5 Questions with Michelle Uranowitz
1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?
My background is in theatre. As a child, I spent a majority of my time in school musicals/plays and extracurricular theatre classes. It gave me permission to be a weirdo and provided me with a diversity of friendships that made me understand the world in a deeper way. I had the privilege of studying theatre in college, where I fancied myself a very serious Actor (capital A), which essentially just meant my head was very far up my own ass. Once I graduated, I faced the cold reality that making it as an actor in theatre, or film, is a thankless pursuit. So, I decided I’d just work in retail! Anyway, a few years later, I met my partner, Daniel Jaffe (a really talented filmmaker) who introduced me to the world of filmmaking, and I’ve never looked back. I love the community in film - the kind that drew me to theatre in the first place. In so many ways, I think filmmaking and theatre are intrinsically linked, and that relationship has made my connection to the world feel more enriched. It gives me a sense of agency I didn’t feel pursuing a career as just an actor, and the freedom to be many things.
2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?
Earlier this year, I watched The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie for the first time, and immediately immersed myself in Luis Buñuel’s films. How strange to become obsessed with surrealist films on the brink of one of the most surreal years in all our lives? Obviously, we all know what happens next. When the world went into lockdown in March, I decided to quarantine in New Jersey with my family, especially since I needed more space to teach my classes at NYU online. Anyway, while quarantined with my mom, my dad, my brother, his boyfriend, and my own boyfriend, I was reminded of Bunuel’s film The Exterminating Angel in which a party of people all get stuck in a living room by an invisible, existential force. During this rumination, I stumbled upon my family’s JVC Compact VHS Camera (you know the one if you grew up in the 90’s) - the same camera I used to shoot films on as a kid. I opened it up and it still worked! I just started filming, like I did back then, because it’s that easy. I decided I would use The Exterminating Angel as inspiration for an idea that came to me where my family gets stuck in the kitchen. We were spending so much of our time there already - a household of six anxious jews with an endless appetite... it made sense. This film is dedicated to Buñuel, whose films feel so relevant in the world we’re living in.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And the easiest part?
Explaining to my family the concept of the film was a huge challenge. “Why are we stuck?” “You just are,” I’d say. “What are we doing with this seafood dinner?” “And why do we cheer our glasses multiple times?” “What do you mean an invisible force? I don’t understand.” Abstract and “surreal” doesn’t bode well for a family that uses control as a means of survival...I mean it. It challenged me as a director - how do you communicate something for your actors that cannot be seen, but only felt? How do you translate something existential into something concrete? It required a sense of trust in each other. It reminded me of this very moment as we face a looming virus that is the undercurrent of our everyday life. That cannot be seen but demands a certain trust and understanding in each other. Even during filming, my idea didn’t quite make sense to me until the edit. This made editing the easiest part. Like putting together a family tree, it all connected in some weird, intrinsic way.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
I recently watched Claudia Weill’s cult film Girlfriends from the late 70’s. I love the way the film explores female friendships - the specific intimacy of them, their intensely complicated nature, and how much they change as we get older. Bonus - a young Christopher Guest is in it, which was really fun to see him so young playing such a serious character! I love those moments where you can see someone at a particular moment in their life with the knowledge that Waiting For Guffman will happen to them. The lead actress in Girlfriends, Melanie Mayron, is outstanding. I later learned she directed another movie I love, The Babysitter’s Club. I highly recommend it. I’ve heard Weill described as a female Woody Allen. I like to think Woody Allen is the male Claudia Weill. Only, she didn’t marry her adopted child, so maybe he doesn’t deserve that title.
5) What’s next for you?
Last summer, my partner and I shot a short film, Sales Per Hour, which explores a particular experience I had working in retail. We are currently in that wonderful and enjoyable and fulfilling (literally JK) process of submitting it to festivals, while we both figure out what it means to make new work during this time. We recently purchased a handycam, and have been making little guerilla style, no-frills films. I’ve been reminded of the freedom I had making work as a child. Letting the imagination play out of boredom. Shooting random moments and not caring whether they serve the greater narrative. It's how I Can't Get Out of the Kitchen came about in the first place. It feels like this time is demanding that way of working. If we don’t have the luxury or means of a sound person, a DP, or AC, what can we make? And is anything making right now worth putting people’s lives at risk? What can we create with what we have? That’s what’s next. And maybe upping my anxiety medication.
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michelleuranowitz.com | IG: @midge_u