Filmmaker breaks traditional barriers with controversial Facade of Desire

As the semester comes to a close at Syracuse University, one student filmmaker prepares to debut a project that transcends traditional student films: a professional premiere of his short film at Movie Tavern in Camillus.

Cortez Campos‘ film Facade of Desire will screen on at 6 p.m. Sunday, marking a significant achievement for a student production at SU’s Visual and Performing Arts’ film and media arts program.

“This is a professional short film,” Campos said. “We took the precautions and the necessary measures to make it a professional short film, and I think that is a big differentiator for our film.”

Facade of Desire tells the story of Jayden, a wealthy college filmmaker living what Campos described as “a life of abundance.” He meets an actress named Abby during auditions for his own short film. The narrative explores college hookup culture through a satirical lens that he compares to “Wolf of Wall Street-style, but in college.”

The idea for the film struck Campos during a trip to Niagara Falls last April to see the solar eclipse.

“It was like, boom, it came to me,” he said. “Everyone was making fun of me because as soon as I had the idea, I started writing it down in my phone. Everyone’s like, ‘Aren’t you looking at this?’ I’m like, ‘If I don’t write this down, it’s going to go away.'”

Campos quoted Martin Scorsese’s approach to satire, the rapid-fire dialogue of The Social Network, and even the witty exchanges in the classic film Casablanca as inspirations for his project.

What makes Facade of Desire stand out among the Syracuse film program is its intentional challenge to conventional student film standards. While the film program emphasizes visual storytelling over dialogue, Campos intended to create a dialogue-heavy script. The film also pushes boundaries by including intimacy scenes (with an intimacy coordinator on set) and being 31 minutes long — significantly longer than the typical 5-10 minute student productions.

“Film school doesn’t really teach you how to make dialogue,” Campos said. “They actually emphasize trying to make a film without dialogue because they want to emphasize visual storytelling. But the issue with this is everyone in the world just watches movies with dialogue.”

The film’s journey has faced quite a bit of controversy. Early script drafts were leaked throughout the film program — reaching even students studying abroad in Prague — leading to what Campos describes as “misinformation” about the film’s content and intentions.

“When the script got leaked, people would read it, interpret it their own way, and not go to any creator attached to the project saying, ‘Hey, what’s your vision behind executing this?'” Campos said.

This led to misunderstandings about how certain scenes would be filmed, particularly around the film’s treatment of college hookup culture and intimacy. Campos noted that reading a script without visual context can lead to misinterpretations of how scenes appear on screen.

Despite these challenges, the film received approval from faculty after review, though Campos reports facing “a lot of efforts by both students and faculty to cancel the production” during its making.

As a satire, Facade of Desire addresses multiple themes. Among them include: college hookup culture, wealth corruption, and the mistreatment of actors in the film industry. Campos emphasizes that the film doesn’t necessarily paint hookup culture as entirely negative but explores “the potential negative effects of hookup culture” and the confusion many college students express about modern relationship dynamics.

Visual storytelling plays a crucial role in establishing the film’s satirical tone. Campos explained how lighting and visual contrasts help communicate meaning beyond what could be conveyed in the script alone.

With Sunday’s premiere approaching, Facade of Desire is a testament to filmmaking that pushes institutional and creative boundaries — whether those boundaries are appreciated or not.

“This film is unique because it pushes so many things that we don’t see,” Campos said. “And that’s nothing wrong with that. But this film is unique because it pushes boundaries.”