Lukas Sarnow (they/them/their)

Director and Writer Lukas Sarnow (they/them), brings their expertise in musical theatre and immersive directing techniques to this upbeat, fast-paced, dark comedy. Lukas graduated from Vassar College as a drama major and will matriculate to University of North Carolina Wilmington for Creative Nonfiction (M.F.A.) in the fall. Their work has appeared in California and New York at places like, ‘Fourteen Hills,’ ‘The Tank,’ ‘The Living Gallery,’ and Baruch College.

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Director's Statement: I started writing the film in all honesty out of anger. Growing up in Palo Alto, I’ve lived through big tech gentrification and have seen what the community has lost. It lost its art. I am angry not just with Palo Alto, but with Hollywood as well. I like to ask: Do I see myself in movies? Do I see the people I love? Most of the time, the answer is no. That is why I am making this movie; to show the world loveable, queer, messy characters. The Last Day of Retrograde is set in Palo Alto in 2010 when there was a teenage suicide epidemic. The parallels between then and now ring loud, for both now and then are periods of disturbing upheaval and the question of how to be an artist in a commodity culture remains central to the process of growing up.