BAMcinemaFest 2013: Q&A with Destin Cretton

by Andrew Chan

This year we round out our BAMcinemaFest line-up with our Closing Night selection, Destin Cretton's Short Term 12, which won the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Award at SXSW and just racked up another prize at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Boasting acclaimed performances from United States of Tara's Brie Larson and The Newsroom's John Gallagher, this powerful drama captures life within a foster care facility, slowly uncovering the troubled past of a 20-something counselor who has a knack for connecting with her at-risk patients. Filmmaker Destin Cretton speaks with us about the filmmaking process, his upbringing in Maui, and what he's been watching recently.

Short Term 12 screens on BAMcinemaFest Closing Night on Friday, June 28.

1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?

I grew up in a small town on Maui called Haiku. Our TV could only catch three channels and my parents didn’t let us watch it much, so it forced my five siblings and me to be outside a lot, creating our own entertainment. We loved making plays and dance routines and choreographed ninja fights. Then my grandma let us borrow her VHS camcorder for a weekend, and we were hooked. I’m not sure if we ever gave it back.

BAMcinemaFest 2013: Q&A with Shaka King

by Allison Kadin

Already named a “rising star of Sundance” (ScreenDaily), Shaka King just keeps getting higher. His debut feature, Newlyweeds, “a charming independent venture that takes chances,” (Indiewire) will be released by Phase 4 Films this September. Come take the first hit of this romantic comedy on June 28 for its New York premiere at BAMcinemaFest. 

Lyle and Nina are living the modern Brooklyn dream: drifting from mediocre day jobs into languid, plant-enhanced nights. While a tale centered on hazy, young Brooklynites may feel familiar to BAM locals, the film reveals the less than idyllic results of a relationship built on smoky foundations. In this  Q&A, find out why King shirked being an “underpaid, overworked, New York City educator” to direct stoner romcoms and develop a TV series about a teenage contract killer.

1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?

During my senior year of college I made a short documentary called Stolen Moments about rap, race, and capitalism. The film sampled clips from music videos and movies (Transformers, Bush Mama by Haile Gerima) juxtaposed with original interviews. I remember sitting with my then and present editor, Kristan Sprague, having such a blast as we manipulated what at the time was an imaginary audience. From that moment it was on.

BAMcinemaFest 2013: Q&A with Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq

by Andrew Chan

Listed by Filmmaker magazine as two of "25 New Faces" on the cinema landscape in 2012, Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq have crafted one of the most visually breathtaking films in this year's BAMcinemaFest line-up. Originally intended as a portrait of revered Pakistani humanitarian Abdul Sattar Edhi, These Birds Walk evolved during the filmmaking process into a heartbreaking but life-affirming chronicle of youth, poverty, and street life in Karachi. In the Q&A below, the directors talk about their influences, the difficulties of shooting in a foreign country, and their favorite recent films.

These Birds Walk screens in BAMcinemaFest on Wednesday, June 26.

1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?

Omar: I always loved movies and thought I knew what they were about, but a good friend in college showed me Husbands by John Cassavetes. Like many people seeing his films for the first time, I found it unwatchable; but I couldn't shake it off and the second time I tried, I thought it a miracle. I walked home knowing I wanted to go for that—whatever it was he was going for.

Bassam: I was a poor college student trying to find ways to make money. I picked up a friend’s camera and started doing small promotional videos. From those small non-profit videos, I learned how to edit and shoot video. I realized I was finding cool ways to tell these otherwise really boring stories. Around then, the idea of making films seemed a little more possible.

BAMcinemaFest 2013: Q&A with Nick Bentgen & Lisa Kjerulff

by Allison Kadin

The crunch of snow, the fast-paced breathing of a runner on a winter’s night, the slow buzz of a snowmobile racing across the white expanse—these are the sounds and images that give Northern Light its impact. Without voiceovers or interviews, the film does all the talking. The annual snowmobile marathon in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula frames a moving portrait of middle-class America, where the quotidian is at once exciting and pointless. 

From the Sunshine State to the frigid landscape of a Midwest winter, producer Lisa Kjerulff had to make some big adjustments while making Northern Light, including purchasing her inaugural pair of snow pants. She and first-time director, Nick Bentgen, remained true to the vérité documentary style despite frozen temps and close to frozen bank accounts. With the help of a successful Kickstarter, the film came to fruition and recently received the Most Innovative Feature at Visions du Réel Festival. Check out their Q&A below where they expound on the process of making a documentary without an initially defined plotline.

1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?

Nick Bentgen: I saw T2 and became obsessed.

Lisa Kjerulff: When I was growing up, my dad was a steadicam operator before he started his own video production company and my mom was always behind the VHS camcorder directing my brother and sisters and me, narrating everything we did. So making movies has always been a part of my life, nothing else ever made as much sense.

BAMcinemaFest: Q&A with Zach Clark

by Susan Yung

How is it that around the holidays you can be surrounded by cheerful humanity and yet feel utterly alone? Zach Clark's White Reindeer (screening June 23 as part of BAMcinemaFest) stars Anna Margaret Hollyman (Gayby) as a Virginia real estate agent dealing with personal tragedy at the worst time of year. She strains to put on a good front in her encounters with swinging neighbors, strip joints, and garish department stores. It's a subversive look at this emotionally fraught season and the desperate measures people take in search of fulfillment. Drawing comparisons to the films of Douglas Sirk and John Waters, White Reindeer was an official selection at SXSW and winner of Best Feature at the Boston Underground Film Festival. Zach Clark reveals his cinematic inspirations and details about his newest project.

1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?
I saw Tim Burton's Ed Wood when I was 12 and started renting from an indie video store when I was about 14. I got into cult movies, Euro-art-house, and auteur Hollywood stuff and around that time inherited my grandfather's video camera. Haven't stopped since.



BAMcinemaFest 2013: Q&A with Ben Nabors

by Claire Frisbie

In 2001, Malawian teenager William Kamkwamba built a windmill from scrap metal and a worn out tractor blade, bringing electricity to his town of sixty families. This caught the eyes of the TEDGlobal conference, and specifically an American entrepreneur named Tom Rielly, who took William under his wing and transformed him into a media darling with a bestselling memoir, a movie deal, and a scholarship to Dartmouth.

In his beautifully shot documentary William and the Windmill, Brooklyn filmmaker Ben Nabors follows William and Tom for five years, focusing less on William's initial accomplishment and more on his subsequent growth and struggles, and the crucial role Tom has played throughout. Through interviews with William, Tom, William's family, teachers, and others, the film touches upon numerous issues surrounding activism and aid in developing countries, Western interpretations of success, and the complicated pressures and expectations that come with fame.

William and the Windmill received the SXSW Grand Jury Prize for best documentary, and screens this Saturday at BAMcinemaFest at 1:30pm. Nabors will participate in a Q&A following the screening.

1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?
I always wanted to make movies but I never considered it to be a realistic option. Making movies seemed too far-fetched, or too fantastic. I grew up in a small town, and that probably checked my aspirations a bit; people didn't make movies where I lived. Storytelling, in the general sense, seemed like a more tangible goal, so I spent my time writing rather than using the family camcorder. When I moved to New York in 2004, filmmaking was more of a reality.

BAMcinemaFest 2013: Q&A with Michael Bilandic

By Nathan Gelgud

Is director Michael Bilandic the Kanye West of movies? Well, he certainly could have called his latest comedy My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Actually, he probably couldn’t have called it beautiful: While rapper West polishes his blemishes until they look like gems, Hellaware is rough enough to scrape the eyeballs. While shot by skilled cinematographer Sean Price Williams (who lensed BAMcinemaFest favorite The Color Wheel), it sometimes looks like it was filmed with outdated technology by a demented amateur. In a good way. Sort of.

More importantly, like His Yeeziness, Bilandic makes stuff that you feel he had to make. He makes images and tells jokes that are struggling to get out of him. Sometimes with other young filmmakers it seems that they decide to make a movie first, then figure out what it should be about. Not Bilandic—he’s a filmmaker possessed. The rough look of Bilandic’s work feels both like a result of its urgency and a considered aesthetic decision. In this Q&A, finding out that the culture he most wants to contribute to consists of movies like Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid and Sleepaway Camp III confirms this impression.

Hellaware has its world premiere at BAMcinemaFest on Saturday, June 22.

1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?

Hanging out at Tower Video in junior high, seeing VHS boxes for movies like Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid, Kamikaze '89, Liquid Sky, and Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland. I knew I wanted to contribute to that culture... And I still do!

BAMcinemaFest 2013 Opening Night Party

Film artists and aficionados alike flocked to the Harvey Theater and Skylight One Hanson last night for the opening night of BAMcinemaFest 2013, the fifth anniversary of the annual festival.

The evening began with the premiere of David Lowery’s gritty drama Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, starring Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, and Ben Foster. Audiences were also introduced to the brand-new Steinberg Screen, BAM’s newest artistic expansion, which transforms the historic Harvey Theater into Brooklyn’s largest movie palace.

Guests watching the premiere of Ain't Them Bodies Saints on the brand new Steinberg Screen in the Harvey Theater

After the film, guests were ushered down the street to Skylight One Hanson where they were treated to a fair-themed extravaganza in the beautiful and unique venue. DJ Monk-One set the tone with an eclectic mix of dance music while partygoers snacked on the sweet and savory treats displayed in the candy bar at the center of the room. Décor designer Fleurs Bella mixed towering greens and enormous blooms with silver balloons, and caterer Great Performances served up pulled pork sliders and nachos.

BAMcinemaFest 2013: Q&A with Martha Shane and Lana Wilson

by Jessica Goldschmidt

After Tiller is the feature-length directing debut of Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, two Brooklyn-based filmmakers and friends who teamed up to chronicle the abortion-rights battle. The film follows the only four doctors left in the US who still perform third-trimester abortions, painting a wrenchingly honest, unbiased portrait of the dangers they and their patients have faced every day since the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in 2009.

After Tiller screens at BAMcinemaFest on Saturday, June 22.

1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?

Martha: I decided that I wanted to make movies when I was working on Bi the Way, a documentary that I started producing the year after I graduated from college. I was standing in a field full of longhorn steer, asking a rancher about his opinions on bisexuality, and I just couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be.

Lana: I had always fantasized about becoming a filmmaker one day, but had never had the courage to act on it. In 2009, I became obsessed with why the news media was only covering the Dr. Tiller assassination story in such a polarizing, political way, always painting him as this dramatic symbol of controversy rather than as a complex human being. I started asking myself, “When is someone going to make a film that looks at this Tiller stuff in a different way?” I was ranting endlessly about how someone should do this Tiller film, when finally my exasperated then-boyfriend said, “Lana, the only thing stopping you from becoming a filmmaker is just making a film.” It turns out that he was right.

BAMcinemaFest 2013: Q&A with Eliza Hittman

by Andrew Chan

This year's BAMcinemaFest lineup features an incredibly strong selection of films about adolescence, each told from its own unique perspective. Eliza Hittman's South Brooklyn-set debut feature, It Felt Like Love, has already earned praise from The New Yorker for its "incisive and surprising dialogue... quietly vulnerable performances, and well-conceived and emotionally demanding way with the camera." Bringing to the American indie an emotional intensity reminiscent of great European filmmakers like Maurice Pialat and Catherine Breillat, the film burrows into the subjective experience of its young heroine, fearlessly evoking the turmoil of adolescent sexuality. In this Q&A, Hittman discusses her experience as a first-time filmmaker and the challenges of depicting such sensitive subject matter.

It Felt Like Love screens in BAMcinemaFest on Friday, June 21.

1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?

I started out working in theater, directing small, unconventional plays in New York. I knew I had an interest and passion for directing, but my enthusiasm for theater died. I always loved American independent film. I used to cut classes in high school and see movies by myself at the Angelika. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I was exposed to a few Columbia student short films. I was really tempted to make something, but I was intimidated by the technical side of filmmaking. I had also never written anything before. I decided to go to graduate school at CalArts, to challenge myself and see if I could make films.

BAMcinemaFest 2013: Q&A with Farihah Zaman

By Cynthia Lugo

Remote Area Medical is a film that captures, with brutal honesty, the sickening reality of uninsured patients who rely on a pop-up medical clinic set up annually at Bristol, Tennessee's NASCAR speedway. Filmed over a three-day period, the husband and wife team Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman chose to concentrate on the emotional stories of individuals who cannot afford basic medical and dental care. It is through these troubling stories that the larger problems of the American healthcare system come into laser-like focus.

Zaman was kind enough to answer a few questions for us in advance of the screening on Sunday, June 23 at 1:30pm. Directors Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman will participate in a Q&A.

1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?

Both of us had a love of cinema from a very young age. My parents were into old Bollywood movies, but I felt like my eyes were really opened when they showed my sisters and I the films of Satyajit Ray. Jeff’s parents owned a small art house movie theater when he was growing up, and from the tender age of eight he would help out, taking tickets and ushering in audiences.

BAMcinemaFest 2013: Q&A with Matthew Porterfield

By Alexandra Siladi

I Used to Be Darker, director Matthew Porterfield’s deceptively delicate portrait of divorce, captures a feeling of June gloom in the best possible way. Co-written by Amy Belk and Matthew Porterfield, the film tells the story of runaway Taryn (played by lithe newcomer, Canadian actress Deragh Campbell), who shows up unexpectedly at her aunt and uncle’s house, not knowing she has arrived right in the middle of their separation. Much like the filmmaker’s previous critical success Putty Hill (which screened in BAMcinemaFest 2010), the cast is comprised of actors whose lives become intertwined with those of their characters, so that the boundaries of reality and fiction are blurred.

The songs created by the film’s stars and accomplished real life musicians Kim Taylor and Ned Oldham fit perfectly into the story of the couple they play, a pair of artists whose heartbreaking music provides an understated backdrop that blends seamlessly into the film’s emotional score. Taryn and her cousin Abby, played by Deragh’s real life best friend Hannah Gross, attempt to navigate the confusion of reconnecting and disconnecting. Dreamily shot by Jeremy Saulnier, the Baltimore summer landscape is a satisfying contrast to the darkness embraced in this unique family drama.

I Used to Be Darker screens at BAMcinemafest on Friday, June 21. The screening will be followed by a live concert with star Kim Taylor at BAMcafé. The film will be released by Strand later this year. 

BAMcinemaFest 2013: Q&A with Chad Hartigan

by Andrew Chan

A hit on this year’s festival circuit and the winner of the Best of NEXT Award at the Sundance Film Festival, Chad Hartigan’s sophomore feature This Is Martin Bonner has earned praise for its “evanescent, secular spirituality” (Variety) and “empathetic honesty” (The Hollywood Reporter). The tale of a divorced, middle-aged Australian expat adrift in his new adopted home of Reno, the film chronicles his unexpected, fast-growing friendship with a just-released felon and the kinship they share in their sense of loss. Hartigan, who will participate in a Q&A after the screening of his film at BAMcinemaFest this week, took the time to answer some of our questions:

1. When and how did you come to know you wanted to make movies?
It was really while attending North Carolina School of the Arts for undergrad film school. In high school, I was really into theater and wanted to be a movie star but had no interest in going to college for acting, so I went to film school as a backdoor way into film acting. But then I actually fell in love with the process of directing and my good looks started to fade anyway so it worked out great.

2. What would you be doing if you weren't a filmmaker?
My dream was to always be a professional soccer player. I grew up in Europe and have always loved the game, but I stopped playing when we moved to the States because I got asthma from the humidity in Virginia. So if film or the arts weren't an option, I would definitely try to find work in the football world. I still aim to one day make the first great soccer film.

BAMcinemaFest: And the Memory Lingers On

Now that the fourth edition of BAMcinemaFest is officially over, now that the final Q&As have been moderated and the posters have been taken down and the last ping-pongs have been volleyed, nostalgia is beginning to set in at the BAMcinématek office. A valedictory melancholy... You probably feel it too, so come reminisce with us as we look back on the beautiful friendships we were able to make happen with the help of the good people at Reverse Shot and a few filmmakers who were willing to wander around, chat about their films, and basically just act the fool with us at some of our favorite spots around Brooklyn.

Same time next year!

Mike Birbiglia (Sleepwalk With Me) and Jonathan Lisecki (Gayby) tell gay baby jokes at Frank's Cocktail Lounge in Fort Greene


Ry Russo-Young (Nobody Walks), Tim Sutton (Pavilion), and Keith Miller (Welcome to Pine Hill) frolic at the DUMBO waterfront


The Safdies (The Black Balloon) sell Ample Hills ice cream and get into a dispute with a customer


Craig Zobel (Compliance) and Glenn McQuaid (V/H/S) have a late-night, after-hours skulk in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery


Documentary duos Brian M. Cassidy & Melanie Shatzky (The Patron Saints) and Jessica Wolfson & Paul Lovelace (Radio Unnameable) shoot some pool, roll some gutter balls, and discuss their filmmaking partnerships.

Bob Gruen: Rock 'N' Roll's Favorite Iconographer

The list of subjects Bob Gruen has captured in his photography could double as a roll-call of virtually every musician who achieved rock-god status in the '60s and '70s. Apart from landing an unimaginably sweet gig as John Lennon’s personal photographer during his New York years, Gruen also made icons of the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and many others. Today his portfolio (which includes legendary images of a triumphant Led Zeppelin, an inebriated Iggy Pop, and Tina Turner in all her hyperkinetic glory) serves as a comprehensive archive of an era when rock music came into its own as a symbol of rebellion and creative vitality.

Rock ‘N’ Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen screens on Sunday, July 1 at 8pm as the (free!) Closing Night selection of BAMcinemaFest and will be followed by a Q&A with Gruen and an after-party. Below are a few greatest hits from his extraordinary career.

Tina Turner live at Honka Monka Club in New York City, 1970

Led Zeppelin, New York, 1973

The Rolling Stones live at Madison Square Garden, 1972

John Lennon, New York City, 1974

Joan Jett, Sunset Marquis, Los Angeles, 1976

Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry, Backstage in Toronto, 1977

The Sex Pistols in Luxembourg, 1977

The Clash live in Boston, 1979

The Ramones live at CBGB, 1979

Green Day at Top of the Rock, May 2009

Q&A with Matthew Nolan (co-composer of a new live The Adventures of Prince Achmed score)

On the Closing Night of BAMcinemaFest, we will be turning our attention away from the best in contemporary independent cinema for a special screening of the oldest surviving animated feature, Lotte Reiniger's The Adventures of Prince Achmed. This whimsical, visually spectacular retelling of The Arabian Nights utilizes cardboard cutouts manipulated on illuminated glass and enhanced with gorgeous color tinting. The film has already inspired a wide range of diverse composers to take their stab at re-scoring it, and this year we welcome BAM favorites 3epkano back to our cinemas to debut their own musical interpretation. 3epkano members Matthew Nolan and Cameron Doyle will be joined by avant-garde cellist Erik Friedlander, a frequent collaborator of John Zorn and a major figure in New York's experimental downtown scene.

Nolan, who is also a lecturer on film in Dublin, took time to speak with us about his interest in early silent film and his methods of composing. We are proud to be able to share a new video from 3epkano's latest album, Hans the Reluctant Wolf Juggler, featuring acclaimed Irish dancer Liv O'Donoghue. Below you can also get a taste of some of the music from the Achmed score.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed will screen on Sun, July 1 at 6pm.


How did you become interested in scoring silent films?
It began with an experience I had watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari at the Irish Film Institute eight years ago. I watched it completely silently, which sparked my interest in the musical possibilities of cinema of that period. Cameron Doyle and I booked a theater and a film print from the British Film Institute, pulled together some musicians, and set ourselves a tough goal over a two month period, not knowing what the next step would be after that. Then it kind of snowballed. A huge amount of people attended, since it was an unusual kind of event, and we kept receiving offers to play again. That’s how we built up relationships with institutions like the Goethe Institute in Dublin.

How did you connect with BAM?
Well, this will be our fifth performance with BAM. The first was in 2007, and the initial approach was with a woman named Juliana Camfield. I reached out to her from Dublin, and I went to meet her, just for a chat. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular; I just wanted to talk about the scene in New York, what possibilities there were. She made a few suggestions of repertory cinemas. The one that really turned into a lovely relationship was Florence Almozini at BAM. We sent emails and had a really extended telephone conversation, and Florence had lived in Dublin, so we just got on really well. That initial spark was what brought us over.

What brought you to The Adventures of Prince Achmed?
I had been looking to do something with an early animated film. I became acquainted with Lotte Reiniger’s work only a couple of years ago and was really struck by how sophisticated it is, and also how simple it is. She draws the spectator into this imaginary world, and there’s something emotionally resonant and powerful about the technique she used and the type of stories she chose to work with. Also it’s quite experimental in its own way, which lent itself well to sonic experimentation, something that we like to be able to engage in when we start music for a new project. If that kind of latitude isn’t there, then we tend not to be attracted to it.

How did you hear of Reiniger's work?
I lecture in film studies at a couple universities, so I learned of her through my own research interests. My passion is always leading me to treasures.

Can you tell me about the process of composing a silent-film score?
The working methodology I begin with doesn’t involve music at all. I just watch the film over and over again, trying to discern an emotional subtext. Once I’m confident we’ve discerned that, then we think of musical motifs that resonate with that subtext. This was our first collaboration with another musician, and Erik was really happy to work with us. This was new terrain for him. He is a hugely experienced composer and improviser, so finding creative ground wasn’t a problem. But that initial process of just watching and not touching an instrument is important, because we want to respect the film.

How did you meet and decide to collaborate with Erik Friedlander?
My wife discovered him as a musician and artist and she got me listening to him. I curate a music festival in Ireland, the Kilkenny Art Festival, and I invited Erik to perform at that. And we just kept in touch. I proposed a project a year and a half ago and that morphed into what we’re doing at BAM. Two of the musicians are relatively new collaborators, so we’re rehearsing more diligently than we may have done—we have to be extremely prepared to play with someone of Erik Friedlander’s caliber.

3epkano's new video, "River Bank":


Riverbank Music Video from 3epkano video on Vimeo.

Producer: Matthew Nolan
Performer: Liv O'Donoghue
Director/Editor: Kenny Leigh
Director of Photography: Sean Leonard
Camera Operators: Sean Leonard, Damien Dunne, Niall Cullinane
Makeup: Julianna Grogan
Wardrobe: Ciara O' Donovan
Colorist: Damien Dunne

A sample of the new score for The Adventures of Prince Achmed, written and performed by Erik Friedlander and 3epkano's Matthew Nolan and Cameron Doyle in collaboration with Bryan O'Connell and Steve Shannon:

Q&A with Tim Sutton (director of Pavilion)

Praised as "exquisite beginning to end" by Amy Taubin of Artforum, Pavilion captures the beauty and turmoil of adolescence in a series of hypnotic images drawn from two distinct landscapes. When the film's young protagonist moves from a lakeside town in upstate New York to live with his unemployed father in suburban Arizona, he faces the challenges of life in transition. But despite dark thematic undercurrents that only gradually become apparent, the film is an often rapturous portrait of one teenage summer. Paring plot and dialogue down to the bare essentials, Brooklyn filmmaker Tim Sutton imbues each shot with the inchoate anxieties and desires of his characters as they ride their bikes, strike up friendships, and experience the last moments of their youth.

Tim Sutton spoke with us about the film, which will screen on Thursday, June 28 at 7pm, followed by a Q&A.

What drives you to make films?
I guess I just feel an incredible passion for filmmaking as an art form that incorporates so many languages and styles and forms and mediums. If you leave out the sales agents, cinema as storytelling can keep evolving infinitely. I watch anything from L’Eclisse to Beau travail to Gummo right up to Beginners and Beasts of the Southern Wild—films that offer you a path into a world that doesn’t necessarily stop when the film ends. When I made 7, the process was so alive that it felt like we were cutting through the frame into something deeper and, in its own small, home-made way, infinite.

Photograph by Robin Holland

What films have served as inspiration in your work?
I mention some above but, for Pavilion in particular, La Vie de Jesus by Bruno Dumont, Ballast by Lance Hammer, Last Days by Gus Van Sant—all films that introduce their own language to the form and create their own sense of time, rather than dealing with a familiar story arc.

What are some the challenges you faced while making Pavilion?
The biggest challenge was also the most pleasurable part of it, which was constructing and reconstructing the story every day so that it would be this breathing, sweating, entirely alive process while still creating a narrative that would connect emotionally, visually, tonally. Every scene and shot is by design, but that design was constantly in flux. This was an exhausting process for all of us, but it kept everyone in it—eyes open, always collaborating. Our production assistant grabbed a camera during a reloading session and captured a moment vital to the story. Our lead scout was a high school kid who had just had a knack for knowing what I wanted to see in the background. At any moment it all could have fallen apart but the process felt vital and full of risk and, most of all, meaningful, and it wouldn’t have if we were just following something I had written a year before.

You have an affinity for youth—could you speak about what drew you to making a film about teenagers (and also about your other brainchild, Video Kid Brooklyn)?
I feel like adults always try to define kids and, well, kids are indefinable—and that is fascinating. As an educator (I run a film school for kids called Video Kid Brooklyn), I’m pretty amazed by kids’ ability to explain the world with such clarity and color, one observation to the next, and then just go into their own world for a few minutes and come out of it somewhere else completely. As a filmmaker, I simply tried to visually describe what that looks like (what they do, where they go) rather than trying to figure out what they think or forcing too much of a recognizable plot that would have felt unreal. I wanted to make something so real and, at the same time, a waking dream, so that the film felt like it could hang out in a bedroom for a while or swim in the lake without the thought of having to get out or feel lonely and have no one to talk to while watching cars pass by on a highway—in essence, be in the film with them.

Can you tell us about the process of choosing locations, what you wanted to communicate in the character’s move from East to West, and any difficulties you encountered shooting in those locations?
I knew that our approach to story and character was going to be kind of out there so I wanted a very concrete larger storyline to serve as a goalpost—a kid moves from East to West, one parent to the other, from lush green surroundings and a sense of safety to a barren, sun-baked and just-dangerous-enough landscape. If we had that line, how we got there day-to-day, scene by scene, and shot by shot was something I felt comfortable discovering as we went. I knew we would find the Arizona kids—but we were shooting and auditioning simultaneously and were so lucky to find the group we did because their world then opened up to us, and in that world we found both intimacy and darkness out on what felt like the edge of our country—so we really travelled through what felt like a psyche of American youth.

Kickstarter has become an important part of how many American independent films get funded. Can you speak about about your experience using it (or other online platforms you’ve used to get your films made)?
Kickstarter has taken the hardest and most miserable part of filmmaking—fundraising—and made it a thrilling, community-building experience during which you can find an audience, make great connections and raise more money than you had planned. It’s like a bizarro world. Other than that it pushed me to do two things: frame the film and the story of making the film for the public eye and, second, throw away any fear of asking for support. From day one I have truly believed in Pavilion as an art film and Kickstarter was a platform on which I could state that with passion.

The film's score was composed by Sam Prekop of The Sea and Cake. He and bandmate Archer Prewitt will be performing in the BAMcinemaFest Lounge after the screening on Thursday. Below is a sample of the music you will hear in the film:

Q&A with Paul Lovelace and Jessica Wolfson (directors of Radio Unnameable)

Beginning in 1962, native Brooklynite Bob Fass has been at the forefront of broadening the political and cultural role of the late-night FM airwaves with his WBAI show Radio Unnameable. With its title alluding to a plotless, disjointed Samuel Beckett novel, the broadcast evolved into a showcase for random, unplanned content that captured the social chaos of New York in the 60s. Fass, who would come to be known as the "father of free-form radio," improvised much of his nightly show, throwing together music, live arguments among multiple callers, and interviews with leftist figures like Abbie Hoffman, Ed Sanders, and Allen Ginsburg and musicians like Bob Dylan and Muddy Waters. As the show drew more listeners, it became a forum for a wide range of political reportage, community organizing, and eyewitness accounts of urban conflict.

With unprecedented access to Fass' personal archives, BAMcinemaFest alums Jessica Wolfson and Paul Lovelace have crafted a compelling portrait of a pioneer and the era he helped to document. As a New Yorker profile of Fass in 2006 points out, much has changed about radio and WBAI over the past few decades, as audiences have splintered and the spirit of the 60s has faded. But the 78-year-old legend has lasted on WBAI for almost 50 years, bringing a tireless energy and political engagement to his broadcast, and giving the spotlight to a broad spectrum of voices that often go unheard in our community.

Photograph by Robin Holland

Radio Unnameable screens at BAMcinemaFest on Tuesday, June 26 at 7pm. Lovelace, Wolfson, and Fass will be in attendance for a Q&A.

Wolfson and Lovelace have kindly made some sample audio from Fass' radio show available for streaming. You can find the clips at the bottom of the Q&A.

What drives you to make films?

It’s hard for either one of us to imagine doing anything else. One aspect we both love is the collaborative process. For this film there were countless individuals who helped along the way. But our cinematographer John Pirozzi and editor Greg Wright both had a large hand in shaping the film. Nothing beats the feeling on a shoot or in the edit room when you are brainstorming, disagreeing, agreeing, disagreeing more, trying things out, and all of a sudden you’re exactly where you need to be. Another fun part of making a documentary such as Radio Unnameable is the copious amount of research involved. We got to meet a plethora of fascinating characters and dug into some tasty archives, first and foremost the collection belonging to our subject, Bob Fass.

What films have served as inspiration in your work?
New York City in the late night hours serves as a backdrop for much of our film, so visually we were inspired by classic film noir (The Naked City and Where the Sidewalk Ends, to name two favorites). Alphaville is another film that has its own distinct cinematic universe. Amos Poe’s The Foreigner also. Other filmmakers we admire that have used New York City as a canvas to great effect are Jem Cohen, Shirley Clarke, Ken Jacobs, Martin Scorsese, among many others. And of course classic character study documentaries from filmmakers like the Maysles.

What are some of the challenges you faced while making Radio Unnameable?
Radio is an aural medium so the biggest challenge was how to make it visually interesting. For the most part, our goal was not to take a literal approach. Sometimes the visuals match with the audio, but more often it is a visceral feeling we are trying to get across. We were very fortunate to have the run of Bob Fass’ incredible photographs. He was on the scene at every happening and anti-war demonstration with camera in hand, in addition to holding a portable tape recorder. And in those days the equipment was rather bulky. He jokes about it, saying he felt like “the Hunchback of Mixed Media.” Additionally, we did a lot of outreach and were able to locate and integrate some amazing material from a plethora of filmmakers and photographers, many who were listeners of Radio Unnameable and participated in the events Bob helped organize.

How did you become interested in Bob Fass’ show as the subject of a documentary, and how did you get access to his archives? How long did it take to sift through all that material?
Paul’s previous film was The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose (co-directed with Sam Wainwright Douglas) about the psychedelic folk duo from New York City. They were on Radio Unnameable many times in the 60s and 70s, especially co-founder Peter Stampfel, who is still sort of a regular. Peter would talk about this crazy and great radio program that was unlike anything on the air, then and now. We also heard that Bob Fass had in his possession an unprecedented audio archive, so we were curious.

As far as the archive goes, Bob has a massive collection of still photographs, video, ephemera and a ton of audio. He has been on WBAI since 1962 and for the first 15 years, Radio Unnameable was on five nights a week, six hours at a time, so that’s a lot of live radio! Neither one of us had worked with open reel audio before, which is how all of the shows pre-1977 were recorded. In 2008, a small army of volunteers gathered to help us organize the materials that had been sitting in Bob’s home for many years. Slowly we began transferring these reels to a more accessible digital format. We listened to hundreds of Radio Unnameable recordings and were surprised how great and fresh the show still sounded. For the film, we were pulling from thousands of hours of audio, choosing the best moments, editing it down to just a few minutes. It was a lot of work! There is still a lot of material not in the film that we hope will see the light of day and become accessible when the film is released. Some of it can already be heard on our website.

A playlist of clips from Radio Unnameable, including discussions with callers, an interview with Paul Krassner, and reportage from Abbie Hoffman:

An Interview with Dan Sallitt, director of The Unspeakable Act

Dan Sallitt filming The Unspeakable Act.
Photo by Jaime Christley 

The Unspeakable Act screens at BAMcinemaFest on Sunday, June 24 at 9:30pm. A Q&A with Dan Sallitt, Sky Hirschkron, Tallie Medel, and others follows the screening.

You’re a Brooklyn-based filmmaker as well as a dedicated cinephile. Can you tell me a little bit about what the Brooklyn filmmaking scene is like and how that impacted the making of your film? Do you feel like you’re a part of the Brooklyn film community? Do you think there is a Brooklyn film renaissance? 

I’m feeling the local film-going community a little more now at this stage because people are interested in the fact that the film is shot in Brooklyn and has almost a small town look—the look of Ditmas Park and Midwood, and that community especially seems to be very interested in it. Now about the Brooklyn filmmaking scene—you’re asking a hard one because traditionally filmmakers in the old days before the internet would be a little more solitary than they had to be, and these days it’s not that way at all. Now [the filmmaking scene] is cross-country and even international because people meet at festivals where they don’t all come from the same place. I do feel as if now I’m part of a filmmaking group and I really like it—there are some really nice, interested, and talented people. I don’t know how many of them are Brooklyn people—I know a few, for instance Sophia Takal and Larry Levine who did Green and Gabi on the Roof in July, respectively. I could probably think of some others, but the localness doesn’t seem as important in this day and age when the internet and the festival circuit are connecting people.

Your film is full of recognizable Brooklyn locations—Prospect Park especially, and even the pizza was from Di Fara’s. Do you feel like the locations are important to your film? Did you go through the process of obtaining permits and if so, what was that like?

There are two levels to that question—the first question is where you wind up shooting and the second level is what you do once you get there. I actually think I conceived my film for a small town in Pennsylvania, which is where I grew up. When I found a location in Brooklyn, it was important for me (and a lot of fun) to localize it in the way that you’re talking about, to root it as much as I could in stuff that goes on here, and to put in as many things that I could that were real—so the walk she takes to the school at the end is really the walk from her house. I wanted the geography of Ditmas Park and Midwood to be respected as much as I could. There’s one place that I couldn’t do it perfectly because of construction and it really kills me, still! But I used the real Decemberists concert in Prospect Park in the movie, and when she names the schools in the neighborhood, I made sure they were the correct schools.

If you shoot somewhere like Prospect Park, it’s out of the question not to have a permit. You can’t get in, and you will get rousted immediately if you try. Once you have a city permit you might as well use it. When I shot in Pennsylvania for my last film, I didn’t get permits nor did I feel like I particularly needed them or that anyone cared very much. But in all the scenes where I did location shooting in New York, I had a permit. Maybe some people are chaos-loving and don’t mind going out not knowing if there’re going to be busted or not, but I’m not that way. I did actually wind up shooting unpermitted in Fort Greene Park—we kind of took a chance because no one answered my request for permission, and it turned out that was ok. But on the whole we were law-abiding.

Q&A with Jonathan Lisecki (director of Gayby)

In Jonathan Lisecki's feature debut, Gayby, two old college friends—a straight woman and a gay man—try to alleviate the loneliness of the single life with some cross-orientation baby-making. Laughter ensues, of course, but what makes this a unique take on a now-classic comic scenario are Lisecki's insights into modern family and friendship, his emotional investment in his characters, and the film's lifelike portrait of New York. Adapted from an award-winning short film of the same name, Gayby is filled to the brim with snappy dialogue and witty one-liners (impeccably delivered by a cast of New York theater regulars and Lisecki in a wonderful supporting role), but it also wears its heart on its sleeve. Lisecki spoke with us about the real-life origins of the film's story and the process of getting the film made.

Gayby will screen at BAMcinemaFest on Friday, June 22 at 9:15pm, followed by a Q&A with Jonathan Lisecki and cast members Jenn Harris and Matthew Wilkas.

What drives you to make films?
Usually, it was the production van driven by someone who had a license, although sometimes I took a cab. See, I can’t help being silly—I come from a family of storytellers. I think we share our viewpoints to help people understand us a little bit better. I’ve been active as an actor and director since my college years. Until around 2007, I had been mostly doing theater in NYC. Then I taught myself some basic filmmaking skills and made two shorts. In the theater, I would experience this sadness when a project was finished, because I couldn’t share it with as many people as I wanted. Film opens up such a vast audience. It also allows me to work in a fast-paced, incredibly fun way with actors. I know some amazing actors from my days in the theater—I love getting to share them with the rest of the world.

What films have served as inspiration in your work?

Matthew Wilkas, Jonathan Lisecki, and Jenn Harris
Photograph by Robin Holland

I’m especially drawn to comedies and dialogue-driven movies. I often go back to His Girl Friday, All About Eve, the early films of Hal Hartley, Laura, Network—movies with amazing, rapid-fire dialogue. Some TV shows nailed that style as well. Particularly Moonlighting, which I have on DVD and which really holds up well. And although it has nothing to do with this film, one should always mention The Comeback as a breakthrough TV comedy.

What are some of the challenges you faced while making Gayby?
Things went wrong in the usual ways, and there was so little time to react. Halfway through the shoot we were thrown out of one location because the neighbors noticed us sneaking in an entire film crew without permission. We tried to claim we were caterers, but then they saw someone walking in with cans of paint. In one evening we managed to find a place that was a visual match for the location we lost. We also had to recast an actress at the same time. I made a bunch of calls in the middle of the night and we went back to filming the following morning. The best thing about our crew was that even though the situation was stressful and serious we all couldn’t stop laughing because it was so absurd. And we just kept going. There was no stopping Gayby.

The gay male-straight female friendship has been a popular subject of comedy (in both sitcoms and films) for at least the past decade. How do you feel about past portrayals of this subject, and do you have any thoughts on where your film fits in that context?
I actually haven’t seen most of the popular movies and shows of this type. I assume you’re referring to the Jennifer Aniston/Madonna rom-com films and Will and Grace. For years I was lucky not to own a TV, and I never saw an episode of Will and Grace. I simply made my version of a story I wanted to tell. I don’t think there are many truly new stories to be told, but the way I tell this one and others will always be unique to my viewpoint.

There’s been much talk about the “gayby boom” in recent years. How much of the film is based on personal experience or friends’ experiences with this phenomenon?
This story is based on a baby who didn’t happen. A friend and I had a vague plan to have a baby together if we didn’t meet someone else by a set time, but she ended up having a baby with someone else. I think I made the short version of Gayby as some sort of art therapy to deal with the sadness of that option going away. The film is my imagining of what it would have been like to go through with that pact, in a farcical mode. But some people do sense that faint sadness underneath.

Kickstarter has become an important part of how many American independent films get funded. Can you speak about about your experience using it (or other online platforms you’ve used to get your films made)?
Perhaps the most amazing thing about Kickstarter is that you can start building an audience for your film even before you shoot it. That was our experience, at least. People who donate on Kickstarter feel a sense of personal involvement in the project: they want to come see it, they post about it on Facebook, they tweet and blog and such. They become a part of the process because they are true contributors. Of course, the money is great too, but we did Kickstarter more so that we could have an excited fanbase out there waiting for us when Gayby was ready to go out into the world.