5 Questions with Meghan Fredrich

The archival documentary, “Deborah Harry Does Not Like Interviews,” by director Meghan Fredich, shows a pop star at the height of her career enduring an endless stream of demeaning and objectifying interview questions. We asked Fredich how the project started and evolved, and what fascinated her most about Harry…

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

I came up through the ad industry–first as a producer, then a copywriter. After a decade of making ads and apps and “consumer experiences”, I found myself increasingly wanting to make non-fiction work. Soon I realized the best way to do that was to work for a documentary production company. Being in New York, I was able to get in the door at Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions, and I took on whatever they were willing to throw at me: everything from production grunt work to story development, writing treatments and assisting editors cutting films.

Shortly after that experience, I got ill–the sort of ill that didn’t allow me to work a job. My partner was offered a job in Boston, which we took in hopes of making our lives more manageable. While I was recovering, I started to conceive and pick away at making my own films–I’m an unbearable person to be around when I’m not toiling away on some creative project, and given the situation I was in, the best option was to work for myself.

Deborah Harry Does Not Like Interviews is my first film, the first thing I’ve edited myself.

2) So what was it about Debbie Harry that captured you, and how did the project evolve over time?

There was something about interviews, and the power dynamics between interviewer and interviewee, that I’ve always found fascinating. And I knew I wanted to make an archival film, one where the footage tells the story without much in the way of title cards or other overt explanations.

From there, I began thinking about who had been in the public eye for a long time. Debbie Harry was one of the first few people I thought of–she has always sort of captivated me, and has a certain independent spirit that I admire. I began watching archival footage of her sitting for interviews and two things stuck me immediately: the belittling and sexist way she was treated for years on end, and the sudden, persistent appearance of a stuffed monkey named Minkie during the promotion of her 1989 album Def, Dumb & Blonde. I drew a connection between the two, which is fulfilled with the serendipity of her single at the time, “I Want That Man”, which she performs with Minkie on one of these talk show.

When I began the edit, I thought the film would be shorter: a supercut of interview questions followed by her performance. As I worked with the materials, I realized I needed to include more her biography to situate the questions being asked. This approach also allowed for the fun of reviewing the music and music videos she made during this time.

3) It’s a really interesting approach to lead us through a certain stage of Deborah Harry’s career solely by her press interviews, especially since she was so fascinating to watch in those contexts. Was there any piece of footage, or any sequences, that were cut for whatever reason, that were equally revealing about Harry and her thoughts on fame or press?

Deborah Harry is an inherently interesting and watchable person; she’s dynamic, captivating and very clever to boot. It was the way she parries, deflects, and challenges the questions she is asked by journalists that captured my attention. And the way altered her approach from year to year. It’s also worth mentioning how communicative her eyes are as to her reactions to these questions; so much is said with just a flicker.

There were two pieces of footage that didn’t make the final cut that I thought were revealing:

In the late ‘80s (the time period during which the film ends), Debbie is asked what her aim is in this stage of her career, and she replies “Survival.”

The second was during the early ‘00s while Debbie, Chris (Stein) and the band were on tour. Debbie was approached by a reporter for an impromptu interview at an airport. The reporter smothers Debbie in compliments, telling her how good she looks, then points at Chris and says, “He looks so old!”

4) What’s a film(s) you’ve seen, new or old, in the last couple of years that’s really resonated with you, and why?

I think seeing Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell is what tipped me from loving docs to knowing I wanted to make them.

Agnes Varda’s Mur Murs captures something that deeply fascinates me: public art created by urban communities before all our public space was privatized. And, of course, since it’s an Agnes Varda film, it's gorgeous and humane.

I was blown away by Chantal Akerman’s News From Home when I saw it for the first time at the Harvard Film Archive after moving back to New England from New York. It was so beautiful and moving – and it took every fiber of my being to not bawl through all 88 minutes of the film (I was successful in keeping it together until the very last scene).

 I constantly think about Theo Anthony’s Rat Film and how he brought together so many disparate types of media: Google Maps Earth View, the red-lined maps of Baltimore, and original footage.

 As for shorts, Nathan Truesdell’s Balloonfest, the work of Alison Nguyen, and Jose Fernando Rodriguez’s Adolescencia have all stayed with me.

5) What’s next for you?

I am developing a short doc that explores how neoliberalism affected advertising messaging directed at Millenials as kids, and the long term impacts on their psyche.

I am also developing a longer, multi-part documentary film about the history of Manhattan’s East Village as an arts ecosystem, a site of radical thinking and experiments in urban living, and a community of resistance struggling against the financialization and privatization of our lives.

Contact Info:

Website: http://www.publicinterest.io/about

Twitter: @megfred

Instagram: meghanfredrich

Facebook: @publicinterestproductions