Tinsel & Tine's
5 QUESTION INTERVIEWS
with
FIRSTGLANCE FILM FESTIVAL FILMMAKERS
By Le Anne Lindsay, Editor
GUN
Filmmaker: Edward William Wasser
Screening Date: TBA
TRAILER
Gun is a short film that deals with LGBTQ issues that are alive and well today. One interesting aspect to the movie is that it has been accepted into many gay and lesbian film festivals, it's won many awards from Best Actor and Best Screenplay to Best Picture yet the movie was made by two straight men.
1. T&T: In a nutshell what was the main inspiration for your film?
Edward William Wasser: The main inspiration was a friend I knew when I lived in the New York City area and also the current ugly political climate. My friend was raised a gay man in Texas and it was extremely difficult. The only thing that kept him sane was knowing that someday he could move to New York City which he viewed as an oasis. A city where he could be his real self. The film is really two stories that are brought together in a unique way, but I don't want to give to much away.
2.T&T: Where do you really shine as a filmmaker? Please expand upon directing to include the aspect of the directing process where you know you are most on point?
Edward: My only real talent as a filmmaker is being able to locate people with amazing technical abilities. I guess I'm an OK writer and actor but once I got the crew of Chris Newhard, Chris Mercury, Joe Graves, and Joe DiFeo together the quality of everything I did expanded exponentially. So where I shine is locating people that are going places and hitching my wagon to them.
3. T&T: Give a quick shout out to your creative team and anyone who helped get your film from an idea to screening at FirstGlance.
Edward: I had Ben Wong and Joe DiFeo on sound. Sound is vital to a movie. I don't care if you made Citizen Kane, if the sound is bad nobody will pay attention to it. Trevor Leonard did an amazing original score. Joe Graves is a fearless gaffer that will do anything for a great shot. If you ask him to hang a light while hanging off the torch the Statue of Liberty holds, he'll do it. Chris Mercury is one of those guys that doesn't say much but when he offers an idea everyone stops and thinks "damn, that's a great idea!" And Chris Newhard is just the best director of photography in the city of Philadelphia. At this point, I trust his judgement on shots and lighting 100%, I don't even question it.
4. T&T: Does food play a part in your film? It can be something you like to eat on set, while editing, some great Craft Services, a scene involving food or a restaurant/bar/coffee shop.
Edward: Food does not play a part in the story but you need to feed your cast and crew. A "hangry" crew is a miserable crew.
5. T&T: What does it mean to you to screen your film at the 21st Annual FirstGlance Film Festival in Philadelphia?
Edward: We screened in Los Angeles and Chicago, and the people were very nice and gracious, but we're Philly guys. This is our chance to share our work with our family, friends, and the city and we're really looking forward to it.
READY
Filmmaker: Debbie Yen
Screening Date: TBA
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A little bit about myself. I’m a 31-year-old Asian American female and my short film “Ready” is the first film I’ve ever written and directed. 8 years ago I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and through the years I have battled manic and depressive episodes, going in and out of hospitals. It was only when I decided to write and direct “Ready” was I able to find peace and forgiveness with myself. “Ready” is about my personal experience living with a mental illness and a short film I wished my younger, newly diagnosed, self could’ve watched so I would’ve felt less alone and be comforted by the fact that there was someone out there who was going through the same feelings and experience as I was at the time.
“Ready” is a short film about a mentally-ill woman having trouble living in the present after running into her past, sending her on a mental journey of self-love and self-forgiveness.
1. T&T: In a nutshell what was the main inspiration for your film?
Debbie Yen: The main inspiration for my film was simply my personal experience living with a mental illness, specifically, Bipolar.
2.T&T: Where do you really shine as a filmmaker? Please expand upon directing to include the aspect of the directing process where you know you are most on point?
Debbie: I feel like my strong point is working well with others. The thing about filmmaking, it’s a collaborative effort, so working well with everybody is so crucial in making sure your film comes out the way you want.
3. T&T: Give a quick shout out to your creative team and anyone who helped get your film from an idea to screening at FirstGlance.
Debbie: A big shout out to all of my crew, cast, and contributors for making my short film “Ready” exist. And a huge shout out to my producer Jared Lundy who believed in my story from day 1 and my director of photography Kenneth Keeler who made my vision come to life. Last, but not least, I’d like to give a shout out to my father Lyoni Yen who never gave up on me, even when I gave up on myself.
4. T&T: Does food play a part in your film? It can be something you like to eat on set, while editing, some great Craft Services, a scene involving food or a restaurant/bar/coffee shop.
Debbie: Without food, my crew and I wouldn’t have been able to function. Luckily we had great crafty and one of our crew meals was sponsored and provided by Wurstküche, an amazing downtown Los Angeles restaurant that serves delicious and exotic hot dogs.
5. T&T: What does it mean to you to screen your film at the 21st Annual FirstGlance Film Festival in Philadelphia?
Debbie: It means that my short film “Ready” will reach more people; and hopefully give those living with a mental illness, or those who know someone who is mentally-ill, hope and optimism for the present and future.
HOW DO YOU TYPE A BROKEN HEART
Director: Jeremiah Kipp
Writer: Susannah Nolan
Screening Date: TBA
Film Review
New mother Becky is awakened at close to midnight by Justine, an alcoholic on the brink of self-destruction. In order to reach Justine, Becky, her former sponsor, must open her own padlocked past and finds herself drawn close to the abyss than she ever expected.
1. T&T: In a nutshell what was the main inspiration for your film?
Susannah Nolan: I always wanted to work with Jeremiah Kipp. He told me if I wrote a monologue, he would make a small film of it for me on the cheap. So I wrote a monologue of a desperate woman on the phone struggling to get her first full day of sobriety, When I brought the script into our writer's group, everyone said that the real story was the person on the other end of the line. So I then wrote that whole experience---but from her perspective. Which led to me having to bring in her husband and baby and well----Before I knew it, I had a 13 minute short. Making it turned out to be no longer "on the cheap," but a heck of a lot more interesting.
Jeremiah Kipp: I knew first and foremost I wanted to work with Sooz, whose combination of wit, tenacity, blunt honesty, feminist integrity and repressed vulnerability informs everything she writes. The character of Becky has many of Sooz's qualities, and is thrown into a midnight of the soul situation that she can't untether herself from. She's incredibly courageous in a non-superhero way. We don't often see damaged female protagonists as our heroes; so this project felt immediate and necessary in our current times.
2.T&T: Where do you really shine as a filmmaker? Please expand upon directing to include the aspect of the directing process where you know you are most on point?
Jeremiah: Working collaboratively with the actors is my favorite part of the process. Once we cast Emily Donahoe and Holly Curran as our two leads, we knew we had two grounded, honest performers who could easily make adjustments based on the requirements of the scene.
That truly comes in handy when working with an infant, who can only play their own reality of feeling safe or sleepy or angry. When a baby is on set, you're making a documentary about their whims. But we created an on-set environment where the actors could improvise within those limitations. We didn't change a word of Sooz's script. But could keep the cameras rolling and play off of whatever surprises (and gifts) our remarkable baby actor Emilia Rodriguez threw at us.
Susannah: All of the actors just blew me away with the way they were able to create heartbreaking reality in such a short period of time. From the second Jeremiah came on set, everyone knew who to look to for leadership. He was the quiet center of the chaos. Jeremiah created an intimate grounded space where everyone was truly safe to create their magic. His sets are models of very tight discipline, humor and permission to "go there." Take it to the edge. It is a special skill of his that I think is unique.
3. T&T: Give a quick shout out to your creative team and anyone who helped get your film from an idea to screening at FirstGlance.
Jeremiah: We owe a hell of a lot to producer Natasha Straley. Producers are the unsung champions of independent filmmaking. From crew to locations to morale and discipline, she was our backbone from production through post. I also cannot say enough about my sharp, incisive and endlessly creative frequent editor Katie Dillon Wedge. She describes herself as a "method actor" in the cutting room...and indeed she put together this film with one hand while rocking her infant's crib in the other.
Susannah: Jeremiah and Natasha had worked with each other before and brought with them a whole community of creatives from our Director of Photography Taylor Camarot to our film editor Katie Dillon. I was astonished at the quality of their choices at each level. I must also give a shout out to our writer's group, Present Tense Dramatic Writing Workshop where the script was developed. It is where I met Jeremiah so many years ago. The group is run by Mick Casale. The script would never have evolved the way it did without having the readings and critiques it did in those gatherings.
4. T&T: Does food play a part in your film? It can be something you like to eat on set, while editing, some great Craft Services, a scene involving food or a restaurant/bar/coffee shop.
Jeremiah: While a director can potentially survive on caffeine and adrenaline, the old saying is true: "Soldiers go to war on their bellies!" A happy film crew is a well fed crew, especially if attention is equally paid to vegetarians, vegans and those with unique allergies.
Susannah: Well, I know a screenwriter is next to useless on set, so I had a lot of nervous energy to expend before our two days of filming. I am a baker, so I baked dozens of muffins every morning for the crew's breakfast and cookies for their breaks. Brownies one day, chocolate chip the next, I think it was. As Jeremiah said, an army travels on its stomach, yes? It was a way to show them how much I appreciated their efforts. I baked a lot of hope and dreams and wishes into those darned muffins. Erm...and I won't go into the sad things that happened to a few bottles of wine in the making of the movie. When you see the film you will understand.
5. T&T: What does it mean to you to screen your film at the 21st Annual FirstGlance Film Festival in Philadelphia?
Jeremiah: Philadelphia is one of our great American cities, with a sense of history and camaraderie that inspires us all. Our movie is grounded in values of people helping each other against all odds, which sounds like the right fit for this esteemed film festival in the City of Brotherly Love. Its an absolute honor to share our project with the FirstGlance audience. We can't wait to attend.
Susannah: I was born in Philadelphia (U of P Hospital, in fact!) and raised in Valley Forge and Chester County. My whole family lives in Paoli, King of Prussia and Haverford. It gives me tremendous pride that they will only need to drive down the Schuylkill Expressway to come see my film at this wonderful Festival. In a very real way I am indeed "bringing it home."
STAY TUNED MORE FILMMAKERS INTERVIEWS TO COME!
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