“When I was a youngin' my local video store clerk would stop me from renting trash and instead give me Lynch and Herzog and Von Triers. While possibly inappropriate for a child, it kindled my desire for visual storytelling of esoteric subjects.”
Read More“A pretty big challenge was getting a white actor who cares about the future of their career to say yes to this sketch that had a huge chance of going very, very wrong.”
Read More“The main theme I ended up exploring was faith and how it can challenge the status of a relationship. [Also] I wanted to explore the supernatural in a stripped down way… I think it more accurately reflects the state of being human than realism does.”
Read More“I really enjoy building worlds, from creating characters to actually building the sets. I like preparing as much as possible so then I can just focus on directing, which I love. Working with actors and exploring how much funnier we could make a scene run is fun. Being able to depend on a skilled crew is a great feeling.”
Read More“The biggest challenge that I faced was probably the insecurity that I felt as a first time director. Being thrown into the world of filmmaking, I didn’t know what a “martini shot” was, or how to block a scene, and I didn’t have the vocabulary to express myself to my crew members. I had to teach myself everything.”
Read More“I enjoy the fact that we made the film for the cost of a sound recorder, a lens, beer, gasoline. We all just really wanted to do this, and we were rewarded by the good will of the Phish community and many others along the way…”
Read More“AUG 04 started with a feeling. Although I was only 6 years old in August of 2004, I’ve always been fascinated by the mid ‘00s. The style. The culture. This post 9/11, Bush era, columbine fever dream. I wanted to make a film about the wealthy suburban young male that was having his formative years during this time.”
Read More“Definitely the motto with this movie was just "whatever it takes to get it made without ruining people's lives." I wanted the experience to be really fun and not stressful because I had been too stressed out on my last couple projects so I tried my best not to be too precious with it.”
Read More“I thought it was a way in to tackle the propaganda we're endlessly fed about worker casualization in the gig economy at large. I think Terence Nance pointed out in his great video essay in Random Acts of Flyness how much of what we watch is essentially about normalizing the exploitive, sexist and racist choices of the currently powerful.”
Read More“More than a year ago I started trying to become zero waste. This is obviously very difficult nowadays, so I always ended up with some plastic at home anyway. That made me feel so guilty. So I held onto all that extra plastic so it didn’t end up in the sea. Before I realized it my house was full of garbage.”
Read More“I got really into French New Wave (laughing at myself here) and convinced my teacher movie reviews were better than essay writing so he let me do that instead. My college resume had “Co-founder of Movie Club” on it because my friend and I screened Blue Velvet once.”
Read More“Editing is usually the most difficult part for me, but also the most satisfying when the final details get to be laid in. The most enjoyable part is storyboarding and then having to decode my chicken scratch drawings for the whole team: “No no, that’s a soccer net!” etc.”
Read More“When I wrote the original smell superpower script I had some vague idea that it could have something to do with being an artist - the feeling of having this talent or power that could potentially be viewed as useless or worthless by others? I think you can see remnants of that train of thought within the finished film.”
Read More“I worked as a ground agent for EasyJet for 3 years. My job was to go on the tarmac with a yellow vest, wait for planes to land in the night, or to scan 180 passengers at 7am. It was a student job with flexible working hours, though exhausting. When I quit this job, I wanted to make something out of it.”
Read More“As the story began to take shape, more pre-planning had to come in, but the spontaneity and laid back style was the general goal. I am really thankful I have a good group of friends who are open to me saying “Hey, can you pretend like you found a dead body right now real quick.”
Read More“After an underwhelming film school experience, I sold all my camera gear and moved to Spain to teach English. I thought I was going to become a study abroad counselor and live the expat dream. I thought smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee in plazas in Spain sounded like a pretty good life.”
Read More“After a very long time concentrating solely on my editing career I was compelled to make something new, with nothing at stake, just for the sake of making a new thing. I’d always wanted to work with my friend Hadia in Paris – I’d never seen her act, but I love her and can stare at her face and listen to her for hours.”
Read More“I've lived in Bushwick since I moved to NYC over 10 years ago. I've seen it change and gentrify and it got me questioning my role in that. I was initially interested in making a purely visual film, something akin to Koyaanisqatsi. But it became clear while filming that we needed a handful of characters as well.”
Read More“The film was shot in one day with only natural light and practical lights on location. The biggest challenge was to finish it by the end of that day. Being my own AD at the same time, I only gave myself enough time for no more than three takes for each shot.”
Read More“I really wanted to do something with my good friend's dog, Marti, who is one of my favorite dogs around. I had been dogsitting him a lot last year while my buddy was out of town, so the basis for the short came from that experience. Then I found a throw pillow that said "I'd Rather Drink Wine and Pet My Dog" and finally, the short was ready for production.”
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