Filmmakers in Focus

Up Close & Personal with the Cream of the Creative Crop

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Before I Disappear

Narrative • 8:30 PM • State Theatre • Friday, September 26th & 4:30 PM • Masonic Temple • Sunday, September 28th

Nominated for HHM Jury Awards Best Lead Actor (Shawn Christensen), Best Lead Actress (Fatima Ptacek), Best Supporting Actor (Paul Wesley), Best Supporting Actress (Emmy Rossum), Best Screenplay, Best Soundtrack and Best Film Feature

Writer/director Shawn Christensen is in a Brooklyn based band called Stellastarr and Producer Brenden Hubbard will be attending HHM. With a compelling visual style, Before I Disappear tells the story of Richie, who, as he is about to end his life, receives a call from his estranged sister (Shameless’s Emmy Rossum) asking him to look after her eleven-year-old niece, Sophia. The encounter will only last a few hours but will change both characters’ lives forever. It is based on Academy Award Winning Live Action Short Film, Curfew.

BFFs

Narrative • 8:00 PM • State Theatre • Saturday, September 27th & 2:00 PM • Masonic Temple • Sunday, September 28th

Nominated for HHM Jury Award Best Lead Actress (Tara Karsian)

BFF’s tells the tale of serial monogamist Kat who receives a gift of a couples’ workshop retreat, meant for use with a guy she is no longer with. Instead Kat brings along her best friend Samantha, masquerading as her lover, to take advantage of a free vacation. But amidst making fun of the other couples and their issues, the “Closer to Closeness” exercises seem to stir something between them, making the two women start to question their friendship.

Starring Tara Karsian and Andrea Grano, Director Andrew Putschoegl is excited about this latest work, which had its word premier at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

The genesis of BFF’s along with the creative objectives that Tara, Andrea and Andrew were striving to achieve with their work began with the friendship shared by the two writers. “As friends Andrea and I tend to banter or bicker, depending upon the day,” notes Tara. “She once commented that we were going to end up in couples counseling, which was the genesis of the idea. From there we started riffing on what would happen if two straight, best friends were placed into a therapy weekend and due to this lie they concocted and the environment they find themselves in, they are confronted with the possibility that maybe there is more to their friendship than either imagined.”

“I think we set out to write a comedic script about female best friends and during the writing process it somehow blossomed into perspectives on relationships and how one defines love and attraction; but ultimately it remains, at its core, a movie about friendship.”

Putschoegl began making movies early in life, around the age of ten. “I knew then that filmmaking is what I wanted to do and feel incredibly lucky that I never wavered,” he reflects. “The experience of working with Tara & Andrea an was something I don’t expect to have again in my career – in large part because of the creative freedom we shared. Personally, I was able to draw on my past experiences as someone who has lived enough of life to be able to understand the characters in this film and their emotional journeys. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to make this film ten years ago, and the positive reaction across the festival circuit has shown we were able to create a compelling story.”

As a big fan of Billy Wilder, Andrew says that The Apartment, Some Like it Hot and Sunset Boulevard are among his favorite films, and in terms of informing his work, BFF’s indeed does some similar themes with those masterpieces.  “I think BFF’s is a unique experience for audiences because it diverges from the typical ‘buddy film’ formula and asks what would happen if you suddenly started having feelings for your best friend – only you and your best friend happen to both be women.  BFF’s is a comedy, but the film remains grounded in reality.”

“While the characters didn't necessarily change during the process, in a few cases we came to realize that certain scenes we envisioned as being comedic were considerably more dramatic when brought to life by the actors. There are perhaps five lines in the entire film that weren't on the original draft, which is a testament to the quality of Tara and Andrea's writing.”

FOREV

Narrative • 7:00 PM • State Theatre • Sunday, September 28th

As the Closing Night film at this year’s HHM Festival, FOREV will also have supporting actor and Michigan native Amanda Bauer in attendance at the screening. With additional cast members Noel Wells (from Saturday Night Live) and Matt Mider, this charming, modern, romantic comedy was written and directed by Molly Green and James Leffler and enjoyed its World Premier at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Essentially, it involves two neighbors named Pete & Sophie who go on a spur-of-the-moment road trip when Sophie invites herself along to pick up Pete’s sister from college. A joke about getting married starts to escalate and their car stalls out; but before they know it, they are engaged and stranded in the middle of the desert. This establishes the thematic springboard for this refreshingly funny and intelligent coming-of-age tale, which delightfully contemplates the nature of how and with whom we fall in love.

“Matt and Noel were the reason this movie exists,” explains Green. “We wanted to make something with our friends and we definitely tailored it to their chemistry. But more thematically, we were starting to get that first batch of wedding invitations from our college friends. It's a weird feeling. The people you saw doing keg stands a couple of years ago are now essentially adults.”

“We were wrestling with that a little, like "What really makes a person an adult?" Getting married almost seemed like flipping a switch that makes you an instant grown-up. We decided to have fun with that and create this world where two people who are very far from being adults see if they can turn their lives around by simply getting engaged.”

“As for creative objectives: we were also hoping to say something about sincerity. It seems like people have become very afraid to say what they mean to each other,” reflects Molly. “ It's easier to joke "Hey, we should get married!!" than it is to tell another person "I really like you." So we wanted to make something that illustrated that point -- but also something that would, as a film, be very sincere.”

Both Molly & James studied film together in Austin at the University of Texas and them moved to L.A. together a few years ago, where they began absorbing everything they could through jobs and internships in the film industry.

“We started writing together in 2008 and have written several features, and directed a handful of music videos,” notes Molly. “FOREV is the first feature we've directed, and it was definitely shaped by all of our past experiences -- we learned to be scrappy in film school and by directing shoestring-budget music videos. We learned how to structure and fine-tune a script by working in development, and how to direct actors by working in casting.”

While many filmmakers claim that fundraising is the most challenging component involved with making a movie, Molly says that with FOREV the biggest obstacle was the heat. “We shot in the middle of summer in Joshua Tree. One day it reached 114 degrees and the makeup was melting off of the actors’ faces. Plus staying mentally present in that heat is a battle.”

As for any influences that inspired or informed their work, Molly says “Living in Austin in the heyday of mumblecore definitely influenced things. We had our three lead actors watch Hannah Takes the Stars while we were in rehearsals. The idea being: don’t act. Aesthetically and humorously Bottle Rocket was a big influence. And we saw Like Crazy while we were in pre-production and were just blown away by the level of intimacy between the two lead actors. We wanted to make sure that even though FOREV is a comedy, that emotional core and that sense of humanity was still there.”

Michigan actress and FOREV supporting actress Amanda Bauer began her career at age 12, initially in local musical theatre before moving to Los Angeles at 15. One of the qualities possessed by her character Jess that drew her to this film is her honesty. “Like most of us she guards up her vulnerability and insecurities and throughout the story she lets it down as she finds herself and her self-confidence. I really love how multifaceted she is – unlike the typical ‘bitchy’ girl in a movie, she has depth and layers. As an actor, it’s a really fun quality to play around with.”

OJ: The Musical

Narrative • 11:30 AM • Masonic Temple • Saturday, September 27th

In Mel Brooks’ brilliant comedic outing The Producers, we were introduced to the outrageous notion of creating a musical about Nazis called Springtime for Hitler. With OJ: The Musical writer/director Jeff Rosenberg strives to do the same thing with O.J. Simpson and Mark Fuhrman.

The premise is perfect. Eugene Olivier is an eccentric theater artist living in NYC, where he has spent the last ten years putting on various musicals to rave reviews. But Eugene longs for the early days when he and his childhood friends would put on shows together back home in Orrville, Ohio.  With little thought and no preparation, Eugene decides to move to Los Angeles where he will surprise his old friends, Lawrence and Regina (Larisa Oleynik), and help them rediscover their now forgotten love for the theater. After pitching them on his brand new OJ Simpson musical, which is loosely based on Othello, Eugene comes to realize that it may not be as easy as he thought to stage the next great American musical.

“The original idea for "OJ: The Musical" came while studying playwriting at Ohio University,” relates Jeff. “We were breaking down Othello when I had an epiphany - Shakespeare's classic was a nearly identical story to that of the OJ Simpson saga. I ran to my dorm room and immediately started writing the song "Let's Drive This Bronco Right Off the Road" even though I can't sing and know nothing about music. I soon realized that I had little interest in actually making an Othello-based, OJ Simpson musical, so I began writing a movie about the guy who actually thinks it's a good idea.”

“Ever since I saw "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" at the age of 8, I've wanted to be a filmmaker,” explains Jeff when asked about the origins of his interest in movie making. “I used to write feature-length screenplays in middle school but technology wasn't where it is today so I wrote and produced plays instead. Once the Panasonic DVX100 came out however that changed everything and I quickly returned all my focus to film.”

“While in college, my friends and I won the MTV Film's Best Film on Campus competition judged by Gus Van Sant, Alison Anders and Joel Schumacher. Then right after I graduated, I made "Relative Obscurity", which I originally wrote as my senior thesis project and won Best Narrative at the Columbus International Film Festival. Soon after, I moved to Los Angeles, where I've been working as an Assistant Director on various film and television projects. "OJ: The Musical" is my first feature film since moving to California and certainly my most fully realized project to date.

“Our goal for "OJ: The Musical" is to get the audience to root for the characters to succeed as though they personally know them,” explains Jeff. “The excitement of seeing someone you know achieve their creative dreams is such an amazing experience that hopefully the audience can share similar feelings when Eugene and his team put on this crazy, harebrained show. While most people probably wouldn't support an OJ Simpson musical without context, once you're already rooting for the characters it becomes more about their success than the actual content of the show.”

Universal Language

Shorts Program 1 • State Theatre • 6:00 PM • Friday, September 26th

Nominated for HHM Jury Award Best Short Film

This film by writer/director Kirsten Russell chronicles the tale of Dan on his first night in Paris. Unable to speak French, Dan manages to have a blackout one-night stand with Sophie, who speaks no English. Ultimately Dan finds out the only thing that could keep the two of them together is what he doesn’t remember.

According to Russell, Universal Language is a film of opportunity. “About ten years prior I had read a book called “The Soul of Sex” by Thomas Moore.  It’s an okay book with some interesting theories but there was one particular paragraph at the beginning of the book that had seemed to leap off the page and say…”write a script for me.”  But at that time, how to make an existential idea into an entertaining story was something I hadn’t figured out, so the idea sat there in the back of my brain waiting.”

“When I had the opportunity to go to Austria to take a Shakespeare workshop in the spring of 2013, my long-time friend and actress Frederique Nahmani, who had recently relocated back to Paris called me.  She said, “If you’re going to be over here why don’t you take the opportunity to swing on over to Paris and we’ll shoot a little film.” 

“To pull this off I would need the least amount of actors to wrangle in an unfamiliar country,” she continues.  “I had Frederique as my lead actress and after ten years of brewing, I had the opportunity to give this theory a voice. So I wrote a little script about two characters that would have a wasted blackout one night stand and wake up the next morning to find that they didn’t speak each other’s language.  This formed the perfect recipe for non-commitment.”

“The creative objective I was trying to achieve was how to stay true to Thomas Moore’s concept with delicate hands so it never came across as a filmmaker ramming some idea down your throat.  So for that exact reason I decided to never show the actual sex scene.  Plus if Dan, my lead character, didn’t remember it in his drunken blackout than why should we? But on my first night in Austria I had a dream.  And in the dream we filmed the love scene.  I saw exactly how to shoot it so the next day sent an email to everyone involved saying “We are filming the love scene.  Prepare thyself.”  Basically I filmed it as an insurance policy.  I thought the script was enough to say what I needed to say, but in the end the love scene was the glue to hold everything together.”

With Universal Language, Kirsten says the most challenging component involved with pulling the film together was ‘location, location, location’ “The team itself was spread all over the globe.  My lead actress and fellow producer, Frederique lived in Paris.  My main producer, Megan Rubens, would be coming in on the Eurostar from London along with the Director of Photography, Charlie Goodger.  My amazing sound engineer Etienne Nee Dupuy, who I had never met, was Parisian as well.  And my lead actor, Marcel Simoneau, a fellow New Yorker, would be flying in after I had already arrived in Paris.”

“Few of us spoke any French at all or had ever been to Paris.  And our shooting schedule had to be renamed “the floating schedule” as most of us had no idea where anything was. We had very few locations locked in; and with the few that we did have, we knew they could change on a dime based on weather or police presence, because we could never get shooting permits -  we had no idea what locations would work or where we would be.”

“It sounds like a big mess and it kind of was - especially since it was written for a beautiful Parisian spring and that May in 2013 had record-breaking cold and rain that was the worst in almost 100 years. This uncertainty and unpredictability kept everyone on their creative toes and pulled us together like a band of thieves.”

As for influences that have inspired or informed her work and what she feels distinguishes this latest film, Kirsten is drawn mostly by ‘Dark Comedies’. “Terry Gilliam, Wes Anderson, the Coen Brothers, Woody Allen, to name a few.  But I think it’s really David Lynch who I feel most inspired by.  He wrote in his book, Catching the Big Fish, about sticking as close as you can to your original ideas.  He says that on set and off, things are going to have to change a bit and you are going to have to adjust - but never let go of that original idea because it comes from you…and therefore…it is beautiful.”

“I think what makes this a unique experience for any audience is the fact how I stuck with my original idea - that these two people after having the most intimate experience two people can have with each other possess an innate vulnerability built into their relationship…as much as they avoid it. “They talk to each other thinking they can be dangerously honest and anonymous at the same time.  As a writer this honesty was painful and scary for me, but time and again, audience members come back saying they were ironically moved by the honesty of these two liars.”

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