5 Questions with Brit Fryer and Noah Schamus ("Across, Beyond, and Over")

Brit Fryer (left), Noah Schamus (right)

1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?

Brit: I was a competitive high school slam poet in Chicago and when I arrive at my small-town college in Minnesota, I needed a new outlet and dove headfirst into my liberal arts film program. I focused on video art, installation, and experimental nonfiction during my four years. After an awe-inspiring campus visit from a senior Sundance programmer, I knew I wanted to continue into this path and figure out how to keep making films after graduation.

Noah: I've been interested in storytelling since I was a kid. I would write and direct (lengthy) plays starring my friends that I forced all of our parents to watch. In high school, I was obsessed with melodrama - I spent a lot of time watching filmmakers like Douglas Sirk, Pedro Almodovar, and also a fair amount of The Real Housewives franchises. (Yes, I consider them melodrama! And still, consider it to be some of the best TV on the air!) I was also really into theatre in high school and I was constantly reading plays. Still, I wasn't entirely sure what I would really want to do in life with my love of watching and creating stories. During my freshman year of college, I took a geology class (interesting and I learned a lot about shale) and a history and theory course on Film Noir. I don't remember much about different geologic formations, but the Film Noir class changed my life. I learned the theoretical and historical underpinnings of why and how image and filmmaking can be and are incredibly powerful tools. Taking the class, something clicked - I wanted to make films, and I wanted to make films that work to shift narrative tropes and deepen our understanding of people who have been traditionally marginalized in culture and on-camera, especially queer folks.

2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?

Brit: A few years ago, I was scrolling on Instagram looking at #ftmfitness (a hashtag for transmasculine folks who love the gym lol), and I saw someone who looked so familiar. It was Ryan — my ex from middle school who I lost contact with. We had some cordial DMs, but the coincidence of seeing Ryan on social media was something I couldn't let go of.

So, I applied for a fellowship with the Jacob Burns Film Center to help develop the project, which is how I figured out how we would try to tell the story, found my crew, the location, and an amazing group of peers to bounce ideas off of.

3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And the easiest part?

Noah: The biggest challenge was allowing things to happen and not scripting everything in advance. I'm primarily a narrative filmmaker and learning to go with the flow and capture moments as they naturally occurred was nerve-wracking for someone who loves to plan and then plan some more.

The easiest part was working with Brit and the crew. It's always a delight to collaborate with Brit who is enormously talented and so engaged and thoughtful as a filmmaker and human.  The rest of the team was an assembly of gifted, warm, and wonderful artists. I'm grateful for the experience of collaborating with everyone who worked on this project!

Brit: DITTO!

4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?

Brit: I just watched Happy Old Year by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, which was one of the best movies I watched in 2020. It was so beautifully shot and bittersweet, which is 100% my vibe.

5) What’s next for you?

Noah: I'm yearning to get back on set, and will hopefully be shooting a short film with some friends once it's safe to do so. I'm also currently developing my first feature film. And I just taught myself to knit, and am making a hat!

Brit: I'm co-producing a coming-of-age narrative feature film by writer/director Kerry LeVielle. We're taking advantage of our time inside to work through some drafts and develop the screenplay.

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britfryer.com and nschamus.com

IG> BF: @britfry. NS: @foodiesdelite