Meet the Makers - SBIFF

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MEET THE MAKERS INTERVIEWS WITH SBIFF FILMMAKERS ISSUE #2 • JANUARY 30, 2014

This publication is funded in part using funds provided by the City of Santa Barbara in partnership with the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission.

CELEBRATING SANTA BARBARA FILMMAKERS ORENTHAL: THE MUSICAL Jeff Rosenthal

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n often laugh-out-loud funny mockumentary about an eccentric young theater artist trying to produce an O.J. Simpson–inspired version of Othello, Orenthal: The Musical entertains from beginning to end.

WHERE DOES A MOVIE LIKE THIS GET BORN? I MEAN, O.J. AS OTHELLO IS SOME SERIOUSLY HEADY SHIT. Ha! While studying Othello in college, I was struck by a sudden realization that the story was basically identical to that of the O.J. Simpson saga. I was so overwhelmed by this idea that I literally left class, ran to my dorm room, and wrote the song “Let’s Drive this Fucking Bronco Right Off the Road.” Almost 10 years later, here we are at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and I couldn’t be happier!

movie certainly touches on the events, there’s a big difference between a historical biopic and a mockumentary about a theater artist struggling to stage an O.J. Simpson/Othello mash-up.

That said, I’m still holding out hope that someone involved with the trial does stumble upon the film and reach out to us. If that ever does happen, my money is on Kato.

WAS THIS FILM AS MUCH FUN TO MAKE AS IT SEEMED? The entire cast/crew were friends of mine either from college or working as an assistant director over the last six years, so yes, it was an absolute blast! There really is nothing better than making a movie with a bunch of your friends.

—Ethan Stewart SAT 2/1–10:30PM & MON 2/3–1PM, METRO 4

ANY EFFORTS TO CONNECT WITH THE O.J. CAMP OR AT LEAST SHARE YOUR WORK WITH THEM? While our character in the movie does make a feeble and half-hearted attempt to invite O.J. to the play’s premiere, we decided early on to keep our distance from the real people. While the

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FALCON SONG: AN AMERICAN FOLKTALE Jason Brown

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tongue-in-cheek celebration of 1980s cinema, Jason Brown’s Falcon Song legitimately makes you feel like you have traveled through time. The film goes retro with everything from production techniques and the soundtrack to its storyline about a guitar-toting loner and his relationship with a smoking-hot rancher’s daughter — who also, of course, has magical powers.

WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES IN TRYING TO ACCURATELY EVOKE A PROPER 1980S CINEMATIC FEEL? A lot of this look comes from certain lighting techniques. We all feel very fortunate to have had solid camera, grip, and lighting departments.

There were many times that we had to stop and pull back from going too modern. You won’t see jelly bracelets and parachute pants but a more classic approach to the styling. I’m inspired to take audiences to an all-new story world that attempts to harness the hard-to-define visceral qualities of a bygone era.

WHAT ARE SOME FILMS THAT THE AVERAGE VIEWER MIGHT KNOW THAT HELPED INSPIRE FALCON SONG? For some reason, the first act of Gremlins was always on my mind. Of course, Falcon Song

FRI 1/31–10:30PM & MON 2/3–4PM, METRO 4

is far from a horror-comedy, but I think that the lighthearted feel, acting style, and vibrant characters all were influential to me. There’s something very intriguing to me about the nostalgic, surreal, comedic darkness that emanates from films like Groundhog Day, Big, Home Alone — even Spaceballs. Of course, to enhance authenticity we also cast Martin Kove, who played the evil sensei of the Cobra Kai in the The Karate Kid. I am proud to announce that no legs were swept during the making of Falcon Song … close … but I can still walk.

ANSWER LIKE YOU ARE SITTING NEXT TO ME AT A BAR: “SO, WHAT’S YOUR MOVIE ABOUT?” It’s a about a guitar-playing drifter who helps a rancher’s granddaughter find her true calling. It’s not a real heavy film; it’s whimsical but has some thematic undertones about soul-searching and land conservation.

—Ethan Stewart

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SELMA RUBIN AND COMMUNITY OF LIFE Beezhan Tulu

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his features Selma Rubin reminiscing on her life as a social and civic activist in Santa Barbara. As cofounder of both the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) and the Community Environmental Council (CEC), Rubin is perhaps best remembered for saving El Capitan Canyon from development. This film speaks to the power one person can have to change the course of history.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO DO A FILM ABOUT SELMA RUBIN? I believe we don’t own this planet — we share it with billions of other species, [and] our health and livelihood completely depend on theirs. Therefore, I always look for stories that promote a healthier planet for all species. Selma Rubin and her community have done that.

Therefore, a story like Selma’s and how she has encouraged everyone around her to build strong organizations such as the EDC and CEC has been very inspiring to me.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE PEOPLE LEARN FROM YOUR FILM? My films are about our present challenges in the environment, but they are not fear-based or blame-based. My films are all solution-based. I believe in people and know that we need to be working together for a better world. I believe that focusing on a healthier planet for all species goes beyond our differences in culture, religion, nationality, race, sex, skin color, and all other shallow thoughts that have separated us and made us suffer.

—Michelle Drown TUE 2/4–7PM, SB MUSEUM OF ART & WED 2/5–1PM, METRO 4

WHY WAS SHE SO INFLUENTIAL? Selma believed in people and in building or supporting communities and organizations.

Although she always stayed in the background, she had amazing power to inspire everyone around her. She was the committee member of more than 40 organizations in her lifetime.

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TOUGH BOND

ough Bond reveals the heartrending story of Kenya’s vanishing tribal villages, specifically the Turkana. Facing starvation, many of the children are forced to the cities in hopes of finding a new way to survive. However, life there is no easier, and most of the young refugees resort to sniffing glue to dull the stress of living so close to the bone.

north delivering relief food to a needy Turkana village. In the nearest town, Isiolo, where many of the villagers relocated, you couldn’t walk the streets without seeing at least a dozen children between 3 to 20 years old huffing glue and passed out along shop fronts. After a month of listening, we found ourselves obsessed and in love with these resilient beings full of humor and strength despite their difficult situation. We knew we needed to share this with others and create an intimate film of their story.

DID YOU SET OUT TO MAKE A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE STREET KIDS AND THEIR GLUE HUFFING OR DID IT DEVELOP ORGANICALLY ONCE YOU SPENT TIME IN KENYA? [Co-director Austin Peck and I] bought one-way plane tickets to Kenya in January 2009, searching to understand how humans live so differently around the world and what these differences mean for a global humanity. We had been in Kenya for about three months before we began filming Tough Bond. Previously, we were in the

HOW DID YOU GAIN SUCH INTIMATE ACCESS TO YOUR SUBJECTS? Respect. When we arrived in Isiolo, everyone in town was very perplexed why tourists would come and rent an apartment in the slum and buy vegetables from the vendors on the streets rather than going to the hotel. This gave us a sort of street cred, and the street kids were very curious to know what we were doing. After a few weeks, we started slowly gaining respect and began learning their deeper story.

THU 2/6–1PM & FRI 2/7–10AM, SB MUSEUM OF ART

WHAT IS YOUR HOPE FOR THE FILM? Our primary goal is to bring Tough Bond back to Kenya and do a free, public-screening tour throughout critical cities, towns, and villages.

Within the U.S. and internationally, we hope to spread the film far and wide, connecting people to their own Tough Bond stories.

Anneliese Vandenberg

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—Michelle Drown

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MENTHOL

Micah Van Howe

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eaturing a slow-moving train wreck of a plotline based on the excesses of partying, Menthol is a sometimes shocking narrative analysis of cause and effect.

ARE THESE PARTY SCENES BASED AT ALL ON ISLA VISTA? I never went to college, but I did visit Isla Vista once on Halloween, and I can confidently say that place is my personal definition of hell on earth. I grew up in Ojai, so it’s not specific to Santa Barbara, but it’s close. There’s a lot of bored, privileged white kids in the area who don’t quite know what to do with their time after high school. I think the partying that you see is more akin to bored small towners, looking to occupy houses when people’s parents are out of town so they can get drunk. It can be fun, but for me there’s always a certain incompleteness, sadness, or desperation about them that leaves a bad taste.

DO YOU HOPE THIS FILM MAKES PEOPLE THINK TWICE ABOUT TAKING THE NEXT DRINK, BONG LOAD, OR PILL? As Aldous Huxley said, “Man has always endured to take holidays from himself.” I don’t think the film is an indictment on “partying” as much as a look at cause and effect. People are always surprised when they are faced with the consequences of their own actions. We are quick to blame any and everything but our own

SAT 2/1–7PM , SB MUSEUM OF ART & MON 2/3–8AM, METRO 4

choices. Maybe I’d like people to be a little more aware of what we’re doing to ourselves so we don’t all fall into the same traps. Now excuse me while I rip this bong. ...

IS THIS YOUR FIRST FEATURE FILM? I had made a couple short films of experimental nature and, having been bit by the bug, decided to jump into a feature. My producer Nate Kamiyah and I jokingly say, “If we knew how hard it was gonna be, we would’ve never gotten into it.” But at the same time, our naivety was the catalyst for getting it done. My advice is to not think about it too much, let whatever is stirring inside you come out, and analyze it later.

Oh yeah, and shoot coverage.

—Matt Kettmann

WORLD PREMIERE

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BRIDGEWALKERS Kara Rhodes

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his globally concerned documentary gets inside a worldwide movement of indigenous people who believe that only through their combined efforts can the planet be pulled off its current crash course with environmental disaster.

HOW DID YOU DISCOVER THIS GLOBAL INDIGENOUS MOVEMENT? My quest since I was very young was in search for knowledge and wisdom. Initially I looked for this knowledge and wisdom in school, books, even church. As I got older, I became aware of ancient knowledge and wisdom that cannot be found in universities or many books, but my search led me to indigenous cultures, beliefs where ancient knowledge/wisdom had been preserved and passed on for thousands of years.

WHAT IS YOUR CONNECTION TO SANTA BARBARA? I am a 16-year resident of Santa Barbara, and I pinch myself that I get to live here and surf and hike and just be in this extraordinary community. Most of my film crew, editors, writer, and musical composer are all from Ojai, as well. We all know this area is full of creative and talented people, and my team are some of the very best. They work in Hollywood, but they prefer to work/write in our own paradise.

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TUE 2/4–4PM, SB MUSEUM OF ART & WED 2/5–8:30AM, METRO 4

WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR THIS MOVEMENT TO SPREAD TO THE MAINSTREAM? We all have deep purpose in our lives if we choose, and when we allow that heartfelt connection to land and spirit and each other, we are an unstoppable force for change! For example, who would have ever thought that a busy mom of three teenagers from Santa Barbara could gain the trust of extraordinary native spiritual leaders and gather a crew and head to Greenland, Canada, and through the Americas to create a first-time feature-length doc on ancient indigenous wisdom, prophecies, and ceremonies?

So if I can do it, so can anyone who chooses.

—Matt Kettmann

MEET THE MAKERS

WORLD PREMIERE

LUTAH

Kum-Kum Bhavani

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his eye-opening, expertly handled documentary reveals the life and work of architect Lutah Maria Riggs, who doesn’t get nearly enough credit for how much she contributed to the built landscape of Santa Barbara.

HOW DID THIS FILM COME ABOUT? The initial idea did not come from me. I had not heard of Lutah Maria Riggs until Leslie Bhutani and Gretchen Lieff (of the Lutah Maria Riggs Society) wanted a film made about her and approached me. Initially, I was not convinced I was the best person, but after reading about her and hearing them both talk about her, I realized Lutah was indeed an intriguing architect whose determination, deep sense of independence as a woman, and respect for all people helped to fashion her work. Her quiet personality, combined with her refusal to worry about many of the more superficial aspects of life, meant that she is indeed an icon for all architects.

WHY DON’T WE KNOW MORE ABOUT HER? Why indeed? Claudia Lapin says, “She was one of the vanguards to push [the] limits of being [a woman] into a different connotation, a different knowledge. After her, people knew a woman could be an architect.” And, I would add, people who are ahead of their time are often not seen until their contributions are put under the spotlight, especially independent women, who were not interested in achieving fame and who were more interested in the lived experiences of humanity and, therefore, the loves and passions of the people with whom they worked.

—Matt Kettmann FRI 1/31–11AM & WED 2/5–4:30PM, LOBERO

SHE SEEMS TO DESIGN WITH ECOLOGY IN MIND, PRIOR TO OUR SUSTAINABILITY FETISH. She was frugal; she asked her print shop, for example, to send all the invoices in one envelope to her so that postage would not be wasted; she used paper towel rolls taped together as the roller for her plans. She was someone who seemed to know, well before it was stylish, that saving resources was one means of furthering her commitment to ensuring that the built environment and her buildings did not “trump nature.”

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SANTA BARBARA SHORTS REMOVED Nathanael Matanick

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t would be impossible to fully understand the life and emotions of a child going through the foster care system, but this short narrative fi lm portrays that saga in a poetic light, with brushes of fear, anger, sadness, and a tiny bit of hope.

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THE ALCHEMISTRESS Andrew Schoneberger

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his study of Funk Zone–based artist Lindsey Ross and her fascination with wet-plate collodion photography makes us ponder what it means to make original, one-of-a-kind art in an increasingly digitized, reproducible world.

WHEN DID YOU REALIZE THIS WOULD MAKE A GOOD DOC? I met Lindsey about two years ago through some mutual friends. I think I realized she would make a good subject pretty early on; she’s just such a character. She’s really committed to her art, but also really approachable and friendly. I like the fact that as an artist, she’s relatively new to the wet-plate process.

POST-SHOOT EDITING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR WET PLATE. DOES THAT SCARE YOU AS A PHOTOGRAPHER? When I’m shooting with digital, my goal is always to get it right “in camera.” I try not to ever think to myself, “I’ll just fi x that later in Photoshop.” But I rarely, if ever, deliver images to a client that have not been post-processed in the computer.

HAS THE DIGITAL ERA LED TO BETTER OR WORSE PHOTOGRAPHY? I think you can learn fast in the digital era. The feedback is instant, and you don’t have to pay for fi lm and processing. But, for the same reasons, photographers can get away with not learning some fundamentals. They know how to shoot with their camera, but if you hand them a different camera, they’d be lost. Cameras today are allowing people to make images they never could before, and I think the overall quality of the images we all see every day has risen, but I don’t know that means that photographers as a whole are better or more skilled.

WHERE DID YOU FIND SUCH A STELLAR YOUNG ACTRESS? We were very fortunate with Abby White, the young actress. We were actually neighbors, and our kids would play together often. Abby hasn’t had any acting experience, but for a while I had thought about being interested in using her for one of my fi lm projects, because she has one of those personalities that just jumps out at you. She’s got a good presence about her, and she’s a natural performer.

ARE THESE EPISODES BASED ON TRUE STORIES? Yes. Everything that happens is based on real events, though not on any one person’s story. Most of the incidents are actually quite common — for instance, the cold shower to make a child stop freaking out.

We tamed it down for the most part, not wanting to make the fi lm too heavy. It turned out pretty heavy, regardless.

THERE IS SOME POWERFUL WRITING INVOLVED. My wife wrote the script, and she did a lot of research beforehand to really get inside the mind of a child who goes through trauma and foster care.

Our vision for the fi lm was to have parallel stories that complement each other but do not mirror each other. We wanted the girl’s voice to serve as a poetic articulation of her feelings, but not to narrate the story. She could have been speaking for many children, regardless of the specifics of their journey.

—Matt Kettmann FRI 2/7–2PM, LOBERO & SUN 2/9–4:40PM, METRO 4

—Matt Kettmann SUN 2/2–10AM & THU 2/6–10AM, SB MUSEUM OF ART

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MEET THE MAKERS