projects through our studio that:
“weave slow, heal things” ™ (Book excerpt) © cali lili hauser
Music and poetry guide my rhythm, my vision, which I bring to my partner, and we apply principles that we both believe in. It’s kind of like our “secret sauce,” the traditions of our “tiny family farm-to-table.“ In fact we are like a tiny family farm, working from a tiny feMt0™studi0 Eco-LoFt™. Our hand built surf shack in Venice Beach represents a little bit of “aloha” combining elements at the intersection of beloved Hawaii and beloved Big Sur, California, with a hint of Greenwich Village New York thrown in.
So the sequence of the scenes and the edit design is definitely a form of visual music. As a director, I am all over the design of the edit because it’s so vital to the final cut. I feel it’s essential to take responsibility for the edit design and it’s also on my mind & in my heart during the rhythm I’m hearing while writing the screenplay and directing the scenes. So when I shoot, I’ve already got an editing rhythm in mind but of course it will shift and adjust according to all the happy mistakes & coincidences we can improvise upon. That’s also magic. I am open to letting the material find its own rhythm as long as it’s true to the integrity of the piece. It’s an ongoing dance on a moving wave, like surfing.
Sometimes Wings and I have slight differences when it comes to certain scenes but as with all of our disagreements, we always find the best solution due to the process of a debate and remaining open to discovery. We always arrive at an improved result by taking that time. At first, he felt the very first scene with the clock ticking was too quiet, too slow and he suggested that I cut earlier but as time went on, he eventually loved how it led us into the overall meditative pacing that is periodically disrupted by that intense scene you’re referring to.
It’s a necessary disruption from the hypnotic ticking clock. It’s a wake up call. An alarm.The very intense early scene you asked about exists in that time code, because that’s where it belongs in the “music” and “poetry” of the movie with each scene following inevitably after the previous scene blossoming like a flower. In the same way my next exhale follows my next inhale and then my next inhale follows my next exhale (an influence from yoga & vocal training) but nonetheless it is so organic to every sport, art form and practice – of course it’s like the art of life herself.
That particular scene just like every other scene in the movie is meant to be there because it could not be anywhere else for this movie to exist. We’ve experienced people who have never made a movie, but who are chained vehemently to a status quo understanding of what editing must be, express to me with shocking confidence, almost angrily, that they think I should edit the movie differently. That’s because they are chained to their notion of what is acceptable and therefore commercial. The “tell” is how angry they seem to be and sometimes it’s covert anger. But they’re trying to appear as though they’re trying to “help me” while they’re telling me that they feel I should’ve edited the film differently. As though I broke some rule that maybe they wish they could break free from too?
in these cases, we find that instead of accepting my invitation to come along for the ride – and SO MANY movie & music lovers gladly accepted the invitation and had a great time – a few others chose to seem somewhat angry that I had the courage to take a new trail. Sometimes people express it as though they want to “help me,” because I am a newcomer. But we wish that more people would come along for the discoveries, support our innovative projects instead of remaining chained to their old notions. It’s almost like there’s a quota on just a few selected filmmakers who are allowed to “break the rules” and that’s usually a matter of power and influence and probably money. I’m suggesting that audiences reward the tiny filmmakers like me who really are taking chances.
It’s true that the intense scene represents those excellent words you used: “resistance, difference, perseverance.“ It is a strong early statement born from the darkness and freedom of a blank screen and the mournful cry from a mourning dove. That intense scene “wakes us up” into the dreamscape we are about to enter. Paradoxically the scene is asking us to “wake up” while also inviting us to “wake into a dream.”
My team, and I are asking the audience to please care about the independent artist to take chances. Requesting that we all “pay attention“ to us tiny filmmakers because “attention” is arguably the most powerful “commodity” certainly in the media, but also in the world today. As my beautiful partner Wings Hauser would say, he appreciates it when people “give a damn.”
Whenever I hear the expression “pay attention” I always think of the great play by Arthur Miller “Death of aSalesman” in which “Willy Loman” (The Everyman) repeats his plea to humanity :
“attention must be paid !”
It’s kind of like that.
3.There’s a clear influence of Dogme 95 in your work. The rawness and immediacy of the cinematography, the handheld shots, and the natural lighting all echo the movement’s ideals. How did Dogme 95 influence your approach to Eve N’ God This Female is Not Yet Rated ?
Fascinating question!
Actually, I first learned of Dogme 95 after I had already formulated my concept of “sustainable filmmaking” based on my dance & yoga background as well as my love for ocean / sea life conservancy.
In school, I was very interested in the contemporary effects of the history of the works of experimental directors & actors, along with that of international artists in those fields. I think it’s really helpful to look back at the origins of certain traditions in order to find one’s place in the current repertoire. I always look back at the classics and that’s probably because ever since I was a kid I have been referred to as “mature for my age “ or “a young person with an old soul.“
I studied the effects of the Polish experimental director Jerzy Grotowski ( “Towards A Poor Theatre “ ) and the French Dramatist Antonin Artaud (“The Theater And its Double “) along with the work of Brecht AND a few other artists in theater, visual & music arts that were even more influential to me. I discuss those in detail in my upcoming book. In fact, my book, among other textures, will present the movie as a work of dramatic literature, complete with stage directions. The script would make an amazing stage play and I’ve devised a very detailed staging concept. It’s ironic to me that my early plays which I wrote as a teenager were often called “cinematic,” and because I was a theater snob, lol I took that as an insult. Sometimes we are idiots but can find great humor in our idiocy if we grow up a little bit.
My initial studies were in dance & theatre in New York and this greatly influences my cinema. As a kid, I won my first play writing contest, after being urged by my awesome professor, an immigrant from the Himalayas, to enter the contest. I was extremely hesitant to do this, but she was so sweetly encouraging that I did enter it. It was my first play. When she told me that I had won the contest, I can still remember the light in her eyes as she practically shouted out my victory. It was absolutely true that she won! I would never have entered that contest had it not been for her. The reason she thought it would be a good idea results from the fact that I find writing prose daunting but dialogue and poetry are very natural for me. As a teacher, a professor, she went the extra mile to think about how she could guide me. She was completely correct, and I am in touch with her to this day. I am so very grateful for all my teachers who saved me from an abusive childhood.
So, to get back to Dogme 95 , it seemed like a natural ally for the ideas that I was formulating in order to understand where my work was going. My wish to express concepts of “sustainability” based on my love for the oceans, sealife , aquaculture , farmers markets, small family farms, ocean conservancy, organic cuisine, farm to table, ecological and nutritional concerns in making film & music was a result of my wish to make “food for thought films.” I felt that culture and cultural spaces were becoming so “gentrified” that artists were being pushed out of our own “native waters” in the same way whales, dolphins, sea turtles, sea lions & sealife are bullied out of their own waters or small family farms are bullied by “big agriculture” and in the same way, so many cultures are bullied by “big money” in general.
Even as a teenager I was concerned about what I called “the gentrification of culture.” I felt it was the reason my family did not support what I knew was my purpose in life. The “gentrification of culture” made it appear as though “only rich people” could become artists and unfortunately, the reality seems to almost prove that true. Although many people can make films with advances in technology, distribution and audience awareness through marketing is mostly the domain of the wealthy. As my brilliant partner shared with me, at some point in the history of Hollywood, people could “buy their way” into the entertainment industry, whether it was through nepotism or actual money and connections. It was no longer a matter of merit, talent & hard work / dedication so much as “connections / influence / money” and the illusion of talent & seeming performative “hard work.”
Wings also expressed very rightly that he witnessed the transition of the audience’s interest from quality art to “box office.” He said that as soon as he first heard popular entertainment shows reporting mostly about “box office” profits instead of nuance in films, he felt that was harmful not only to actors but all film makers who deeply love the “making of film.” That reminds me of a great quote from Sir Michael Caine. I’m paraphrasing from him : “plays are performed while movies are made.” That quote has really inspired me. It’s very worrying to think that the audience is being manipulated into thinking about “box office” success and “visibility” whether it be on social media or traditional broadcasting/cultural events, instead of artistic merit because it conflates so-called “success” in industries that have become “gentrified” “closed loops” with actual talent / merit / cultural significance which is a very different dimension of success. That gentrification created the illusion that the privileged few works of art that were distributed / visible were inherently more culturally significant when actually they have only became culturally significant as a self fulfilling prophecy due to their privilege in distribution or opportunistic visibility.
I worried this might deeply harm authentic independent artists and I also worried it was diminishing culture. My pushback against this notion was not just a matter of survival for us as artists, I was worried about cultural ecosystems becoming toxic, in the same way other ecosystems are damaged by neglect. I’m still worried about that. We have to admit that the independent artist like many forms of wildlife, sealife and civilization itself are an “endangered species.“ Part of my graduate studies involved anthropology so I think of these things on an anthropological level as well as a practical creative hands-on artist level.
My aesthetic has also been informed by economics and I have gladly incorporated concepts from experimental theater into my style. Experimental theorists, like Grotowski, Artaud and Brecht among a few very significant others I mention in my upcoming book in various disciplines like painting and music have always inspired me. They were very influenced by economics and societal theory.
Less Can Be More and More Can Be Less
We hope audiences will support our sustainable studio as these methodologies are intended to maintain love, respect and survival for artists on this planet in exactly the same way we wish for us all to protect wildlife, sea life, and human rights on this beautiful interstellar, swimming pool planet. My works are my “babies” and many cultures provide incentives and benefits for women to have babies. Well, I feel so strongly that artists contribute to the culture just as much when we “give birth” to our “babies“ and I think cultures should “support the arts” by sustaining the living artist.
We are all interconnected. If we lose our innocence through indifference towards saving the planet, wildlife, sea life, women’s rights, human rights, the oceans, the forests, the cities AND LIVING ARTISTS – then we have lost confidence in ourselves.
As the great thinker Elie Wiesel said :
“the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference “
It’s so important that we care, that we do what my partner Wings Hauser would describe as “giving a damn.” If we lose our ability to care about others and our planet, we would be abdicating ourselves, giving up on ourselves.
4.The music in the film feels very disruptive—almost unsettling at times. It doesn’t always follow traditional structures, and there’s an underlying chaos to it. Could you talk about how music was used to reflect the disruption of societal norms and to underscore the themes of subversion?
Thank you for noticing and expressing this so eloquently !
As a standalone purposely eclectic album (the album can be found on all music streaming services: Cali Lili “This Female is Not Yet Rated“ ) it has a life of its own along with belonging to the world of the film, as soundtrack. The Album and the Soundtrack are family but they are also individuals.
It’s so interesting that in many cultures around the world, we learn to regard questions that trace lines outside the boxes created by society as “subversion.” Of course the artist space, if it is a free space, provides the freedom to ask questions and think outside norms so our collective consciousness norms find it “sexy” to think of that “rock ‘n’ roll, smash the guitar, question society, style of “subversion.”
For me, it’s about playing, PLAY!
Asking questions and playing with the possibilities. Sometimes when we ask questions we feel are “dangerous” to our sense of status quo, we regard – just asking – the questions – to be “subversive.” If you’ll recall, our “Eve” humorously, refers to herself and anyone asking these questions as “dangerous,” she says:
“OK I want to be dangerous,”
She is playfully accepting a “play pretend” “mission” in-service to a higher goal.
Dr. Goddard responds :
“So you’re not going militant on me?”
Which leads Eve to giggle out loud and say:
“ just a Tango – up Pico Boulevard ”
Like most of us, she just wants to play.
It’s true that the songs AND the choreography in the film – are challenging norms, as are many of the lines of dialogue. The music and choreography support the story moving forward, asking questions, asking questions ASKING QUESTIONS – with a drum beat moving us forward, playing with answers, playing with a Multiverse of possibilities. There are several references to mirrors in the film. Visual rhythm including a few repeating frames and choreographed jump cuts in the unconventional edit design which are syncopating echoes that do follow their own internal map. A structure particular to an internal organic logic that dances unapologetically to its own time signature.
My script was “composed” with songs incorporated into the text & intended for the edit. The edit design is “composed” like one big poem unfurling, blossoming like a flower, one big “symphony” building from a sequence of “movements.” Including dance & actor movement, or non-movement. If you’ll notice, both primary characters are somewhat “penned in, contained” speaking to each other on ZOOM.
The songs rely HEAVILY on syncopated lyrics and percussive build. The lyrics are crucial to these songs and the album is somewhat of a “concept album” exploring new avenues about every theme in the movie carried by the purposely eclectic range of musical styles / genres. It’s not often that one album includes all these genres : rap , Americana, rock ‘n’ roll, folk rock, country punk, Reggaeton, world groove, and 12 bar blues.
So in this one album all the common themes are purposeful “explored” asking the question:
“How can I address each theme as” a rap song, but also as a folk song, a country song, an all out rock and roll song, a jazz or blues song, a punk song or a song that’s influenced by world groove? ” The album is intended to feel like a trip around Americana and world grooves and then back home to America, specifically Los Angeles with songs like “Sindarella GirlZ,” which is heavily influenced by Reggaeton.
The music in the movie wants to break out of the confines of the screen and run wild. In fact it’s one of many “cracks in the cement” where green sprouts break out of their confines described in of the songs “World is My Living Room, ” which includes this line :
“My lover is a museum or cracked cement in bloom”
© cali lili hauser (From the song “World Is My Living Room,” Cali Lili “this female is not yet rated “)
The movie wants to jump off the screen, dance in the aisles of the movie theater, out of the doors and onto the street, dancing all the way to the beach splashing into the ocean.
5.The theme of subversion through movement is quite prominent in your film, especially with the characters’ physical gestures and interactions. How do you see movement as a form of subversion, and what was your approach to choreographing or directing these movements?
Awesome that I began to answer this question in the previous answer. That’s how good your questions are!
So, I would add to everything I said in the previous answer, it was pretty eerie that this film was shot before Covid and yet two main characters speak to each other over ZOOM throughout the entire film. As I mentioned earlier, one of the themes is “communication across boundaries.”
So part of what you’re describing has to do with lack of movement. Or movement constrained, restrained. Wings and I were so excited to work together on so many levels, I mean, we just really love to work together on anything! We would often leave birthday messages for family members in the form of rap songs that we came up with on the spot after talking about it for a few seconds before we made the birthday call. He’s directed me several times and we’ve worked together in various ways. But one interesting factor is that he’s quite a physical actor. And I just knew that this character which remains in one location for the entire film would allow for a very high concentration of his acting chops.
So the characters are both somewhat constrained through much of the film. It’s the rhythm again. It allows us to relax and pay attention not just to what they are saying, feeling, doing and NOT doing on screen but also what we are feeling as an audience. And then – after restrained movement, the characters are set free. And so are we.
My choreography style stems from influences in classic choreography, Bob Fosse (I studied not just the movies but also in class with Ann Reinking), Twyla Tharp, and the OG : Isadora Duncan! Jazz choreography emphasizes “isolations” which for me is very meaningful. The characters are reaching to each other beyond physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual boundaries.
For me, choreography like surfing, like life, is all about “flow.” So while the jazz choreography & character movement emphasized sharpness, anger, pain and challenges, “the elbows and knees of isolation” the other movements represented “flow” including water elements, pointing us toward healing, acceptance, understanding, communication, love and freedom.
6.The film also tackles the nature vs. nurture debate, particularly in the context of how societal expectations shape our identities. How do you see this theme playing out in the film, and why is it such an important issue to explore?
Nature is definitely a character in this film. When we cut to nature, it is always a reference to the essence of Eve, or Lilith. The “sacred feminine.” Eve is defending nature in her arguments with Dr. Goddard. It’s ironic because she’s advocating for freedom in the creation of this masterpiece called “Mother Earth,” and what I refer to as “Sister Ocean.” While “Doc” is afraid of that freedom because he’s defending that creation. We can see things from both perspectives.
Eve is an advocate! In the same way that proverbial “man” sought to conquer “nature,” he sought to conquer the sacred feminine. Before ancient female priests and goddesses were “kicked out” of the clergy, religion and out of many governmental / cultural leadership positions (sound familiar? Yeah,it’s happened before) there was a feminine, earthy, watery, often matriarchal aspect to many cultures which found itself dampened, muted and relegated to the “barefoot in the kitchen” duties.
The vestiges of such “excommunication of the feminine” & the natural watery world, expressed itself as patriarchy, which we all know is still active in many cultures. The voice of patriarchy might think it is “rallying” but unfortunately, all one needs to do is look around us on this beautiful blue planet, and recognize that patriarchal attempts at domination are harming everyone by denying its own feminine nature at the expense of its own survival.
Personally, we experienced this when we noticed the way culture retreats from married women. To be sure, my marriage with my amazing, beautiful partner and husband Wings Hauser, it’s not a conventional marriage. We are creative equals. Equals in every way, but we often encounter societal pressures and bizarre misunderstandings, simply due to the fact that we always express our relationship in terms reflecting our equal partnership. But then again, as a result of this expression, we would literally have people come up to us in the grocery store or at fancy parties, telling us how much they were inspired by our partnership.
As this was my first marriage, I was amazed to find myself in certain 21st century societal circumstances treated like “wives” may have been treated in the 1950’s – or the 1600s – or cavemen times! It was a bizarre “awakening” and you might’ve noticed that Eve “wakes up” quite a few times in the movie which is as much a dissertation about marriage as it is about every other theme. The discussion of what it means to be married as a 21st Century Girl is a deep core theme.
My beautiful partner / husband, Wings, is a real “feminist!” Always advocating for women. I mean, he raised a daughter on his own with no trust fund – having lost his own father at a very young age. He worked for everything he accomplished and still managed to raise a daughter as a single father! He’s much older than me but my reaction to the antiquated societal expectations of my identity, awoke his own inherent feminist nature. I had always said that I would never get married. Until I met my perfect partner, my soulmate, the love of my life, the only husband that could ever make sense. We bring out the best in each other. What more could anyone ask for? We are very lucky and always puzzled at the antiquated societal weirdness towards women and partnerships.
Ultimately, I figured out that cultures based on supremacy/domination benefit from division amongst people, whether it be race, culture, class or gender. The movie is based on a form of Socratic argumentative attempt to discover answers through finding more questions. The tension between a female “goddess entity” who wants to remain free while still enjoying partnership and a male “god entity” who basically wants the same thing – that’s what’s interesting. Edward Albee’s play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” rocks a similar vibe in that regard.
A good marriage, a good partnership whether it be marriage or bandmates, athletic team or crew, whether it be male and female or female and female, or male and male – whether it be binary or trans or whatever, it’s about the partnership – the partnership is SO soul-affirming. It is also an affirmation of a society that can work to solve problems not just for the community but for the individuals.
Once again we return to the idea of “Cooperation Beats Competition ™.” Working together with well matched partners is a humane sustainable model for human happiness, planet happiness. It’s good for humans and it’s good for wildlife and sea life and plant life. I’ve always thought it was amazing that the country of Bhutan has a ”happiness index.” I think that’s really interesting for the 21st century world to consider. After all, we are literally spinning on a ball in the middle of the Multiverse splashing like a big old swimming pool. Let’s at least solve some of our mutual problems together, find some happiness together and stop fighting each other together.
Partnerships can solve problems instead of creating new ones. When people are divided, new problems are created. When people partner together, we solve problems, if our hearts are partnered with our minds and if our motivation is to make the world a better place for everybody, not just for a few of us. For all of us! It’s so simple.
Unfortunately, too many societal expectations have shut out the very important female energy in problem-solving. Once again it’s like the failed attempt to dominate nature. Those who attempt to eradicate the feminine, and dominate nature, do so at their own peril. The problem is, they also put the rest of the planet in peril.
As Eve’s dialogue is structured like a filibuster (like Jimmy Stewart in Frank Capra’s classic masterpiece “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington”) she’s making an argument before Dr. Goddard, otherwise known as the white straight male authority deity she refers to as :
“the most Supreme Court “
Her argument is a plea for the world to embrace the feminine “wild” because this sets us all free:
“It’s the wilderness in yourself!”
Eve says.
Without that freedom for the wild, for the feminine, we imprison the planet.
7.The title, This Female is Not Yet Rated, feels like both a commentary on how women are often categorized or judged in society and a challenge to those labels. How does this title encapsulate the themes of the film?
Yes! and as I mentioned, that’s the title of the standalone album.The “female” in question is “not yet rated” because she is often “discounted” ( valued less ) as Eve informs Dr. Goddard.
Eve also says, “that female” still exists. She may be met with patriarchal “indifference” in the same way the great Elie Weisel defined it but she exists. She may “not be rated,” she may experience attempts at erasure or appropriation, but the look in her eyes and the arguments she makes, her actions – might save us all! As long as most of us do not remain silent.
The movie asks :
“ Are we dreaming of Eve
or
Is Eve dreaming of us ?”
Either way, if we don’t wake up and respect her, if we don’t save the oceans, save the climate of our precious blue planet, we won’t be able to save ourselves.
8.Lastly, in today’s world, where subverting traditional styles has become almost a style in itself, do you think there’s still room for truly revolutionary cinema that challenges established norms?
I feel that somehow the arts & media commercial marketplace has surrendered to corporate attempts to interfere with, even steal the magic of our inherent human response to each other’s authenticity. I mean, the proof is in the AI. What’s the AI doing? It’s attempting to “capture” our humanity. Yikes. But it’s not the actual technical advances because those can be used for great good. Those technological advances can be used to help humans. Should be in the hands of humans with guard rails everywhere. So this attempt to “capture” humanity far predates the advances in AI.
Once again it is the worship of domination, the use of unfair competition, instead of the embrace of cooperation, which could include all forms of technological advance. The entertainment industry was already moving towards a “simulation““ of what the artist really does. It was already edging out the independent artist with integrity who cannot be controlled by a corporation. The one presenters who are corporate artists many of them are billionaires might mean well, but they are part of a system that suppresses the less wealthy, less powerful independent artists, and therefore diminishes the potential freshness of any given cultural marketplace.
That’s why I feel strongly that if we don’t embrace the authentic independent artist, the living breathing artist who may not be privileged enough to be featured by the upper gentrified levels of the media industry, who might live next-door to us or in another country and if we don’t set some boundaries with AI, tech giants, big money corporate art and also set some boundaries when it comes to privacy and individual human rights, then we really risk our ability to connect with each other.
There should be nobody standing in the middle of that sacred space between the artist and the fellow art lover. The artist is also an art lover. These are love stories! As I mentioned earlier : every project we make from our sustainable studio is a love story. Not that status quo thing we are taught to recognize is a love story. There are so many ways to express love stories.
There’s just an “authentic” human response to “authenticity” and for the artist – artist lover relationship – it’s a lifeline. The more big money corporate entities continue to do what I have been referring to as “gentrification of culture,” the weaker the authentic relationship between artist & art lover.
No middleman or middle woman belongs in the middle of that relationship, but so often, artists with smaller budgets just don’t reach the audience, rendering “the arts” a playground for the wealthy, the powerful, leading cultural ideas, tastes and aspirations to mold (dominate) the minds of individuals who form the “body” of every culture. On so many levels of culture and society, I think we should be careful to sustain our humanity. Not just ideologically, but somatically. Through our bodies.
One of our sustainability mottos is:
“Support The Arts,
Sustain The Artist ™”
If we can embrace the living artists around us. The artist right now, especially those who are respectful of those who came before us, then we can honor traditions while paving new pathways.
We can show respect, but also expand our boundaries toward each other, not away from each other. It really does “take a village” and as we are all spinning on this blue, beautiful planet in the middle of so many solar systems my movie and album are asking :
“When will we finally get the clue that WE ARE – the village. WE ARE – the family.”
The “Eve” in my movie refers to her twin, “Lilith” as “mitochondrial eve” – “the one mother” of us all who originated in Africa. Whether people want to find controversy with that theory or that discovery under the microscope, doesn’t really matter. In the 21st-century, it should be quite apparent to us all that we are all on the same airplane – what I call an “interplanetary swimming pool” and we need each other to make good decisions and to solve problems wisely. Even if it’s only for our own self interest. It would be great if we could all cultivate a sense of responsibility and motherly sisterly brotherly fatherly love toward each other, but even if we inexplicably feel the need to eschew utopias, if only for our self interest, let’s get it together and save this planet. Please.
On behalf of myself, my partner, Wings Hauser, and our little family at the Cali Lili Indies : We always knew the project was ahead of her time.
Tragically, devastatingly, in 2025 I find myself breathing for us both now. Seeing through my partner’s eyes, literally walking through the world with our twin souls in my heart and carrying us into the future, as he made me promise I would do. I gladly accepted the responsibility and the privilege. But I won’t be talking about him in the past. I will keep him in the present tense, which is where I feel him every day. He’s right here with me helping me.
He has many endearing nicknames for me, like “Cali Curls,” but one nickname he took seriously. He called me “his future” and it is my privilege as well as my responsibility to fulfill that role of carrying on our work at the studio, honoring our partnership goals, our ongoing forever love story, and his legacy.
We hope your readers will support us and our projects in every way possible now and in the future.
I always strived for and managed to not only express our love to the audience, but also to make my partner proud. That’s what I’ll continue to do.
9.To wrap up, do you have any underrated film recommendations for our audience—something that pushes boundaries in a similar way to “ Eve N’ God ; This Female is Not Yet Rated “ ?
I am in love with so many films and my beautiful partner Wings and I watch so many films together more than once. We love revisiting films.
So many quality projects are underrated! Because the rating system is hijacked by big money on many levels so movie lovers, music lovers, art lovers, we have to discover each other for ourselves.
I can hear Wings tell me right now:
“YOUR film has been
“under the radar”
And is literally “not yet rated” ! “
It’s quite awesome. That film festival is like yours have suddenly discovered my film in 2024 and 2025! We are thrilled about this! Thank you !
So as Wings always said to anyone inquiring :
“go buy a ticket and support our movie … go download our songs and SHARE “
“WE are underrated! “
it’s in the title! lol
On behalf of Wings & the team – we encourage people to see it more than once and hear the full album!
Mentioning other underappreciated films is so challenging because it’s like being in a candy store. There are so many, truly unique films which many people are not exposed to. ever since the ancients.
So I think the most important thing is – for US – the lovers of art – to be adventurous in our tastes! Like lovers, we must seek out our own love of the arts ! Those of us who love the arts understand that this is a lifestyle in and of itself !
Once again, I will employ a metaphor from “Farm to Table.” If we explore new ingredients that are fresh and then explore new cuisines that might be unusual or new, we expand our thinking and our capacity for appreciation. That’s how we meet each other! If we get to travel or try new cuisines, it’s so very similar to trying a new kind of film or music.
So I would suggest a similar approach to discovering what’s out there! It’s also like going to an art gallery. Or a museum. You could follow the pathway that has been designed and learn something, but you could also do what I do in an art gallery – I just go towards the pieces that call out to me and then place myself in the vibe. Communing with the artist. like a surfer : “be the wave.”
In this current climate, I don’t really know who appreciates what. Maybe that’s a good thing? The Internet makes it easy to rediscover classics and I really love to learn from the classics.
I love everything by Bob Fosse and I feel “Lenny” directed by Bob Fosse starring Dustin Hoffman, Valerie Perrine & an excellent cast might be under-appreciated?
I adore the movie “Network” written by the great screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, starring William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch, Piper Laurie.
Any movie that Cicely Tyson has ever been in!
Sidney Poitier in “Lilies of the Field” and “A Patch of Blue.” And the one he directed, “A Warm December.”
Wings introduced me to a film called : “They Might Be Giants” early on in our relationship and it was an ongoing favorite for us. Directed by Anthony Harvey starring George C Scott , Joanne Woodward, Jack Gilford, Lester Rawlins.
“Defiance” directed by Ed Zwick is a fave of ours.
All of Hal Ashby’s films, especially “Harold & Maude,” “Coming Home,” “Bound For Glory,” and “Being There. ”
“Heaven Can Wait” starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. So romantic.
“McCabe & Mrs. Miller” also with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, with holy music by the Great Leonard Cohen. My partner Wings, once met Mr. Cohen in a hardware store in West Los Angeles and cherished that moment.
I love all of George Clooney’s films. Especially “Good Night and Good Luck” as well as “Up In The Air” and “Michael Clayton” with Tilda Swinton.
Every film by the great director, Frank Capra.
I love films made in the 1930s when they were very strong female roles.
Every film that the actress Jean Arthur was ever in.
Every film that John Crawford was ever in.
Every film with Elizabeth Taylor.
Every film with Katharine Hepburn.
Every film with Ingrid Bergman!
And I also have to mention every film with Spencer Tracey, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis –
Rosalind Russell, Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper!
I think there is a romance to the films that I feel are underappreciated. I think we’ve been so busy as a culture trying to “act cool” – we started to become a little bit “cold. ”
It became fashionable to withhold emotion from the screen it seems? Like suddenly, if you “grunted” your lines as an actor, with people imitating the great Marlon Brando or James Dean, then maybe they thought they were being “cool”?
But no, Brando, Jimmy Dean did not grunt without passion. There is a volcano of emotion sitting dangerously underneath each subtle moment and you can’t fake that. Similarly, there is a gentle vulnerable flower underneath each explosion. I think what’s underrated, is a feeling for humanity in cinema and music. Almost as though we are being guided toward robot culture.
That’s one thing we are not afraid to illustrate at our studio : humanity. I just hope we can all cherish and support films made with heart, where humanity triumphs over the so-called “ box office .” Where kindness and cooperation beat competition. Where the artist can thrive.
This is not just some sort of platform. This is very personal to me and to us as partners and as a family carrying on a tradition. Especially now during a time of deep grief. Movies play such a huge role in my personal love story with my beautiful partner, Wings. We had a very platonic friendship as buddies way before we became creative partners and then – we grew in love as we deepened our creative partnership.
There is such a huge difference in age between us but we truly met as a result of our sheer love of acting, filmmaking and music making. I was sort of a “runaway with a scholarship” and he sort of “rescued me” and then I sort of“rescued” him.
We rescued each other. That’s a vibe that’s carried into our work and continues today.
Thank you so much for your time today, Cali. Eve N’ God ; This Female is Not Yet Rated” is truly an extraordinary film, and I’m sure it will continue to spark conversations for a long time. I can’t wait to see what you do next.
Thank YOU so much ! I love that you mentioned “sparking conversations” – especially at this time in history/herstory when dialogue has been replaced by vitriol!
I always wished for this film to spark dialogue, and there have actually been audience members who wrote to us telling us that they have formed watch parties where people discuss the film after the viewing. In fact. we sometimes describe the film as :
“ a conversation, long overdue “
As far as the future, wow, thank you so much for that. I am eager to share upcoming projects with everybody.
I feel that I need to add a personal note here. My beautiful partner and husband, Wings Hauser, and I battled a terrible disease which had attacked him. The disease is known as COPD. As we always had a multigenerational age difference between us, we knew that someday I would be carrying the work forward. We always knew this would be excruciating, and it has been much more painful than I could ever have imagined. But I have to say I did always know that it would be excruciating.
In spite of the fact that I am currently feeling quite broken, devastated about the love of my life, my soulmate, I’m so grateful for the love that never ends. Few people are blessed with this level of partnership and the depth of our love makes this moment ever so much more painful. I am getting all kinds of spiritual signs from him every day and those are shocking because I’ve never really been into ghost stories. But I know now that he is still with me.
He made me promise that I would continue to be motivated in my art and he was worried that I had to set aside some of my acting career time while we were battling the disease. I made sure he understood that there was no place I would rather be than here with him at our studio. I am so grateful I did not waste one moment of precious time with him.
As I mentioned, for us, the work in and of itself – is ALL about LOVE. The upcoming projects are our babies. He called me “his future.” I am breathing for us both now, seeing the world through his eyes as well as mine and carrying our twin souls in my heart and into the future.
We prepped future feature films, as well as several books, including his memoirs and at least five or more albums worth of music/soundtracks.
There is also an upcoming documentary about my partner :
“ Wings Hauser ; Working Class Actor “
produced by La La Land Films, which features clips from “Eve N’ God This Female Is Not Yet Rated,” as well as discussions of our unique partnership and love story.
A new music single will also be released with the documentary. The producers of that documentary asked me to record one of my songs for their title track. As with all the songs, Wings & I co-wrote the music. We recorded it at the “legendary rock n’ roll hotel” : Sunset Marquis hotel in West Hollywood, which houses the equally legendary Nightbird Studio, where Aretha Franklin, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Rihanna, and so many others have recorded.
That recording session was pure magic. Complete with a rare thunderstorm in West Hollywood that night. Epic.
I hope your readers, Film and Music lovers, will not only choose to see & hear “Eve N’ God ; This Female is Not Yet Rated “ more than once, listen to the full album soundtrack, read the lyrics and follow our studio : @CaliLiliIndies™ on all social media for updates on future releases and current content, but that they might also take the initiative to actively support our work. As I mentioned one of our mottos is:
“support the arts sustain the artist” ™
Humanity faces so many challenges. Artist rights,, like women’s rights , wildlife and sea life, our nature, our wildness, and our innocence are very much at risk. Like “canaries in the coal mine of culture,” we artists really need the support of our fellow art lovers, our community, our villages. It really is one big global love story.
As far as our personal love story, we were always amazed that people could see our love story so clearly – whether it was at the supermarket or at a fancy party. It’s a never-ending love. We spoke together on stage in front of several audiences, including a sold out crowd at the Egyptian Theatre in West Hollywood,Los Angeles and a simulcast streamed into an audience at a theater in Atlanta, sponsored by Videodrome Atlanta.
In preparation for these appearances, I made a few notes, to prepare for speaking before a large crowd. Wings introduced me to the audience when he asked me to speak to them about our partnership and future projects as he was so keen to bring his fans forward with us on our future adventures.
My notes turned into an essay, which is now a chapter in an upcoming book about the movie, album and our sustainable studio ™ in Venice Beach, Los Angeles California.
Here is the essay, a preview of the upcoming book :
📰
And here are some links for people to join us on social media.
Come along with us into the future.
Cali Lili & Wings Hauser Forever
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