5 Questions with Sam Reiss & Frances Li
1) Can you talk briefly about your background(s), and how you first got interested in filmmaking?
Reiss: I have been a film lover since I can remember. I think it was seeing Wolfgang Petersen's The Never Ending Story at age 2 that did it. I've been working toward a career in film directing ever since; I studied at NYU-Tisch for Film+TV, and then shortly after started working in fashion, predominantly in fashion video. I am now moving into narrative filmmaking and I'd say that A Woman Eats, is a firm first step towards actualizing that goal.
Li: grew up in the arts and studied painting in school, but I’ve always been a performer, writer, and storyteller in some capacity. I have worked for the past 7 years in the fashion industry, first as a producer for a video production company (where I met our director, Sam Reiss) and later as a model. For the last two years I’ve been studying the Meisner technique at the William Esper Studio. Filmmaking is such an interesting artform to me because of how collaborative and expansive the process is. It requires me to use every skill I’ve ever acquired as well as trust in the skills of my collaborators.
2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?
Li: The script came to me first as an image: a woman being forced to eat the contents of a 17th C. Dutch still life painting. I’m really fascinated by that particular moment in art history because it is a snapshot into the advent of global capitalism. Each still life was an exaggerated display of wealth - flowers that bloom in different seasons were placed next to one another and chinoiserie and tropical fruits represented colonial power.
I wrote the dialogue as a reaction to my experiences working as a model. Relying on my image as a commodity and main source of income remains incredibly unsettling to me. Everything from my workout routine to my personal hygiene are all being used to sell a product. I wanted the tension of the film to expose something invasive and unpalatable behind a beautiful image.
Reiss: Frances and I have worked together in fashion for a number of years at this point. Both of us have experienced a number of fashion shoots, the majority of which are fun, cool and glossy. That being said, every so often the vibe can be off.
In her script, I immediately recognized the aspects of the industry being called out. While it features a fashion "Behind the Scenes Interview," it really critiques the way people work with each other on a universal level. I hope the film prompts its viewers to examine how respect is present or lacking in any work environment - and in particular for women, even in this day and age.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And the easiest part?
Li: The biggest challenge for me was the internal struggle working as both the writer and the actor. After a certain point I had to force myself to reserve judgement on my own writing, so I could really focus on the experience I wanted to have as an actor.
I am still shocked at how relatively seamlessly this process came together. I attribute it to the wonderful team of collaborators that we were working with. We were incredibly lucky that one of our actors, Karina, is also an accomplished prop stylist. On essentially no budget she was able to reference the imagery of the Dutch still life painting that I had envisioned.
Reiss: The biggest challenge was battling a noisy heating system. Even with a full, in depth location scout, there was a huge storm on our shoot day and the automatic heater became an unexpected hurdle.
The easiest part is how the team worked together. Justine Sweetman produced the film in a way that we really could focus on the creative elements, which was fantastic. So this really was a group of friends who've worked together for years, recreating content we've had to make in other circumstances, but with a twist we all cared about.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
Reiss: I have two films, because they relate to this project. Andrzej Żuławski's The Most Important Thing: Love, was a big inspiration for A Woman Eats. My goal was to create something similar to the scene where Romy Schneider is being harangued on set by an aggressive director, however, filtered through the buttoned up, subdued fashion set lens.
The second film is Robert Altman's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. I felt that Frances's script bridged the gap between film and theater, and Altman's film is a stellar example of a female driven, performance focused, theatrical piece adapted to film.
Li: I recently watched Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket for the first time and enjoyed seeing how his style was still so distinct even without the high end production value. His particular perspective remains incredibly clear.
5) What’s next for you?
Reiss: The majority of the team that created A Woman Eats also shot another short around the same time. So I am currently getting the post wrapped up on that project, in addition to working on feature scripts and gearing up for the next short(s).
Li: My primary focus right now is acting. I’m hoping to collaborate with Sam and Justine on a few more shorts that we have in the works. As for writing, I’m working on a short and a feature. Transitioning from more experimental work into narrative presents a huge learning curve, but a welcome challenge.
—
Sam Reiss: http://samreiss.tv | IG: @samerei
Frances Li: https://www.frances-li.com/ | IG: @frannielikesyou