Santa Barbara Independent, Meet the Makers, 02/02/17

independent.com presents

IntervIews with the filmmakers For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF.

Plant yourself at The Garden during the Film Festival!

The Garden is an urban contemporary beer garden conveniently located inside the Santa Barbara Public Market in the heart of the thriving downtown theater district. With an elevated bar fare menu ranging from bar bites to mouth watering entrees and decadent desserts, including 41 craft beers & 8 wines on tap, The Garden is a must visit destination during the film festival.

38 W. Victoria Street (805) 770-7700 Mon-Wed 11:30am - 10pm Thu-Fri 11:30am - 11pm Sat 9am- 11pm Sun 9am - 10pm 2 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

independent.com presents

Meet The Makers Interviews with the filmmakers

Welcome to the 2017 edition of Meet the Makers, The Santa Barbara Independent’s sixth annual collection of interviews with filmmakers whose works are being showcased by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF).

This year’s magazine features edited versions of 48 filmmaker interviews — including 13 World Premieres and 18 U.S. Premieres—

but remember that extended versions, as well as another 30+ interviews, can be found online at independent.com/sbiff.

This is just a glimpse of what can be found at the film fest, where more than 200 films from 50+ countries will be screened. Also, some of these films are in multiple sidebars, which we note on those interviews.

TaBle OF CONTeNTs • • • • • • • • • Cradle of Champions • Mabel, Mabel, Tiger Trainer documentarIeS John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs • Ken San . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming • That’s Not Me IndependentS Bokeh • Carrie Pilby • Sleepwalker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 InternatIonal Tiger Theory • The Nest • Codename Holec • The Fixer • The Most Beautiful Day . . . . . . . . . 14 nordIc

Revenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

SocIal juStIce

A Revolution in Four Seasons Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine Angry Inuk A Queer Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

SpaIn/latIn amerIca aBove and Beyond

• At Your Doorstep • Holy Biker • Tamara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Gaza Surf Club • Bunker77 • The Crest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 •

reel nature

Bluefin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

cInematIc overtureS

Rebels on Pointe

contemporary world cInema

1:54 This Beautiful Fantastic Little Wing The Shepherd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

crIme SceneS

At the End of the Tunnel

kolnoa Santa BarBara Screen cuISIne SpecIal preSentatIonS

•

• Score • Indivisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

•

• Welcome Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

• Dimona Twist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Gaviota: The End of Southern California • Lives Well Lived • The Boatmaker . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table • The Gateway Bug Arrangiarsi (pizza… and the art of living) • Liberty in a Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary • On the Other Side The Distinguished Citizen • Your Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 My Hero Brother

Editor: Matt Kettmann Design: Ben Ciccati Contributors: Kelsey Brugger, Richie DeMaria, Charles Donelan, Michelle Drown, Keith Hamm, Tyler Hayden, Savanna Mesch, Ethan Stewart, Gabriel Tanguay, Nick Welsh Production: Jackson Friedman, Diane Mooshoolzadeh

Celebrity interviews @ independent.com/sbiff ★ Tribute coverage @ independent.com/sbiff More filmmaker interviews @ independent.com/sbiff ★ Meet even more makers @ independent.com/sbiff Red carpet photo galleries update daily @ independent.com/sbiff ★ Full SBIFF schedule @ independent.com/sbiff

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 3

4 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

independent.com presents

Meet The Makers

World Premiere

cradle oF champIonS DirectOr Bartle Bull

New York City’s Golden Gloves is the largest amateur boxing tournament on the planet and the launching pad for some of the sport’s biggest names, from Sugar Ray Robinson to Muhammad Ali. This documentary takes a raw and intimate look at four participants, thereby showing New York’s many faces while relaying unique yet universal personal struggles on the path toward the championship.

Your background is as a Middle East reporter, so how did you discover this story? In the years I spent reporting in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere, I always found that the local human stories were the best way for me to try to understand the bigger picture. The first time I walked into one of these scenes, back in 2014, I was amazed — I had never seen all of the “tribes” of New York together in one place. And to see this in a totally positive atmosphere, nothing but respect, all celebrating the things at the heart of the American dream — hard work and courage — was utterly beautiful to me.

Do you have any boxing experience yourself? Harvard used to send a lot of fighters to the Golden Gloves when I was there 25 years ago, and that’s where I took it up, as an undergraduate. I’ve boxed in most places where I’ve settled down for more than a few weeks — Hong Kong, Syria, London, Azerbaijan — but whenever I get in good enough shape to start spar-

ring, I always get roughed up so I’ve never had the guts to compete. I love the sport, but I really don’t like hitting people in the face — I always apologize, which doesn’t usually help.

I like that the film really shows all sides of glitzy and gritty New York. When I started following the Daily News Golden Gloves in 2014 … every evening I’d be planning my N.Y.C. adventure on Google Maps, and after a while, I realized this was taking me all over the city and into every nook and cranny of the five boroughs, and I was discovering more and more about the hometown that I’ve always loved.

The film was partly conceived as a love letter to the city that gave me and my family so much and that represents — as anyone will see any night of the Gloves — the dreams of the world.

Was it a challenge to shoot the fights? Boxing is very engrossing for a lot of artists, thinkers, and writers. It combines grace and beauty with a certain savagery — it’s pointless to pretend otherwise — and all the emotions of hope and fear, doubt, redemption, loneliness, and even love. It’s beautiful young people alone, near-naked, under the lights, testing themselves in front of the world, and it moves with a certain balletic quality, so for top shooters, this is all a dream come true.

They were able to master the physical side of it pretty swiftly and focus on capturing the po— Matt Kettmann etry.

DOCUMENTARIES • • • up clOse anD persOnal with real-liFe stOries

Interviews with the filmmakers

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 5

DOCUMENTARIES • • • up clOse anD persOnal with real-liFe stOries

World Premiere

maBel, maBel, tIger traIner DirectOr leslie Zemeckis lesliezemeckis.com

Mabel Stark was known as Mistress of the Tigers, so adept was she at training the big cats. Born in 1889 into squalor, Stark raised her station in life by learning to tame tigers; by the 1920s, she was renowned in her field, traveling throughout the U.S. with the circus. In Mabel, Mabel, Tiger Trainer, director Leslie Zemeckis give us a peek into Stark’s fascinating world, which included several marriages, fame, and multiple maulings by the tigers to which she was so devoted. Her love for the animals ran so deep, in fact, that despite having “had my arms broken, my legs broken, part of a deltoid muscle torn out of my right shoulder, a plate in my head, my elbow is gone out of my right arm … no flesh on my legs,” Stark stated her only wish was “to be killed by my animals.”

How did you come upon this topic? I have spent about 15 years researching early-20th-century forms of entertainment, with a special expertise on burlesque. I came across Mabel’s story while doing research a while back. She actually worked briefly in the “cooch” show before going on to train tigers. I found it interesting on many points: She was an independent woman who took up training the tigers

after being told no woman could train tigers. She fell in love with the animals and absolutely devoted her life to these “stripes,” as she sometimes called them.

Nothing got in the way of her care for them. I thought it would be a story about bravery, but ultimately it’s a story of love.

What surprised you the most while you were making the film? That it wasn’t bravery, it was love that drove [Mabel] — and all the animal trainers I researched and interviewed and followed on the circus route today. Though mauled many times, she — like the rest of the trainers — never blamed the cats. It was always the trainer’s fault.

Life with the circus seemed so rough, but Mabel was able to find a place for herself there. How do you think she managed that considering woman had so little influence at that time? It was absolutely so much work. But she found family and acceptance there, where she had none before. … Once she established her act and that she could work with the cats, she had a place. She was the one studios went to to double for films. She doubled for Mae West and others. She forged her way completely on her own terms. She wouldn’t take any BS from anyone. She didn’t do it for fame or glory. She worked with tigers because she was passionate and had found purpose. And when that was taken away …

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— Michelle Drown

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Meet The Makers recognition he deserved (aside from winning the Best Director Oscar for Rocky), and it was interesting to me that John all but vanished from movie-making. I wanted to show the world that this is the legend behind their favorite movies. It’s not every day that you get to meet your heroes, befriend them, be mentored by them, and especially get to make a movie about them. I’m very thankful for this opportunity.

World Premiere

john g. avIldSen:

kIng oF the underdogS DirectOr Derek wayne JOhnsOn

facebook.com/JohnGavildsenUnderdoG “Growing up, I felt like a student of John [Avildsen]’s and his movies, as I not only was inspired by them but learned valuable filmmaking techniques through studying how he shot his pictures,” said director Derek Johnson of the eponymous subject of his latest film, John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs. Avildsen is the award-winning director of iconic movies Rocky and The Karate Kid, yet not many know his name.

Johnson set out to change that with this documentary that traces the life of the genius behind the camera of two of cinema’s classic films.

What made you so intent on telling his story? If you ask anyone who directed Rocky, nine times out of 10, they say Sylvester Stallone. If you ask them who directed The Karate Kid, they have no idea. I’ve always thought it was a shame that this great director never got the

How different is directing a documentary to directing a fictional film? The production process of making a documentary is much different than making a fictional film in so many ways. For one, it takes much longer to make a documentary as production is spread out over several months and even years. You work around the interviewees’ schedules, piece together hours and hours of footage that you have to obtain and get clearance on, etc. But the key similarity is that the goal of both genres is to tell a good story, and that is the most important aspect.

One of the best compliments we’ve received about John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs is that it doesn’t feel like a documentary, but rather it feels like a movie.

DOCUMENTARIES • • • up clOse anD persOnal with real-liFe stOries

Interviews with the filmmakers

What do you hope audiences take away from this film? I hope audiences go back and rewatch Avildsen’s films with a fresh appreciation of simple storytelling about people and how they overcome their obstacles. I hope younger audiences are inspired to take a look at these masterpieces and see that a movie doesn’t need to just rely on explosions and CGI and superheroes. But mainly, I hope audiences understand the contributions John Avildsen made to cinema and to the world.

— Michelle Drown

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 7

U.S. Premiere

ken San

DirectOr yuichi hiBi

DOCUMENTARIES • • • up clOse anD persOnal with real-liFe stOries

In the documentary Ken San, director Yuichi Hibi takes a look at one of Japan’s most legendary actors, Ken Takakura. More than an examination of his life, the film is a meditation on the creative process and how an artistic giant such as Takakura meets life in all its joys and sorrows.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about Ken-san in the filming of the documentary?

I think the most surprising part was “how much” Ken inspired the interview subjects and what they revealed about Ken. They went into his figure much more deeply than I ever expected. I mean, I knew these people had a connection with Ken, but I had no idea how deep it was. I was honored to record those moments and their words.

Where do you see Ken-san’s influence continuing in Japanese cinema or cinema of the world? Ken wasn’t just any other actor. He really had his own style. He also was proud to be Japanese, so he was trying to show the positive spirit and culture of Japan through his work. Unfortunately, there are not many actors like him anymore. But I feel the same overall with the rest of the world, that there are not many old-fashioned actors with class left in world cinema. There are fewer and fewer as the years go on. “Drugs and sex” are fine, but I would like to see and learn from the cinema — learn something about the human condition. Ken taught us “morality” through his films.

Ken seemed attuned to the loneliness of artistry and genius. Do you think a kind of loneliness is a cost of artistic greatness? I was an actor for a while when I was younger. I’ve lived as a photographer for the last 20 years. Being an artist is often lonely. Often you need to be alone in your

thoughts and work in order to create something you are satisfied with. Being famous and lonely is a bit different from the creative process, so when you become famous and lonely, many will probably perceive you as a tortured figure. But on a more serious note, as we learn in the film, making sacrifices is often part of the focus of making great art.

What are some of the lessons or wisdom we can learn from the life of Ken Takakura? To be humble. And to live today as if it were your last.

8 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

— Richie DeMaria

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Meet The Makers

U.S. Premiere

wIndow horSeS:

the poetIc perSIan epIphany oF roSIe mIng DirectOr ann marie Fleming windowhorses.com Window Horses is an animated feature that follows a young Canadian girl of mixed descent — who has grown up believing that her Iranian father abandoned her — to a poetry festival in Iran. There she discovers the wide world of international poetry festivals, her own ability as a poet/performer, and that what she has been told about her father is not the truth.

Do you have a personal connection to Iranian culture? I am mixed race myself and an immigrant and have always been interested in personal histories and the intricacies of cross-cultural collaborations. When I came back to Vancouver after a residency in Germany, I found a large Iranian community there. Listening to stories of the Iranian diaspora, I was struck by not only how little I knew about it but also by how much it resembled stories of immigration that I’d heard in Germany and from all over the world.

Animation is the perfect medium for expressing poetry and the endless possibilities of the imagination. I put my avatar stickgirl

in it and made her half-Persian so I could make this as personal a tale as possible.

Poetry is a remarkably universal phenomenon, but its centrality in the lives of people from other cultures is not always something a North American audience considers. Was that one of the motives for putting this story on screen? Yes! It’s exciting! Certainly there are other cultures where poetry is more a part of daily life — Iran and China to name the two I feature in the film. Words and thoughts written a thousand years ago are still learned by schoolchildren and are passed on to other cultures through continual adaptations because they are still relevant today. It is like a great code that connects us across the millennia. Maybe not everyone in the United States can quote Thoreau or Dickens or Walker, but most everyone knows a line from Bob Dylan, and he just won the Nobel Prize for his poetry.

INDEPENDENTS • • • Feature Films made with passion and without the support oF the big studios

Interviews with the filmmakers

What do you hope for the film? This is a small film with a big and urgent mission: to foster some compassion and understanding between cultures. Be open; stay curious. Listen to one another. It’s about love. We need more love.

— Charles Donelan

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 9

INDEPENDENTS • • • Feature Films made with passion and without the support oF the big studios

World Premiere

that’S not me

cO-writer alice FOulcher, DirectOr gregOry erDstein In That’s Not Me, a hilarious comedy from Australia, aspiring actor Polly must contend with the success of her more famous twin sister. Co-written by lead Alice Foulcher and director Gregory Erdstein, it’s a movie about fame, siblings, and thwarted expectations.

What was it like to write/direct as a wife/husband duo? Were there give-take imbalances, or was it pretty harmonious?

Gregory Erdstein: After this many years living and working together, we basically share the same brain now, so there’s not a great deal we can’t discuss openly if we haven’t already figured out what the other is thinking.

Have either of you had experiences similar to Amy’s, e.g., being mistaken for someone else, being told you’re in the wrong field, or having to compete artistically with siblings?

Alice Foulcher: For me, the twin relationship is about comparing yourself to someone else.

Everyone has that person. … But ultimately, tracking your life and progress against another person’s isn’t healthy. You’ve got to make your own path.

GE: [on competing artistically] We are lucky to have several incredibly talented friends who I absolutely love/hate/love because of their success. But that’s part of the learning

experience. Learning to pretend to be happy for your friends when they succeed while you’re secretly dying on the inside.

Do you have any advice for aspiring actors and artists on how to deal with the disappointing reality of auditioning?

AF: I do genuinely believe you should follow your dreams, despite the odds. You only get one life, and I don’t want to be on my deathbed with regrets of at least not trying. But the joy must be in the doing, because there’s no guarantee of success in this industry. I also believe in trying to make your own opportunities. That’s what this film is for us — a chance for Greg to direct and me to act in our own feature film.

GE: It’s not a film about giving up on your dreams, as it is about pursuing them for the right reasons. As Alice said, the joy is in the doing. If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, then why do it? I had a close friend and feature director tell me before we started shooting, “Make sure you enjoy the shoot, because you may never get the chance to enjoy an experience like this again.” And I did. I had an absolute blast making this film, and my only misgiving now is that it’s over.

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— Richie DeMaria

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Meet The Makers

World Premiere

Bokeh

writers/DirectOrs anDrew sullivan anD geOFFrey Orthwein bokehthemovie.com

Imagine if you woke up one morning and you were one of the last two people alive on Earth. Bokeh plays with this idea with impressive simplicity through its two characters, Riley and Jenai, as they attempt to make sense of mankind’s overnight disappearance. With stunning imagery and eerie silence, the film allows viewers to create their own interpretations of what the end of the world means.

What is the relationship to the film’s title and the photographic technique “bokeh”? Bokeh is the blur, the out of focus part of the photo. In life, we choose what we focus on and what we blur. We wanted to tell a story of two people who continue to change their priorities, their ideals, their focus based on an altered world.

They are defined not just by what they focus on, but what they choose to blur.

Why did you decide to film in Iceland? We could use some of the more surreal, alien-looking locations to emphasize certain parts of the

narrative. Because much of Iceland’s power is generated through geothermal plants, it let us have an end of the world where the infrastructure is not crumbling. Also, in June, Iceland has 23 hours of daylight per day. Since we were telling the story of the last two people on earth, we could shoot at 3 a.m. in the empty streets of Reykjavik, and it would look like morning.

Were you worried about creating a film centered around, more or less, just two characters? Simple answer, yes. We asked ourselves if we could tell a relevant and compelling story about the last two people on Earth. We chose to make a more cerebral science-fiction film about a couple and tried to avoid having them constantly narrate their feeling to each other throughout the film.

Why did you decide not to disclose the reason for mankind’s disappearance? When we came up with the idea, one of our first decisions was to not determine why “The Event” happened. Regardless of whether the event is religious, alien, or an unnatural occurrence, our characters still have to deal with this new, empty world whether they were chosen, forgotten, or none of the above.

INDEPENDENTS • • • Feature Films made with passion and without the support oF the big studios

Interviews with the filmmakers

— Savanna Mesch

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 11

INDEPENDENTS • • • Feature Films made with passion and without the support oF the big studios

U.S. Premiere

carrIe pIlBy

DirectOr susan JOhnsOn facebook.com/carriePilbythemovie It wouldn’t be fair to constrict this film to the list of coming-of-age films about young people finding their way through the trials and tribulations of adulthood. Eighteen-year-old Carrie Pilby has already graduated from Harvard, but regardless of her know-it-all-attitude, she doesn’t have a clue how to cope with any sort of relationship. The film’s witty dialogue and very real life lessons are universally resonant to any person at any age.

Was Carrie based on any real people? The film is based on the novel Carrie Pilby by Caren Lissner, whom I believe has said that the character of Carrie is based off of several people she’s met over the years in New York City.

Who is the film geared toward? It’s a coming-ofage film, but a lot of her relationships are with older people. I’m really hoping that the film is not limited to the “coming-of-age” genre. When we were developing the script, we heard from fans of the book who ranged in age from 12 to 80, men, women, straight, LGBT. The novel was published in eight languages around the world, and I’m hopeful we can make the majority happy with our interpretation of Caren’s beautiful book.

What was it like working with such a diverse cast, from Nathan Lane and Vanessa Bayer to Gabriel Byrne and Bel Powley? We spent an entire year casting this film but knew we wouldn’t start shooting until we found the perfect Carrie. Bel is incredibly talented, and I was confident that she wouldn’t get lost in a cast of very accomplished actors. She’s also incredibly funny, so I knew she could keep up with the likes of Nathan and Vanessa. We only had 20 shooting days for the entire film, shot over the holidays in New York City, and Bel was in every scene.

Do you believe it is possible to do the wrong thing and still be happy? That’s just it, though! Who gets the final say on what is “wrong”? Happiness takes work, for most of us, and commitment. And for a lucky few on the planet, happiness is a choice. I believe that the less we look to others to be the source of our happiness, the better off we will be.

Do you have plans to release it to a wider audience?

Yes! The film comes out theatrically in the U.S. on March 31 of this year. —Savanna Mesch

12 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

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Meet The Makers

World Premiere

Sleepwalker

DirectOr elliOtt lester elliottlester.com This ethereal head-scratcher concerns a widow whose author-husband’s death is shrouded in mystery. As dreams awake into dreams, she seeks help from a sleep specialist, but matters only grow more confusing and creepy.

How did this story come about? It all began with Jack Olsen’s script. He had written a unique story regarding perception and what we believe to be real. The challenge was how to make each layer of the multiple realities fit into one cohesive story centered on one central character. The dream aspect afforded the movie a visual style that could break convention since in a dream anything is possible and there are no rules. Often, movies transcend when they step outside of what we come to expect from them. Sleepwalker was that inspiration.

Are there specific challenges in captivating the audience and keeping them attentive when telling a story that messes so much with time, space, and reality? Our cinema experience is changing as our attention spans seem to get shorter and

shorter. Sleepwalker is a slow burn, and you have to allow yourself to be taken on that journey. You have to be absorbed and not look at your phone, which I know is a nearon impossibility. I try to make the story as visually arresting as possible and, in doing so, keep the camera moving, keep the pace engaging, and keep the audience asking, “What is going on?” I hope we pulled it off.

How are your sleep patterns? I sleep like a baby.

Do you think that some people may be stuck in this sort of cyclical experience? There is a condition we looked at. It’s very rare. The subject does not know whether they are dreaming or not. Most people dream lucidly and are aware they are dreaming. For the rare few that don’t, it can be torturous. You are caught in the same cycle going over and over again.

The brain has no way of knowing what is and is not real. It can be agony.

INDEPENDENTS • • • Feature Films made with passion and without the support oF the big studios

Interviews with the filmmakers

What is your next project? The Darren Aronofsky–produced movie Aftermath is set to be released this year by Lionsgate. I also have Thirst with HBO films, that is being produced

by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. It is a story that centers on the worldwide water crisis we — Matt Kettmann are facing.

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 13

Are these actors famous in the Czech Republic? Yes, all of them are Class A actors. They probably liked the script and felt that it was a story that we’re actually living. It’s neither art nor pure entertainment — it’s a discussion of a topic that troubles a large part of population, maybe including some of the actors.

INTERNATIONAl • • • Feature Films that are popular around the world

U.S. Premiere

tIger theory

DirectOr raDek BaJgar For years, Jan has lived pressed under the thumb of his domineering, decision-making wife, Olga, so he decides to fake an illness in order to attain a taste of freedom. Humor and serious life questions follow in Czech director/screenwriter Radek Bajgar’s feature-film debut.

Was making your first feature film difficult? Of course, it was a challenge to make a feature film, but in the end, I found it less complicated than I expected. I had a script I believed in, I knew the feelings of my characters, so my only task was to tell the story and be as accurate as possible. I am not an artist; for me film is a way of communication. I knew what I was communicating, and I wanted it to be very simple.

The film is funny but deals with serious themes of death, divorce, and the meaning of a good life.

Was it hard to strike that balance?

Yes, the film is funny only because most of us are ridiculous, men especially. But the essence is serious. It’s a story about the importance of freedom in marriage, although words “marriage” and “freedom” seem to stand in contradiction. I’ve been married for 25 years, and I find that marriage is fine, but very, very long.

Back in the days when marriage was invented, people’s lives were much shorter, and so was marriage: People lived as couples for 20 years maximum, with very clear purpose: to survive and feed children.

But nowadays marriage can last for 50, 60 years. Are we prepared for that? Furthermore, we started expecting to be happy at the same time. A difficult matter.

Do you get along with your wife? Yes, surprisingly. My advice: If you want to tell your wife something complicated, make a movie about it. That just makes it harder for her to ignore.

What is your next project? After the screenings, everybody’s question was: Do you write a movie about tigress? Yes, I do. Because the problem is gender neutral. Also, women are tired of men who are too close, too dependent. We are trying to tell that passion and love need some space and distance.

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— Matt Kettmann

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Meet The Makers

U.S. Premiere

the neSt

DirectOr klauDia reynicke klaUdiareynicke.com When a young woman with striking eyes returns to her home village in the Swiss Alps, she stumbles into the dark history of her family’s hidden past and struggles, against the will of her closest relatives, to learn the truth. The ensuing drama plays out during the pilgrimage town’s most important holiday, making everyone uncomfortable.

How has your Swiss-Peruvian, multi-country upbringing influenced your filmmaking? I went from a city of eight million people, Lima, to a small Swiss town of 8,000 people when I was 10. There were mixed feelings: I enjoyed the proximity of things, being able to walk to school, the nature, riding my bike everywhere, but at the same time I hated the silence, the emptiness of the streets, the calm.

The quiet made me very anxious.

So when at 18, I moved to Florida, I was able to step back and take some distance toward all these different life “scenes,” the places where I grew up. When I created Cora, I wanted her to be an outsider but with solid roots of one particular place, so she could have some distance, in order to think of the foreigner not as a danger but as a bridge to the outside world that she also knows and, at

the same time, to be able to identify herself as part of a clan. I have a special interest on how people adapt to different contexts and what the social context can do to people.

Does the film mirror any true events? Back in 2002, I read in a Swiss newspaper that a 6-year-old kid had been found unconscious on the snow, half-naked, because he was abused by a dog. I was so choked by the absurdity of that tale, bringing a dog to “abuse” a child, that it stayed on my mind for years. A few years after, I read that the parents of the kid never believed in the dog story, but that the kids from the small town did it. The kid’s younger brother had seen it all. I wanted to talk about what it is to live with a secret and guilt, what it is to grow up carrying that.

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How did you select the location? Does Bucco even exist? Bucco does not exist; the real town is called Palagnedra. It’s in the south of Switzerland, on top of a mountain, and there are other bigger mountains around it. It gave a sense of isolation. It was perfect to illustrate a place that seems perfect but is much more — Matt Kettmann claustrophobic.

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codename holec DirectOr FranZ nOvOtny decknameholec.at

Austrian Director Franz Novotny sets his engaging film during the August 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Prague, Czechoslovakia, focusing on an up-and-coming, outspoken Czech director named Honza David (Krystof Hádek), who captures the siege on film. David then attempts to flee to Vienna with the intent of taking his film to Helmut Zilk (Johannes Zeiler), the director of Austrian Television, who also happens to be a suitor of David’s love, actress Eva (Vica Kerekes). Despite their romantic rivalry, the two men work together to expose the truth of Russia’s behind-the-scenes politic machinations to bring Czechoslovakia under Eastern Bloc control.

What do you hope audiences take away from the film? The audience goes along with the torn character of the main figure Zilk and wonders if it’s generally not more interesting to experience the hell with all the pretty things — like sex and espionage — rather than being bored by a solid job while being in heaven. And the question arises as to whether and how Zilk, who has stumbled and become an involuntary spy, can free himself from his entanglement.

How did this film come about? The plot originally came from the Czech Republic. In the course of the work, the plot was supplemented by the figure of the Viennese “Helmut Zilk,” who worked for the CSSR [Czechoslovak Socialist Republic] secret service in the 1960s.

Do you have another project in the works? I am working on the history of the Aryanization (i.e., robbery of the Jews by the Nazis) of a Viennese house in 1938 by the Nazis and their owners, who were able to flee after the robbery. The granddaughter of this family, Julie Metz, lives in N.Y., and we are currently working on a novel/film about the history of this house, its family, and the greed and viciousness of those Viennese Nazis of March 1938 who benefited. (It is coincidentally the house where our film production is situated nowa— Michelle Drown days.)

What drew you to direct this particular story? The focus is the conflict of conscience of the main figure Zilk, a womanizer who is entangled in love affairs and who, through vanity, brings information to the secret service of the CSSR and thus becomes extortion-able. How does he free himself from his dilemma?

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INTERNATIONAl • • • Feature Films that are popular around the world

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the FIxer

DirectOr aDrian sitaru 4Prooffilm.ro This engaging drama follows an aspiring journalist in Bucharest, Romania, who serves as a fixer for a French television crew that’s looking into sex trafficking. When they start ruffling feathers in a small village where the church is protecting the former prostitutes, people aren’t happy, and the journalistic ethics soon become victimized, as well.

What was the origin of this film? It was inspired by true events. Adrian Silisteanu, the DOP [director of photography] of the film (and of almost all my films), had worked as a fixer/ best boy for France Press Agency in Bucharest before enrolling at the film school. In one of his jobs, he met this situation sometime at the beginning of the 2000s; of course, because it’s a fiction film, we dramatized it and changed some things. But his experience remained in his mind like a bitter one; he felt like they committed an abuse in the name of good journalism with their best intentions.

I became very much attached with this subject, thinking for many times how easy it is to commit abuse in my job, in the name of art or cinema, with my best intentions.

At the core of the film is this question of what makes a journalist versus a fixer. What did you want the audience to take away from that dichotomy? For us it was not a question about, who and what is a fixer? It was more about abuse, the main theme of the film. “Fixer” for us, generically, was anyone who was in his/her younger years trying to prove how good he/she was.

In some situations, it is called “best boy” or “intern” or “assistant.” Of course, our story is something very specific for journalism, but we thought all the time to some universal pattern.

Is sex trafficking still a major problem in Romania? I think it’s a problem everywhere in the world, even in rich countries. I had a very interesting feedback about it in Japan, where the film was screened at Tokyo IFF. On a lighter note, do they really put water in wine in Romania? Of course, it’s a normal thing in almost all areas in Romania to combine white wine with sparkling water. But is not just a Romanian habit; it is also in Austria and Germany, at least, and is called spritz, soda — Matt Kettmann wine.

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the moSt BeautIFul day DirectOr/writer FlOrian DaviD FitZ also in Crime scenes

How would you spend your last days if you were terminally ill? Director/writer and lead actor Florian David Fitz explores this question in the comedy The Most Beautiful Day, a touching and delightful romp about two friends and their adventures when they are told they have days left to live.

What inspired the script? What aspects of your character Benno resonated with you most? I read many books about dying and one especially touched me: It is a book of eulogies, written by people who are about to die. What would they want to hear about themselves at their funeral? What did they consider important? They contained every color, from bitter to being funny to revealing truths that they had hidden a whole lifetime. But most of them had one thing in common: They were free. And that became the theme of the movie. What if nearing death was to your advantage? About Benno, I liked exactly that radical freedom. And yet he wants to make amends before he goes. I liked that.

How was it working with Matthias Schweighöfer?

Oh, we had quite a journey! We have known each other for years, but it’s a different mat-

ter working together, of course. It was troublesome at first, and we had fun and quite a few adventures in South Africa. Funnily enough, we really had sort of the same journey as the characters. I have seen Matthias in distress and in joy. I have saved his ass, and he has saved mine. That makes you quite close in the end.

Were there any moments of spontaneous comedy or improv that made it into the movie? Oh, once you got the characters down, there is lots of spontaneity. At first, we grappled with the idea of true comedic moments in the character’s situation. What’s so funny about dying?

But once you get over that, you see that death shouldn’t be the end of humor. Not unless you want to have a sepulchral, stiff, weigheddown, shitty exit, that is. It’s simply the ultimate lesson in not taking oneself too seriously.

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If you were similarly diagnosed as Benno, how would you spend your final day(s)? Dear lord, I don’t know! Good food. Good friends. A nightcap and a swift good-bye.

— Richie DeMaria

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revenge

DirectOr kJersti steinsBø nfi.no This suspenseful film, which is set in a seemingly idyllic tourist village along a remarkably beautiful Norwegian fjord, follows a woman who is set on avenging the sexual abuse of her sister. Her target is the owner of the village’s inn, an ambitious family man with a dark past.

Is sexual abuse a big problem in Norway? Sexual abuse is a problem all over the world. Norway is one of the richest and safest countries in the world, but that doesn’t mean that we have our issues to work on. We have had our share of stories of men who misuse their position and take advantage on younger women: politicians, teachers, people involved in sports or other activities with young people. Often it is word against word, resulting in many women not being heard or not even pressing charges.

The punishment for rape is fairly low in Norway, and we have an ongoing discussion on these issues.

I also wanted to show how one night, one incident, can form the life and personalities of four characters in different ways.

How did you weave the past into the current scenes in such a psychologically accurate way, almost like waking dreams? When Rebekka returns to the

hotel where things happened in the past, it is like the younger version of her sister Emma is waiting for her there. The hotel represents Emma and the change that happened there: The sister she came with to the hotel is not the same that she left with. A part of Emma stayed behind in those rooms, so I wanted the memories or dreams to have a “ghostly” feeling to them. I wanted them to be in the gray area between dreams and a haunting.

Is there anything about the landscape that contributes to Norwegian people? Norwegians have a very close connection to the nature. Compared to the number of inhabitants, there is a lot of nature. Historically, we lived secluded and with great distances between us, and maybe that is why we have a reputation of being a bit shy or hard to get to know. I don’t know if that still is true; maybe we have managed to let the world in a bit now that we rather live closer to each other than on a secluded hilltop. I also think that Norwegians are a quite trustworthy and gullible people. We can be curious of other people, and if we get to trust you, we will let you in. Especially if we drink, then we will open up and become your —Matt Kettmann best friend!

nordIc • • • cOntempOrary cinema FrOm scanDinavia

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SOCIAl jUSTICE • • • shining a bright light on issues From human rights to environmentalism

a revolutIon In Four SeaSonS DirectOr Jessie Deeter

revolUtioninfoUrseasons.com Over the course of five years, this documentary traces the lives of two women, Jawhara and Emna, who are involved in opposing political parties in Tunisia as the country tries to establish democracy after the Arab Spring in 2010. Two weeks apart, the women both give birth to baby girls and must navigate motherhood in a shifting place.

You went to Tunisia as a Fulbright Scholar before you decided to make this film. What initially drew you to the country? I was familiar with the region from working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco in the 1990s when my now husband, then a friend, was a volunteer in Tunisia. As a documentary filmmaker who had spent years living and working in the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] region, I felt fabulously fortunate to happen to be back in the country that was experiencing what I thought was the most powerful story in the world at the time.

Tunisia was the only country to emerge from the Arab Spring as a transforming democracy. Why do you think so? Tunisia had several conditions that made it especially conducive to the development of democracy, including a high level of education, a large middle class, a relatively healthy civil society, respect for wom-

en’s rights, and a homogenous society lacking the ethnic and religious divides of some of the other Arab Spring countries that weren’t able to establish even the beginning of a proper democratic society.

Did you face any particular difficulties creating this film? Although we were living in Tunisia when we began filming, we weren’t able to stay in Tunisia over the course of the film — so there was a lot of back and forth with a fair amount of gear that required some significant planning to transport. Due to financial and other constraints, we were often operating with a very small crew, which was definitely an asset in terms of gaining the trust and access of our characters.

What are your thoughts about the country’s future?

I admit that Tunisia is still struggling to make good on the hopes and promises of the Revolution and still faces challenges of eradicating corruption, engaging marginalized populations in its interior region, getting people productive jobs, and translating reforms into tangible results for all Tunisians. Nonetheless, I hope that the Tunisians and others who see the film are heartened by all that Tunisians have managed to accomplish in such a relatively short period of time. — Kelsey Brugger

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BreakIng poInt:

the war For democracy In ukraIne Filmmakers mark JOnathan harris anD paul wOlansky breakinGPointfilm.com Foreign empires, beginning with Genghis Khan, have been invading Ukraine for centuries, drawn by fertile soil and oceans of wheat. Three years ago, Russian strongman Vladimir Putin did the same in response to the Maidan Uprising, the Ukrainian equivalent of Tiananmen Square. What started off as a peaceful protest against a corrupt government that did Putin’s bidding turned violent when Putin dispatched troops to restore order.

This is a passionate and chilling look at how that uprising evolved with striking emotional insight into the psychology of mass movements. For a host of reasons, these events failed to seize the political imagination of mainstream America. In light of Donald Trump’s relationship with Putin, it’s clear we should have been paying closer attention.

Given Trump’s close relationship with Putin, this film will resonate more now. How would you compare Trump’s approach to the media to Putin’s? We finished the film in the summer of 2016 when it was just becoming clear that Donald Trump was a serious candidate for the presidency.

One of his chief advisors was Paul Manafort, who had worked for the corrupt president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, who was forced to flee the country after ordering his

militia to turn their guns on the protestors, murdering 123 of them.

It quickly became apparent that not only does Trump have a close relationship with Putin but he has little knowledge about the annexation of Crimea, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or prior U.S. commitments to the country. What is also clear now from Trump’s election campaign and his transition to the presidency is that one of the common strategies he shares with Putin is his use of disinformation and lies to deflect and confuse his opposition. He could be following the Russian playbook in his use of Twitter.

What did people in Ukraine think about the West’s lackluster response? Many Ukrainians feel very betrayed and disillusioned about the West.

In 1994, Ukraine had voluntarily given up its arsenal of 200 nuclear weapons in return for recognition of its sovereignty, its borders, and “security guarantees” from the U.S., the U.K., Russia, France, and China, only to discover 20 years later that the West would give very little tangible support (e.g., refusing to send Ukraine defensive weapons such as anti-tank missiles) when Ukraine needed help.

What’s the status of Ukrainian independence now?

Ukrainian independence is under siege.

Russia destabilizes the political situation in Ukraine by periodically escalating the trench warfare in the East, which kills Ukrainian soldiers every day. Russia also uses its economic power to sabotage the Ukrainian economy.

Ukrainians were stunned by the result of the U.S. election. They fear that Donald Trump’s bizarre admiration for Putin will cause the U.S. to once again “sell out” Ukraine to Russia.

SOCIAl jUSTICE • • • shining a bright light on issues From human rights to environmentalism

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— Nick Welsh

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angry Inuk

DirectOr alethea arnaquq-Baril anGryinUk.com SOCIAl jUSTICE • • • shining a bright light on issues From human rights to environmentalism

Seal hunting is bad for all, right? That’s what well-funded activists have successfully argued in the media and on the global legal stage for decades, effectively banning the international sale of seal skins and meat.

But for the indigenous people of Canada who’ve relied on sustainable seal harvests for time immemorial, those ill-informed campaigns and the resulting legislation chain them to abject poverty. Alethea Arnaquq-Baril’s documentary shows this side of the debate and how it affects her people.

You have known about the seal hunting situation your whole life. When and why did you realize that it would make a compelling film? One day, I realized that the frustration I’ve felt my whole life about the Inuit voice not being heard was actually an asset in pitching a film. Broadcasters and festivals love to hear from a new perspective, especially on controversial subjects.

Were there any particular challenges in making a film on a topic you felt so strongly about and were also involved with? Knowing what needed to be said and what is obvious and doesn’t have to be said for an audience that is nothing like me or my community is very hard.

What advice would you give to other small, underfunded groups when they are fighting against larger, well-funded entities? Time will tell if this advice is useful, but here are my tactics: Learn their language. Watch how they play with semantics to distort the conversation, and disrupt that strategy. Show up. Ask them questions. Be reasonable even when they’re not.

Find out how they get their money, and focus on interrupting the narrative that garners them donations.

What is the current state of affairs, both legally with regard to hunting and for your people in general?

All of the legislation that affects our market is still in place. We cannot trade in America at all, and although an exception technically allows us to trade in Europe, we haven’t sold a single skin to Europe since the ban was put in place. We are still the poorest and most foodinsecure population in North America.

On a lighter note, what does seal meat taste like?

Heaven. Health. Richness. My husband says it has the texture and some of the taste of slow-roasted pork. I think it’s a cross between the flavor of seafood and the most succulent steak you’ve ever had.

What do you hope will happen with the film? I hope Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Reynolds, Paul McCartney, and the many, many other celebrities who have condemned seal hunting and helped the animal groups raise money on the issue see the film. They enable our oppression, and I hope they will see the issue is not black-and-white and that the majority of the people they affect are Inuit living in poverty —Matt Kettmann who eat the meat.

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a Queer country prODucer harriet Davies also in Kolnoa

The documentary A Queer Country focuses on Tel Aviv’s strong LGBTQ community, an island of queer pride in a staunchly conservative region of the world. Producer Harriet Davies talks filming and what makes Tel Aviv a special place for the LGBTQ community.

Salt Lake City, a heavily religious Mormon community in the U.S., also has one of the strongest queer communities in our country. Do you think queer communities are perhaps strongest in places where they are seemingly most opposed? I think being opposed creates unity, and having a challenge creates energy for a struggle. Those emotional responses might give rise to a phenomenon like that. In many ways, the LGBTQ community in Tel Aviv felt more connected and active than the community in London. On the other hand, that intensity means you can be exposed very easily when you go outside of that community or bubble. We felt that when we left Tel Aviv.

Going forward, what do you see as the biggest challenges for LGBTQ communities in Tel Aviv? I think the challenge will be in broadening the achievements of Tel Aviv to Israel. Israel is an incredibly diverse place, and its different

parts of society did not, to an outsider, always appear well integrated. Its laws pertaining to marriage and divorce, for example, pose real problems for the LGBTQ community, as they are inherently divisive and therefore do not lay foundations for a tolerant, inclusive society. Overcoming these barriers would be real progress.

From my perception, much of the world at large is in a state of contraction and extreme conservatism, including, of course, the U.S. In what ways is Tel Aviv or Israel in general a model for how to address potentially impending conservatism? I think social conservatism is often driven by fear of existence of an identity or community. Israel suffers from this fear and is considered politically very conservative in most respects.

However, Tel Aviv’s, and to some extent Israel’s, embrace of the LGBTQ community is an example of how having the courage to be tolerant makes us stronger. Adapting a society to make it more welcoming ultimately broadens that society’s membership and makes it more powerful. But for that to happen, there needs to be space for different and even conflicting ideas and opinions to exist.

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— Richie DeMaria

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SpaIn / latIn amerIca • • • Contemporary Cinema From spanish-speaKing lands

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at your doorStep DirectOr eDuarD cOrtés cercadetUcasa.orG also in Cinematic overtures

The United States was not alone in its suffering at the hands of the 2007 housing market crisis and subsequent financial crash. By the tens of thousands, people all over the world were devastated by the bursting of a greeddriven bubble. At Your Doorstep intertwines the stories of a handful of individuals trying to find their way through the crisis in Spain in a musical that both inspires and demoralizes.

Given the subject matter, the musical nature of At Your Doorstep might surprise people. Why a Brechtian musical? In recent years, the media in this country have bombarded us with hundreds of news stories, financial figures, reports, and interviews about the drama of evictions. From the beginning, I was certain our film needed to bring a new look. I wanted to distance myself from what I sensed was already saturating people.

For that reason, I decided to approach the subject with a more emotional and more po-

etic look that was able to move the viewer from the heart. The songs offered me a very powerful emotional engine, and the fact of making a musical on such a hard subject also gave the film a singularity that seemed very attractive to me.

Do you think we have learned our lesson, or are we doomed to repeat it? Unfortunately, it is going to happen again once and a hundred times more.

The system works like this. The bubble does not break completely. It swells and deflates.

Swinging and cruel, it will not stop easily.

Your film is as hopeful as it is downright depressing. What are the lessons you want viewers to take home? First of all, that the crisis has brought many bad things but also brought about many good things, as well. For example, values such as solidarity, which seemed quite anesthetized before, have reactivated strongly in the population. Also, when you have something and you are also afraid to lose it, that fear can be very useful in keeping people at bay. It is a perverse type of machinery that can end up crushing our dreams and our dignity. We must be prepared for that.

26 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

— Ethan Stewart

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holy BIker

and Laura [Luisa Arraes], we can’t help but notice the extreme paradox that comes between their attitudes and diverse backgrounds.

DirectOr hOmerO OlivettO cinando.com also in Crime scenes A threadbare biker gang in the drought-ravaged Brazilian outback steals a holy sculpture for its rainmaking promises. But when their leader falls for the lost virgin whose sacrifice may open the sky, the extremes of blind faith are put to question. Meanwhile, the sculpture’s owner has channeled Anton Chigurh to track down the robbers.

What inspired this story? The stories my grandfather used to tell me about Brazil’s northeastern desert wilderness always depicted a place filled with brave and strong heroes. As I imagined this faraway land, I got transported to a place where fearless men and women battled against their enemies with sharp knives and impenetrable armors. Back to reality, however, my daily routine growing up in metropolitan São Paulo restricted itself to ’80s punk rock, the birth of Brazilian rock ’n’ roll, and the globalization of pop music.

The characters in Holy Biker were born out of this blend of realities: the fusion of São Paulo’s urban jungle with the ruthless backlands.

This is explicit through the film, in the art direction, characters, and the rhythm of the narrative. Even when looking at the two main characters of the story, Ara [Cauã Reymond]

What challenges did you face during production?

The most difficult thing was to adapt to the locations. It was very dry and hot. There were thorns and snakes everywhere. We shot in Brazil’s semiarid northeast, between the states of Bahia and Pernambuco. It is a place that still suffers of long periods of drought. It was difficult for the crew and actors to be all day in the sun in places that were very difficult to reach with equipment.

Another big limitation was the shooting schedule. We had only six weeks to shoot everything, including the stunts, in these hard places. We had to prepare a lot to get everything done. A small part of the crew, including me, had to live there for four months to prepare everything, planning each shot in every scene with the greatest level of detail.

SpaIn / latIn amerIca • • • Contemporary Cinema From spanish-speaKing lands

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What hopes do you have for the film? I hope the film helps the growth of Brazilian genre movies. Holy Biker is a fantasy, a western, and it was made with a very strict budget in a very difficult location. Because of budget restrictions, people with the courage to produce genre movies in Brazil must be very creative.

I hope that Holy Biker encourages more peo— Keith Hamm ple to go this way in Brazil.

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 27

U.S. Premiere

tamara

DirectOr elia k. schneiDer widemanaGement.com/tamara

SpaIn / latIn amerIca • • • Contemporary Cinema From spanish-speaKing lands

Lest progressive Americans think we’re out in front of the world’s transgender movement, take the life of Tamara Adrian, who rose from discrimination in academia and elsewhere to become a prominent politician in Venezuela. This narrative film fictionalizes her saga but keeps all of the drama and emotions intact.

How close did you stick to the details of Tamara’s life story? The film was inspired

by Tamara Adrian’s life and other transgender people. I didn’t want to stick to the biographical part. Tamara is a brilliant lawyer, university professor, and world activist in favor for the human rights fighting for the LGBT and the transgender community and an elected congresswoman of the National Assembly in Venezuela. But I didn’t want to be chained to one reality. I needed the freedom to create the fiction and the world in which this character lives. It is very complex issue, and the story had to have the freedom to be developed independently of her life.

This is not a story where you look for a message. What you want as a director is to get the audience to get immersed in the character’s life and feel what the character feels in her circumstance.

Do you have any personal connections to the transgender community? Not directly, but I relate to this community like I relate to any minority that has been excluded or left out by prejudice or violation of their rights. I am the daughter of survivors of the holocaust. My parents were excluded and suffer a lot. I get very sensitive and active when I feel people don’t have the same rights or are being excluded because of race, religion, sex, or any kind of human condition that is not accepted. I’ve dealt with

these issues since I was a kid and after I started my artistic life, in all of my former theater plays and films.

How are transgender people treated in Venezuela? Transgender people are not treated well in Venezuela. There isn’t an antidiscriminatory law that protects them. All kind of abuses happen every day. They are bullied by the government authorities and the police. There are many hate killings. In Venezuela, we don’t live in a democracy. Law is whatever the government wants, whenever the government feels. Abuse and violence is part of everyday life, and the LGBTI and specially the transgender people are suffering a huge discrimination day by day. We have a homophobic society. We call it “machismo.”

Have their lives improved because of Tamara? Tamara was the most important box-office success in Venezuela this year. I assume that if people are responding in this way to go to see the film, they are also talking in their kitchens and living rooms about transgender persons and the LGBTI community in Venezuela.

28 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

— Matt Kettmann

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gaza SurF cluB DirectOr philip gnaDt GazasUrfclUb-film.com also in social Justice There is an unsettling yet awakening mental dissonance that sets in while watching this documentary. On one hand, the bare-bones stoke that the men and women featured in the film exude is as familiar as any you might encounter at a popular surf spot like Rincon. On the other hand, there’s the unavoidable fact that these surfers are riding waves in the middle of a war-ravaged region and within a culture that does not understand their passion. It’s a mind-blower of great import and an inspiring look at the resilience of passion.

How does someone from Germany decide to make a surf film about the Gaza Strip? Surfing is one of the ultimate expressions of personal freedom. And Gaza has been one of the most isolated regions in the world. So when I came across an article a couple of years back about surfers, in the then number one conflict area of the Middle East, this incredible contrast sparked my interest immediately. It led me to start thinking about a documentary with a different and much more positive perspective of this painful and politicized conflict zone.

What surprised you most about the surfers you met? Definitely the enthusiasm and pride of these surfers, as well as the rest of the population, and how they deal with life in a region traumatized by war and isolation. The media tends to pay little attention to this speck on the Mediterranean coast unless bombs are falling. Between these sporadic wars, however, there is a “normal” life. Their will to keep going and pursuing their lives despite the bleak outlook is impressive to say the least.

A good example is the fishermen we show in the film grilling the few fish they catch over a fire on the beach and sharing it with us. It was the tastiest fish we’d had in years.

Has Ibrahim returned home yet? He has chosen to stay in the U.S. a little longer and has managed to obtain a student visa and an academic opportunity in Texas. He wants to improve his English but says he has not turned his back on Gaza. He says returning home and building a clubhouse to support and further the surf community is still his dream. You’d think that his friends and crew, and even his family, would criticize his decision to stay in the U.S. rather than stick to his promise of returning with a bag full of hopes and dreams.

But the situation in Gaza being what it is, they very much understand the ambiguity of “homesickness” and being “sick of home” inside what some have called the “largest open— Ethan Stewart air prison in the world.”

aBove and Beyond • • • spOrty DOcumentaries aBOut aDventure, enDurance, anD OutDOOr thrills

Interviews with the filmmakers

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 29

aBove and Beyond • • • spOrty DOcumentaries aBOut aDventure, enDurance, anD OutDOOr thrills

Bunker77

DirectOr takuJi masuDa bUnker77film.com Rich, flamboyant, dangerously addicted, and wildly in love with surfing, Bunker Spreckels died young in 1977. Using never-before-seen footage from famed surf photographer Art Brewer taken during Spreckels’s last years, Japanese filmmaker Takuji Masuda tells the story of the enigmatic wave rider while trying to put his extravagance in its proper cultural context.

What did Bunker Spreckels mean to surfing in the 1970s? What does he mean now? Bunker was a visionary. He was a very stylish American rebel who chose to live an extraordinary life. He not only elevated the surf community by riding very short boards with edges in the dangerous waves of Hawai‘i’s North Shore almost 50 years before that style of equipment became the norm, but, in his later years, he cleverly blazed the praxis of programming his own reality in a successful effort to become a media personality. This is what most professional surf stars must do today in order to get noticed, stay relevant, and be paid from sponsors. He was definitely an avant-garde.

How was he remembered by the people you interviewed? After recording the interviews, I got that his friends miss him, adore him, and are still angry at his early departure, etc. But, in general, the community was very confused by his behavior when I began reviewing his life. His is both a celebration and a cautionary tale. Both elements often coexist in someone taking the risk to pursue one’s original vision.

What is Bunker’s legacy to surfing and Southern California beach culture? He has influenced some of the biggest names in board riding like Tony Alva, Laird Hamilton, and Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew, who all defined the style and attitude of who we are as board riders today. But, above all, his story reminds us to keep “going for it” while also showcasing the very real risk that comes with it.

What is your goal in telling the Bunker Spreckels story so many years after his death? Many of us have had someone like Bunker in our lives or, maybe, a similar moment or two of his paradigm in ourselves. I hope that my film becomes a reminder of those moments to help us reflect as well as be able to relive a little bit of that adolescent period of West Coast beach culture that was Bunker Spreckels’s life.

30 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

— Ethan Stewart

independent.com presents

Meet The Makers

U.S. Premiere

the creSt

DirectOr mark cOvinO

and John was curious if I’d be interested documenting their story. Next thing I knew, we were all in Ireland!

crestmovie.com We all have ancestors, but our connections to them can become a source of great personal insight. This doc looks at two young, American, surfing cousins from opposite ends of the country who’ve recently become aware of each other. They travel to Ireland’s Blasket Islands to retrace their roots to the Irish king who was their great-great-grandfather.

Do you consider Andrew and DK’s respective love affairs with the sea to be genetically based? I think, without a doubt, 100 percent of their love of the sea is genetic. Anytime I’m with the boys, I feel the ocean calling them. It’s in their blood, that’s for damn sure!

How did this story find you? I remember the exact moment this story fell into my lap. I was at the Vermont premiere of my first feature-length documentary, A Band Called Death (ABCD). After the Q&A, my friend and collaborator John Kane came up and introduced me to his cousin Andrew Jacob, a surfer from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They both told me this crazy story about how Andy had recently discovered that he has a cousin named DK, who lives in San Diego and is also a surfer.

They found each other through a blog that had been written about the discovery of an old family fiddle that dates back to their great-great-grandfather in Ireland, who was called An Rí, the King of the Blasket Islands.

Andy and DK were planning on meeting for the first time in the land of their ancestors,

Describe the magic in watching someone reconnect with their ancestry. What does it mean to them and to a culture at large? It’s pretty cathartic to say the least. Having grown up with little connection to my own family, I’ve always been drawn to stories like this.

What began as a film about two IrishAmerican surfers meeting for the first time in the land of their ancestors ultimately became a 120-year journey of not just a single family but of an entire culture of people who were at the forefront of preserving a nation’s legacy.

These themes don’t apply just to Ireland; they are universal. Inside all of us is a desire to understand not just who we are but where we come from and what our purpose is. I’ve discovered through these films that you can find many of these answers through family — Ethan Stewart connection.

aBove and Beyond • • • spOrty DOcumentaries aBOut aDventure, enDurance, anD OutDOOr thrills

Interviews with the filmmakers

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Meet The Makers Interviews with the filmmakers

U.S. Premiere

blUefin

nfb.ca/film/bluefin Also in Social Justice Beloved the world over for their meat and sought out for the ferocious fight they put up when caught with rod and reel, bluefin tuna have been fished to the brink of extinction. But in eastern Canada, many locals believe this mighty fish is as strong and healthy as ever. This doc will make you wonder out loud about the species as well as the human condition.

Do you eat bluefin? Like many people, I’ve eaten bluefin sushi, but I had no idea what I was actually eating. I realize now how monumental these creatures really are. They’re the fastest fish in the ocean, the deepest-diving fish, and the furthest-ranging. Eating one now would be more like cooking an eagle or a panda bear. Humans need to see these creatures in a new light.

Was there pushback from the Prince Edward Island fishing community? The charter tuna fishermen were open to being filmed as they were used to cameras being around from TV fishing-show crews or for six o’clock news stories. It’s publicity for them. I explained that if fishermen wanted the public to hear their side of the story and not to be portrayed as just species-killers, the film would also need to hear from scientists who believe tuna are greatly depleted. They were okay with that because they were convinced scientists would be quickly converted to how they see things. However, since the film has come out, some of the fishermen are really unhappy that scientists see things differently despite the mysterious and obvious huge abundance of fish they are seeing around their boats.

What’s your personal take on the situation? I shot my film over five years and came to realize, while sifting through this experience, that this story is really a stark allegory, one that reveals as much about who we are as a species as it does about the mighty bluefin.

For North Lake, which has already lost its tuna fishery once and its identity as the “Tuna Capital of the World,” this return of giant bluefin is an incredible second chance for them. But what are they doing with it? It seems the old guys, crinkly fishermen who have suffered this loss in the past, are the most concerned. The new captains I interviewed were just kids on the wharf when the tuna and cod fisheries collapsed. Now they are captains, pushing the old guys off the podium and ignoring the warnings. It’s a generational-gap thing in which money takes precedence over memory and wisdom.

From top predators to whales, baitfish, and birds, I found a food chain in our ocean that’s precariously broken. It is clear all would be in an otherwise perfect balance without human intervention. We are not part of that food chain. We are like some alien predator or invasive species with no natural relationship to this planet at all — the cane toads of — Ethan Stewart the oceans, perhaps.

reel natUre • • • Natural history documeNtaries focused oN eNviroNmeNtal aNd wildlife challeNges

director JohN hopkiNs

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. santa barbara international film festival | february 2, 2017 | 33

cInematIc overtureS • • • Films that shOwcase the pOwer OF perFOrmance

World Premiere

reBelS on poInte DirectOr BOBBi JO hart also in documentaries

In her documentary Rebels on Pointe, Bobbi Jo Hart takes a loving look at the all-male ballet troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo and what has made them such a celebrated act for decades.

What inspired you to make the documentary? I tend to gravitate toward stories about people and ways of life we often do not understand, and to focus on the common human threads that connect us. When I saw their outrageous photo in ballet drag in the local Montreal newspaper, I was absolutely intrigued. … I fell in love with the company and their passionate pursuit of such a unique take on ballet, not to mention their unabashedly open sense of self-expression. … Deep down, I suppose I felt a kindred connection — seeing them as fellow gypsies on their unique caravan moving from place to place, searching for life’s meaning and a safe place to call home and an environment to pursue their dreams. I grew up moving around a lot, and perhaps I am drawn to characters who help me understand a bit more about myself in some ethereal way. I have a deep passion to help our world be a more peaceful, accepting, and happy place, to build bridges of human connection and understanding and empathy.

What was the most delightful aspect of filming the troupe? What was the most challenging? The most delightful aspect of filming the troupe has been the relationships I have formed with the dancers and those behind-thescenes that support them … to see them all so connected and feeling totally at home to be themselves. It is how the whole world should be: open and accepting and encouraging of every type of personality, in all their fabulous diversity. The most challenging aspect of filming with the company was trying to stay out of the way of such a fast-moving and incredibly fine-tuned artistic machine while capturing intimate and meaningful moments that help reveal their humanity, physical determination, and artistic brilliance.

They have great fun, but they run a very tight and incredibly professional ship.

The Trocks have been around for decades. What makes them still vital and important today? For more than 40 years, the Trocks have helped expose society in America and around the world to a gay sensibility through their use of drag as well as through the intrigue of their parody. And while America has indeed become more accepting of LGBTQ communities, I have to say that the new political climate has made it even more important for the Trocks to proudly get out there and be unabashedly who they are while still making people feel good in the process, as they have — Richie DeMaria always done so very well.

34 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

independent.com presents

Meet The Makers

Score

DirectOr matt schraDer score-movie.com In Score, director Matt Schrader focuses on the role of music in movies and the composers who orchestrate them. Through dozens of interviews with influential composers and film aficionados, Schrader tunes us into the craft of movie music magic, from the earliest talkies to contemporary, computer-animated comicbook epics.

What inspired you to make this documentary? I’ve loved film music as long as I can remember and always been fascinated by the way it changes the meaning of a film. The right combination of music can make the visual feel completely different, and a certain visual can make music feel completely different. The interplay between them is where the magic happens, and we felt this was an area that needed to be explored and celebrated for the awe-inspiring effects it can often have on us in film.

I am pretty astounded at the roster of composers you managed to interview for this documentary. How did it all come together? It took a long time! We were persistent from the start and believed the film would happen. Though many of these composers are incredibly busy,

enough bought into our passion early on that we were able to build momentum and gather almost everyone we’d originally planned. In the end, I believe we did 60-something interviews, and I believe 57 made it into the final film. We were really happy to be able to represent such a broad spectrum of film music to capture what we hope is the definitive look at this amazing art form.

So much of cinematic music is driven both by technological and cultural changes. What are the most important? Technology is a big driver today, but it’s used more as a tool to accomplish something a composer already has in mind.

Many composers say they used their computers as a way to keep track of their musical ideas and refine them into exactly what they want. There’s also the soundscape aspect of technology and creating digital instruments that sound nothing like the real world. That’s led to a lot of amazing sound-design-driven music. I think we’ll continue to see those ideas explored, but after putting together this film, it’s clear that the ability to write and communicate through a tune is the real — Richie DeMaria magic behind scores.

cInematIc overtureS • • • Films that shOwcase the pOwer OF perFOrmance

Interviews with the filmmakers

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 35

cInematIc overtureS • • • Films that shOwcase the pOwer OF perFOrmance

IndIvISIBle

DirectOr eDOarDO De angelis trUecoloUrs.it also in special presentations Dasy and Viola are conjoined twins searching for a better life, at first away from the older people who profit from their talent for singing and, eventually, apart from one another. In this touching, distinctively Italian brand of neo-surrealistic feature, the leads, Angela and Mariana Fontana, are reallife identical twins and great singers who give outstanding and subtle performances.

The idea for the film is very bold. How did it occur?

I was wondering about separation and the pain that it involves; separation between parents and children involves pain, separation between sisters creates pain, but, I think, separation from a part of yourself is the most painful process [of] all. So I needed a story to tell something about this — I needed a key frame, a key image. At that time, the screenwriter, Nicola Guaglianone, told me about this idea: two conjoined twins, singers, in Naples. I thought I had found the image I needed.

But I didn’t know if the Fontana twins were suitable for such a sophisticated work. My doubts were unfounded: Already at their first audition, it was clear that they were perfect.

And later, one day after another while making the film, they showed how talented they were and also that they were hardworking professionals. I am very proud of them.

The film has great style. Were you influenced by the tradition of Italian cinema? I see Fellini but also De Sica and others in the mix. As a narrator, I feel I am a custodian of their prestigious tradition. I have my own way to feel, my way to look, and my way to tell, but it all comes from this old and sublime tradition. At the same time, my duty is to keep looking for a new language. I feel I have to be a son of the past and a father of the future.

How did you find your musical collaborator on this project, Enzo Avitabile? Enzo and I tried to work together already in my previous film Perez, but Indivisible was the right occasion. I felt his sound [was] like a glove for this story. We started to work together from the second revision of the script, and his music and his art were fundamental to shape the following versions as well as to drive the shooting and, of course, the editing of the film. — Charles Donelan

36 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

independent.com presents

Meet The Makers

1:54

victim of bullying, you can’t talk about it. It’s opening up a dialogue and making people think about it, and it’s sort of raising awareness of something that is sometimes not spoken of in schools.

writer/DirectOr yan englanD twitter.com/yanenGland Yan England’s 1:54 follows Tim, a rising high school athlete who faces relentless peer pressure in the wake of his success. The well-acted film is a stark look at teen identity, bullying, and the stresses of competition.

What light do you hope your film sheds on the dangers of bullying and peer pressure or high school life in general? The film has had a really good response from audiences of all ages, and what I’ve been getting from all viewers is how much high school is a micro society in itself.

The parents don’t have access to that society.

They discovered a world they didn’t know existed, or that they suspected but hadn’t seen.

And it’s opening up the dialogue between students amongst themselves and with their parents, and opening a dialogue between parents and the school system, and amongst teachers and between teachers and students.

To me, the biggest problem with bullying is the silence that comes with it. When you’re a

What was it like working with teenagers making a movie about high school? The most important thing of the film was to be super authentic.

That was the main goal of the film. We shot the entire film in a real high school during school hours. The reactions were real, super authentic — the students didn’t know what would happen. … The actors really became part of that high school.

Interestingly enough, the character of Jeff started to become one of the coolest guys in the school, right away. I didn’t tell the students anything about the story. They saw these people just doing their thing, and because Jeff was the bully and making fun of some other people, then the cool people started to accept him. And on other side, the character Tim, he started getting certain objects thrown at him because he wasn’t reacting or saying anything so people started to push him a little bit just as a joke.

contemporary world cInema • • • tOp Films FrOm arOunD the wOrlD

Interviews with the filmmakers

— Richie DeMaria

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 37

read overnight, evaluated, and made an offer the next day.

That’s how much we believed in the film.

contemporary world cInema • • • tOp Films FrOm arOunD the wOrlD

thIS BeautIFul FantaStIc prODucer anDrea iervOlinO facebook.com/thi

sBeautiFulFantastic

In this lovable modern-day fairy tale, our protagonist (Jessica Brown Findlay), who was raised by ducks, strives through her OCD ways to become a children’s book author, eventually finding guidance from her grumpy neighbor (Tom Wilkinson) and their shared garden. It’s directed by Simon Aboud, son-in-law of Sir Paul McCartney.

How did you acquire this film? It is rare nowadays to find a gem such as Simon Aboud’s This Beautiful Fantastic. This film has been an epic journey from its first appearance high on the Brit List. It’s a wonderful, quintessentially British film full of quirky characters. We were approached with this beautiful script that had an amazing cast attached. Our team gave it a

Telling a modern fairy tale must have interesting challenges. At its heart, this is a story of an unlikely but magical friendship.

It is a deceptively layered piece: an adult fairy tale, a romantic story of blossoming love, and a coming-of-age comedy.

We saw this as a quality, highend project with lots of potential upside. We loved the magical elements and felt those qualities made it special. This is a British film, with a British cast. But this is a universal story, a family film, which was lovely to be part of, and we are happy to have helped get it made. With a fusion of comedy and drama that will balance poignant moments with humor and charm, the movie has strong commercial appeal.

How does the modern audience take a fairy tale story? This is British, intelligent, characterdriven filmmaking at its best.

The depth of emotion and heart of this film is something we cannot wait to share with audiences. The film will certainly connect with an older demographic that has been a boon to theaters and the cinema industry on the whole. The film will really resonate amongst this target market, which desires quality material.

How did you cast Tom Wilkinson and Jessica Brown Findlay? The cast is the best part of the film, and making this film was a labor of love — a passion project, if you will. Everyone involved with this film was in love with the story, and that always draws a tremendous array — Matt Kettmann of talent.

38 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

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Meet The Makers

lIttle wIng

DirectOr selma vilhunen mamo.fi In this touching Finnish drama, a daughter must play the role of parent to her scattered mother while also enduring bullying from the richer girls in her equestrian class and the attention of boys in her housing complex. When she hits the road in a stolen car to find her father, matters grow more confusing and poignant.

Do you relate at all to the young protagonist? I, too, was raised by my mom alone, and I was her only child. I believe that there is something very special about a family with only one adult and one child. Sometimes the roles between child and parent can get a bit blurry in a family like this, especially if the parent is going through a tough time. Varpu’s story is also close to my own in the way that I was never able to get to know my father because he died when I was a baby. Little Wing is somehow my way of meeting him through fiction.

How did you use the skills you developed as a documentarian to tell a feature story? I don’t see the two approaches to filmmaking very different from one another. My documentary film-

making method is that of the fisherman: I throw my camera into the situation, and I sit or stand in silence, sometimes for hours, and wait. So now with Little Wing, I knew to trust my actors and the dramatic situations and keep on filming something that on the surface may seem like there is not so much going on. But on the big screen, even the smallest details can make a huge impact in the viewer.

What is there to learn about when a child acts as the parent and vice versa? Unfortunately, there are a lot of children in this world who have to carry more weight on their shoulders than they should. For various reasons, adults are incapable of taking the responsibility they should, and children often are eager to do their best trying to help their parents. With Little Wing, my main focus, however, is in the idea of mercifulness and of seeing the other person as someone who is capable of change and who has many sides to her.

In this story the mother is going through a tough period and her strength is somewhat gone, but she is not a bad human being, or stupid. But the fact is that life is always demanding for each and every one of us, and no one should have to survive here without help and support. We should be quick to help, not — Matt Kettmann to judge.

contemporary world cInema • • • tOp Films FrOm arOunD the wOrlD

Interviews with the filmmakers

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 39

contemporary world cInema • • • tOp Films FrOm arOunD the wOrlD

the Shepherd

DirectOr JOnathan cenZual Burley widemanaGement.com/the-shePherd

The tension between those who’d prefer living traditionally on ancestral land and those who want to sell their lands to developers for fast cash steadily mounts in this expertly paced film about a Spanish shepherd. When he refuses to move, his neighbors’ need for money reaches a breaking point.

The pacing of the film’s growing tension is excellent. How did you achieve that? From the beginning, I knew that the pace was the most important factor in this film. So even before I wrote the script, I had a very clear idea of how the story’s arch should work. In that way, it doesn’t follow a typical film structure with ups and downs. I wanted it to start with a pace similar to a documentary and slowly build. I was very aware of it when directing the actors, making sure their emotions were kept in check throughout, especially with Anselmo, the shepherd, whose rage had to be very contained as to not blow up too early and kill the tension.

Are there many shepherds left in Spain? How is the country dealing with modernity? There are less and less as younger people are not that interested in it anymore. It’s a very hard life, and it’s not as supported as it should be, which is a real shame. Spain has been modern for years. After [dictator Francisco] Franco died, Spain made sure to catch up, and it got there a long time ago. In some aspects, it has done an amazing job; for example, with renewable energies, it is one of the leading solar- and wind-power-producing countries in the world. Every country has its modern side and its deeper, more traditional identity. The trick is not to lose the latter one in the pursuit of modernity.

Tell me about the film’s message of how the pursuit of money makes people act illogically. I want people to be reminded that no one has the right to take something away from someone just because they think they can, or because they think they have the birth-given right over someone else. This film could have been about a bully in a playground or a country stealing the natural resources. At the end of the day, it is all bullying on different scales.

If audiences think about this, then my work — Matt Kettmann is done.

40 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

independent.com presents

Meet The Makers

at the end oF the tunnel DirectOr rODrigO granDe latidofilms.com One of the most cerebrally thrilling films of the year, this Argentinian gem involves a man in a wheelchair who lives alone. Just when he lets a woman and her daughter move in, he realizes bank robbers are tunneling beneath his home to access a nearby vault. Then, physical challenges aside, he decides to get in on the action.

Where did this story come from? Was it based at all on true events? It is not based on anything real. This came up thinking while at a bar, noting things. I realized that if I spend hours, or days, and sometimes months thinking about a film at a café or bar, something comes out. I wrote this story in the time that I separated from my partner after being together for 15 years. Something of that climate in which I lived impregnates the film.

Do you have any personal connection to the characters? I suspect that the characters that one writes are always variations of oneself, symbolizations of some parts of our personality.

Though the audience is given some hints as to what happened, we never really learn exactly what oc-

curred to put the protagonist in his wheelchair and alone in his home. Why did you decide to keep that somewhat vague and mysterious? It was better the assumption and the mystery of what happened to Joaquin (Leonardo Sbaraglia) than to know precisely. We know in this way that there was an automobile accident, that he is in a wheelchair, and that his wife and daughter are gone. That the viewer is given this information without the details contributes to the suspenseful tone of the film.

With so many plot twists and turns, how do you map it all out when making the film? Is there a very detailed outline that you follow, or do you figure it out as you go? I do all kinds of outlines, drawings, etc., so [as] not to get lost in the story and not to contradict it.

crIme SceneS • • • gritty tales aBOut BaD guys, unDerwOrlD criminals, anD mOral nihilists

Interviews with the filmmakers

Is there much of a tradition of “heist” films in Argentina? The Argentine police officer film has a very rich tradition, from the golden age of cinema in Argentina in the ’40s and ’50s to the present day, especially through the excellent police cinema developed by Adolfo Aris— Matt Kettmann tarain.

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 41

crIme SceneS • • • gritty tales aBOut BaD guys, unDerwOrlD criminals, anD mOral nihilists

U.s. Premiere

welcome home

DirectOr philippe De pierpOnt welcomehome-film.com When teenagers Lucas and Bert escape their boring family lives to hit the road and seek adventure, an innocent romp goes awry rather quickly in this feature by Dutch director and screenwriter Philippe de Pierpont.

This film starts innocent but turns quite violent.

What made you want to tell this story? I wanted the audience to get twisted slowly, without being aware of the slippery tune of the story.

So begin as a classical “coming of age” movie about these teenagers’ experiment of life and finish in a kind of a thriller. I’m sure that real life can easily shift that way. And that sounds good to me: Everything is possible; you cannot know in advance the consequences of your acts and choices. So that’s the beauty of life: experiment every day.

There’s another reason to write this: I hope that every human could have a second chance in life. So we can be wrong, we can fool ourselves, and escape from this later, being older, bigger, smarter.

Is there any resemblance to your own childhood?

A part of my inspiration is my own experience as a teenager. I was always with my big brother, with whom I shared strange life experiments for my age. I had no money and wanted to go on holidays. I decided to go anywhere, stopping for a night here and there, without a plan, without money, alone, and sleeping at night in empty houses. I never broke or stole something. I just slept in their bed, had a shower in their bathroom, ate the food in their refrigerator, and left everything clean and put back in order. And left a little enigmatic trace of my passage before leaving.

A message on the refrigerator’s door, a puppet made from clothes.

There is lots of youth violence in the news these days. Does your film have insight into that frightening phenomena? My purpose wasn’t to tell about this phenomena. But, in fact, the way the characters of my film are acting, without thinking once of the consequences on the others (their “victims”), it looks like an echo of this modern violence, considered mostly as a selfish drift without consideration for the others that it spreads all over. — Matt Kettmann

42 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

independent.com presents

Meet The Makers Interviews with the filmmakers

Was telling the sibling side of the story a large motivation for this film? Absolutely! The longest relationship in nature is between siblings, not between parents and children. And in the case of siblings in families with a child with special needs, I thought it was interesting to focus on those who grew up into a given situation that affects their lives tremendously and, unlike their parents, they had no choice but to accept it. I was surprised to find out that this issue is almost untouched in the world of documentary filmmaking, so I thought it was a great opportunity to dive into it and share it with others.

U.S. Premiere

my hero Brother DirectOr yOnatan nir myherobrother.orG also in documentaries

Down syndrome doesn’t just affect those who have the condition — their families’ lives are also changed forever, especially siblings, who grow up both supportive and in the shadows. This emotional and inspiring doc follows a group of Israelis who take their Down syndrome siblings on a trek into the Himalayas.

When did you realize that this should be a film? I met the group about two months before we went to India to check if the story was worth a film, and I fell in love pretty much immediately with the protagonists. I felt that there

Was everyone okay with having such emotional stories shown on camera? Like in almost every film, I do have moments where I decide not to shoot, either because I am asked not to or because I feel it is not the right thing to do. When I work with protagonists who are people with special needs, I need to be extra careful. I respect them, and I remember that they will have to live with the consequences of the exposure long after the journey is over. In my career, I found out that if you do it in the right way, a film can actually be therapeutic and have positive impact on the protagonist’s life. In a way, you help them re-create their — Matt Kettmann own narrative.

kolnoa • • • examining israel FrOm Diverse perspectives

is an untouched conflict full of pain and beauty under the surface, but at that stage I couldn’t tell exactly what it is. Before I became a filmmaker, I was a photojournalist, and I traveled the world quite a lot. I knew that traveling tends to bring untouched personal issues to the surface, so I thought there was a very good chance for a good film here and decided to join the group on their journey to India.

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 43

Why is it important for these women’s stories to be heard? [Typically], Israeli history is told from the point of view of men. In my historical films, I wish to bring back women into history by listening to their experiences. When I started to conduct conversations with women who arrived in Dimona in the 1950s and 1960s, I found out that their perspectives shed light not only on issues silenced by the formal Zionist national history but also on issues concealed in their communities.

kolnoa • • • examining israel FrOm Diverse perspectives

dImona twISt DirectOr michal aviaD

Seven Jewish women tell stories of immigrating, and adjusting, from Arab and North African countries to the middle of the Israeli desert in the 1950s and 1960s.

What is your personal connection to Dimona? What drew you to tell these stories? In the years after Israel’s independence in 1948, over one million Jews immigrated to the new state. Since then, Israeli Jewish society is divided [between] Jews who came from Europe (Ashkenazi Jews) and Jews who came from Arab Countries (Mizrahi Jews). Jews who came from the Arab world claim they were discriminated against, exploited, and oppressed by the Israeli-European-origin establishment which absorbed them. I wanted to finally approach immigrants from that generation to find out what really happened. When I started to research for archival films, I found out that very little footage exists from the period, but there were two propaganda films made about the establishment of Dimona.

How were you able to get archived footage of Dimona in the ’50s and ’60s? In the ’50s and ’60s, the state of Israel and its agencies produced many propaganda films.

One of the problems in making Dimona Twist was the fact that even the little footage there was hardly had any women in it. Luckily, I found some footage at the French Television Archive [and] family albums. Nobody in Dimona had a Super 8 camera, so no amateur films [were] made. To give the experience of living in Dimona at the time, we shot “as if” Super 8 films [to tell] pieces of stories.

Why did you decide to tell their stories with this backdrop? I wanted to allow the viewers to experience Dimona as it was. I wanted all of us to try to envision their stories [as] the young women they were.

What is the importance of the Twist to the cultural upbringing of these women? In 1962, young women arrived in Dimona from big cities like Casablanca. They brought with them records of the latest music in the West, [such as] “The Twist.” They were influenced by French culture through colonialism and were more updated with European popular culture and fashion than the European Jews who came from Eastern Europe. Bringing “The Twist” to Dimona symbolizes the racist misconceptions of the dominant culture about Mizrahi Jews and the rich lives the immigrants struggled to lead in the middle of the desert.

44 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

—Savanna Mesch

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gavIota:

the end oF Southern calIFornIa Filmmakers shaw leOnarD anD tamlOrn chase Gaviotamovie.com also in reel nature A crown jewel of Santa Barbara County, the Gaviota Coast is celebrated the world over for its soul-stirring beauty and vast biodiversity both onshore and off. That also makes it a preferred target for real estate developers and oil extractors. For the past half decade, filmmakers Tamlorn Chase and Shaw Leonard have been working to document this threatened region in all its unbridled glory before it is too late.

Bears, wildfires, big cats, snow, underwater fantasy worlds. How did you manage to document such an amazing spectrum of often elusive nature? Intensive research and tracking of animals like black bears, white-tailed kites, and mountain lions. During the filming process, it was very common for the crew to return to a single location several weeks in a row just to catch a single glimpse of an animal. We also had to design and fabricate custom equipment. We created one-of-a-kind production equipment that was lightweight, extremely durable, and allowed us to film in the most extreme environments and weather conditions the coast has to offer. Our innovation and relentless persistence resulted in the documentation of over 50 unique wildlife species that are found on the Gaviota Coast.

What were the hardest and best parts of making this movie? Time away from family and friends was the most challenging sacrifice to make year after year.

It took us five years to complete this project, and many people in our lives fell to the wayside. The longer we filmed, the more obsessed we became. Our lives revolved around the seasons and wildlife. The film became our identity, and we had to keep our focus on filming until we had done this coastline justice. The best part of making this film was the adventure of exploring this beautiful coastline and sharing it with others.

Any big surprises along the way? We encountered our most dangerous situation while filming the Sherpa Fire. This was the first large fire on the coast since filming began. We knew we would not get a second chance, so we grabbed our gear and headed straight into it. At home that night, we replayed the day’s events over and over knowing that we had filmed the most extreme footage of our career.

Then there was the Refugio Oil Spill; witnessing that firsthand was the greatest shock.

It made the vulnerability of this coast real and reinvigorated our mission to protect it from industrial development. — Ethan Stewart

SANTA bARbARA • • • selectiOns FrOm the wOrk OF hOmetOwn Filmmakers

Interviews with the filmmakers

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 45

SANTA bARbARA • • • selectiOns FrOm the wOrk OF hOmetOwn Filmmakers

World Premiere

lIveS well lIved DirectOr sky Bergman lives-well-lived.com

We’ve all heard the phrase “respect your elders,” yet how often do we have the chance to ask and listen to our grandparents’ wisdom? In Lives Well Lived, filmmaker Sky Bergman acquires a collective of 3,000 years of life experience to show that growing old doesn’t mean growing silent.

How did you select who to interview? The project began with my grandmother. When she was about to turn 99 years old, she was still going to the gym. It was phenomenal to see the energy she exuded at her age, so I thought I should film her and ask for a few words of wisdom. After I put together the video of her at the gym, it inspired me to find other people out there who were over the age of 75, living life to the fullest. I sent out an email to about 1,000 people and asked if they had someone in their lives that they wanted to nominate for the project.

A lot of the people you interviewed had lives affected by World War II. Is that something you had expected? I was surprised by an unexpected story line that emerged from the generation most impacted by World War II. I believe it is the reflective nature behind Lives Well Lived

that provided a platform for their personal stories to prompt future generations to understand that democracy and human rights are fragile.

What’s the most valuable lesson you gained from meeting these people? I think the most valuable lesson of the film is that each of the people that were interviewed overcame great life challenges yet have developed a positive way of looking at life. I think my favorite quote from the film by Dr. Lou Tedone sums it up well: “Happiness is a state of mind. You can be happy with what you have or miserable with what you don’t have. You decide.”

What inspired the questions you asked the interviewees? I had a list of 25 questions that I asked each of the interviewees. I worked with many people to come up with the questions because I felt that I had a great opportunity to capture the thoughts of an age group that is usually not listened to.

Why is it important for you to define a life well lived?

I started working on this project as I was approaching 50 years old. At that point in life, it is a good time for reflection.

What is your definition of a life well lived? My definition of a life well lived is to be kind and loving, to try to learn something new every day, and to be grateful for what each new day will — Savanna Mesch bring.

46 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

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the Boatmaker DirectOr casey mcgarry

It took a quarter century for Sycamore Canyon resident architect Ken Minor to construct his very own wooden sailboat, a feat rarely attempted in today’s world. This documentary captures all of the emotion and drama as Morning Song winds to its completion and sets sails from the Santa Barbara Harbor.

How did you hear about the boat? My friend Robert Allan (a producer on the project) kept telling me about this guy. Flash-forward two months: Robert had gotten word that Ken was getting ready to finally move the boat out of Sycamore Canyon and bring it down to the water. A couple days later, we met Ken for breakfast, and afterwards we got in our cars, drove up to see the boat, and I began shooting the film that day and have been making it ever since. That was 11½ months ago.

Did you immediately know it would be a good film?

No. I knew we had a good premise, and it certainly sounded like a great story with a lot of potential for a short documentary. In this style of filmmaking, you can never predict if a story idea will translate until you’re well into

shooting the project and you discover what the real narrative that you want to tell is. After that, then there are a thousand other little variables that have to go your way for the film to be any good. This story just so happened to work out for us. Ken and his wife, Loretta, are also really great characters and were oddly comfortable in front of the camera out the gate. Ken fit the part so well, and Loretta is just a riot! She’s hysterical.

Do you have any sailing background? No. I grew up in and around the Pacific Ocean surfing my whole life but never sailed. It wasn’t ’til I was in college when I visited my two friends who captained a wooden tall ship in Martha’s Vineyard; that’s when I fell in love with the tradition of wood boats. The first sail my friends took me on was a private birthday charter for Carly Simon, and midway through the sail, she took out her guitar, and everybody sat Indian style around her on the deck, watching her perform “This Land Is Your Land.” And we were sailing upward of five-seven knots. It doesn’t get much better than that.

SANTA bARbARA • • • selectiOns FrOm the wOrk OF hOmetOwn Filmmakers

Interviews with the filmmakers

Does he take the boat out often today? Oh, he’s sailing. Ken just turned 78 years old, but I have a pretty good feeling he’s going to go far.

— Matt Kettmann

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 47

SCREEN CUISINE • • • Films aBOut FOOD, Drink, anD the culture that surrOunDs them

ella Brennan: commandIng the taBle DirectOr leslie iwerks ellabrennanmovie.com When Ella Brennan started working in her family’s New Orleans restaurants as a teenager in the 1940s, no one guessed this hardworking yet hospitable woman would wind up leading a culinary revolution. In the decades to come, she’d turn Commander’s Palace into a pioneer of American brunch, a leader in farm-to-table cooking, and the place where celebrity chefs such as Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse cut their teeth. This doc will help restore Ella to her rightful place atop America’s culinary landscape.

Why don’t more people know that this woman is responsible for the rise of such chefs as Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse? I think Ella is the most self-effacing successful person I’ve ever met.

None of her life’s work was about making her more famous; it was about putting New Orleans on the culinary map, bringing tourism to the city, building a restaurant that would become world-renowned, and taking her chefs and employees to new heights they might never thought possible. So, everyone and everything she touched became famous around her.

What do you think that chefs and restaurant owners today should take away from the film? That hospitality is the most important trait in any business, but especially the restaurant. Ella was into the entire holistic experience: From the moment you enter the restaurant to the moment you leave, you are the most special person on the planet. She learned hospitality at a young age from her brother Owen, as well as time spent at the 21 Club in New York, and she carried those warm, inviting traits with her in her soul for the rest of her life. She is contagious. I also think men and women alike who know Ella or have seen this film or read her book are inspired by her tenacity and perseverance, her genuine warmth and interest in people. That is a rare find.

How is she doing today? At 91, Ella still has her finger very much on the pulse of Commander’s Palace, guiding, championing, critiquing, and mentoring from her lovely Garden District Mansion next door to the restaurant.

She and her sister, Dottie, often order in, and I just loved witnessing Chef Tory and a small gaggle of waiters carry a silver tray of Old Fashioneds and a fine Commander’s meal into their beautiful dining room. It’s good to — Matt Kettmann be Ella Brennan!

48 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

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Meet The Makers Interviews with the filmmakers

World Premiere

the gateway Bug DirectOrs JOhanna B. kelly anD camerOn marshaD

Insects are one of the most sustainable and protein-packed sources of food on the planet. But can a handful of innovators, including a team of grad students from UCSB, convince the American public that bugs are the right choice? This documentary finds out.

How did you learn about this insect-as-food movement?

Johanna: I’d never heard of insects as food until February 2015 while brunching in Santa Barbara with my old friend (and Gateway Bug star) Tyler Isaac. He was discussing his eco-entrepreneurship master’s at UCSB, where students develop sustainable businesses addressing current environmental issues. After witnessing the severity of today’s overfishing problem firsthand and the environmental destruction caused by unsustainable and unenforced/unregulated harvesting methods, Isaac began investigating insect food production to reduce pressure on wild fisheries.

He told us it wasn’t just fish but insect protein bars and pasta for human consumption, too!

We were shocked to learn that livestock now covers 45 percent of Earth’s land; animal agriculture is responsible for 91 percent of Amazon destruction and 18 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions, projected to increase 80 percent by 2050. By the end of breakfast, we knew we had to share all we’d learned.

Did you eat many bugs in the making of this film?

Cameron: I’ve eaten a lot of crickets and have tried combining cricket flour into lots of meals. I’ve also eaten mealworms and purged

black soldier fly lipids. I’m in agreement with David Gracer in that the BSF [black soldier fly] fat tastes like curried lentils.

How were you able to get Andrew Zimmern?

Cameron: We had a contact through a friend of a friend, and we reached out via email with our idea. By then, we had already shot for some time, so we had a good idea of what we wanted to ask him. He’s a really passionate person, and on many more topics beyond bug eating.

What do you think the future of eating bugs is?

Johanna: When one in eight Americans lack a secure supply of food and one billion go hungry worldwide, the future of eating as we know it now is simply impossible. So I think the future is pretty bright for eating bugs.

Cameron: I believe it’s an option we cannot afford to stick our noses up at. It’s largely an issue of stigma, I believe. So it will take lots of education starting at younger ages to nurture future generations of bug eaters. They’re quite — Matt Kettmann tasty.

SCREEN CUISINE • • • Films aBOut FOOD, Drink, anD the culture that surrOunDs them

theGatewaybUG.com

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SCREEN CUISINE • • • Films aBOut FOOD, Drink, anD the culture that surrOunDs them

World Premiere

arrangIarSI

(pIzza ... and the art oF lIvIng) DirectOr matteO trOncOne arranGiarsifilm.com Matteo Troncone is a struggling San Francisco actor who travels to Naples, Italy, to learn about the city’s history, connect with his family roots, and eat great pizza in this selfie-filled doc. He winds up as a living example of the film’s title, which refers to the Neapolitan art of “arranging” one’s life to get by.

Did you set out to do a film on Naples, or was your story always part of the project? Originally, I set out to make a film just about pizza and Naples. During my first trip there for filming, a very good friend of mine in Italy viewed the footage and saw that I was making a film not just about pizza but more so about “l’arte di arrangiarsi”: the art of making something out of nothing, of getting by, the art of living.

Because I was “living the film,” my story became the most intimate example of arrangiarsi and subsequently the spine which connects the other themes of Naples and pizza.

How’s the van? The “Bison” is still roaming the land. We were in Yosemite together in No-

vember. It seems to have the longevity and endurance of a bison, as well. Since I no longer live full-time in it, we now have a more “honeymoon” relationship rather than one of everyday routine.

I will drive it to Santa Barbara in February. I’ve turned it into a rolling art gallery and advertisement for the film. It is covered with photos from the film as well as “graffiti” that I sprayed myself.

How is your life today? Compared to living in a van for five years and camping in a tent in Naples, my life is relatively quiet and inward. I was “out and about” for five continuous years without much downtime at all. When that ended, I needed a quiet and cozy place to edit the film and rest. So the last three-plus years have been spent with long stretches in front of a computer screen.

Have you incorporated anything you learned about making true pizza into your life? What is essential is to do what you love; to do what you are most passionate about is what is constantly being affirmed. All of the “characters” in my film are living that to the fullest, first and foremost without great regard to material wealth. I’ve wanted this film to be alive like Naples and the pizza it created. True pizza is — Matt Kettmann born from this.

50 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

independent.com presents

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lIBerty In a Soup DirectOr DuDley alexis www.libertyinasoUP.com

Haitians celebrate their independence on New Year’s Day by gathering to consume “soup joumou,” a spicy, pumpkin-based soup. Dudley Alexis wanted to learn why, and this extremely informative documentary dives deep into the island nation’s past, revealing that the plight of Haiti really charted the course for much of the world.

When did you realize that this soup you’ve known your whole life was ready for the big screen? It all started with a conversation I had with a taxi driver about the soup. What was surprising about the conversation is that the taxi driver was not Haitian. I would never think that someone that is not of Haitian origin would know about the soup. I think that is when I realized I need to tell the story of soup joumou and share with everyone.

This is a great vehicle for showing the world that Haiti is not just a poor country but one rich in culture

and history, particularly in the plight of people of African descent. Was that your primary goal of this film? My primary goal with the movie is to educate and open people of Haiti’s rich history and culture. To go beyond the stereotypes and what they hear about Haiti in the media and news. To also show that the Haitian revolution was a major turning point in not just Haitian history and the history of people of African descent but the history of humanity.

How does the soup taste? Is it catching on in any American kitchens? Delicious! A little spicy, hearty. I get hungry thinking about it. Slowly, I see the popularity of the soup growing more and more outside the Haitian community.

They would taste it from a Haitian friend, and they would ask for the recipe and go on [and] cook it themselves.

SCREEN CUISINE • • • Films aBOut FOOD, Drink, anD the culture that surrOunDs them

Interviews with the filmmakers

Do you think that the rise of food culture in the United States is an important part of embracing multiculturalism? Yes. It is one of the best ways to experience a culture. Everywhere, food does its basic thing: It brings family, friends, strangers together sitting at a table. And at the table, we all get to know each other. — Matt Kettmann

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 51

chaSIng trane: the john coltrane documentary DirectOr JOhn scheinFelD coltranefilm.com SPECIAl PRESENTATIONS • • • crOwD-pleasing Films applauDeD By Festivals acrOss the wOrlD

Forty years after his death, John Coltrane’s signature sound remains one of the most instantly recognizable in all of jazz. Musically and spiritually, Coltrane was a bona fide astronaut, traveling via tenor saxophone in lieu of spaceship. This doc traces Coltrane’s origins in small-town North Carolina, where he grew up a preacher’s son and grandson, to the projects of Philadelphia. After quitting drugs cold turkey, Coltrane worked with Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis before striking out on his own to create new sounds that defy imitation.

How did you first get turned on to John Coltrane? My first exposure to the music of John Coltrane came at Oberlin College when I heard “My Favorite Things” on the campus radio station. I liked and appreciated what I heard but confess to never becoming an obsessed fan.

A few years ago when asked if I’d be interested in making a film about Coltrane, I was intrigued and began to research his life. The more I learned about his remarkable professional and personal journeys, the more passionate I became that his story needed to be told. It’s not the well-worn tale of a talented artist who battles demons and, tragically, dies far too young. What makes John Coltrane so unique is that he did not surrender to the darkness. Rather, he found himself, found God, and, in the process, created an extraordinary body of work that transcends all barriers of time, geography, race, religion, and age.

In any era, this is to be admired and celebrated — even more so since the world was transformed by the 2016 election. It really is the right film at the right time.

Did you find anything out about Coltrane that wasn’t so exalted? I wanted to create a rich, textured, compelling narrative that brings Coltrane alive as a three-dimensional human being as well as taking the audience to unexpected places. There are aspects of his life involving demons and darkness as well as persistence and redemption, but, by all accounts, Coltrane was not edgy nor petty nor competitive with anyone but himself. In this he seems to be unique. As Sonny Rollins says in the film, “He wasn’t like 99 percent of other people. He existed in the real world. I mean, he had a family, he had kids, but that’s not where he was at. He was not in the real world.

He was someplace else.”

What surprised you the most about making this?

Nothing really comes to mind as surprising.

What delighted me was the passion for Coltrane and his music that came from so many generations of people and walks of life — even now, 40 years after his passing in 1967.

That’s some serious staying power in this day — Nick Welsh and age.

52 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

independent.com presents

Meet The Makers

before World War II. Yugoslavia’s 45-year experience with communism led to the suppression of painful historical events and the propagation of a single-minded, ideologically motivated view of what constitutes the truth.

on the other SIde DirectOr ZrinkO Ogresta cercamon.biz Though it’s been nearly two decades, the neighbor-upon-neighbor violence of the Balkan Wars still haunt the region, as shown in this methodical and haunting psychological thriller about a nurse and her family. When her war-crime-committing husband gets in touch on the phone, old wounds are made fresh. (Interview translated by Sanja Lacan.)

Was it difficult to slowly tease out details of the family’s past? Because the film unravels from the point of view of Vesna, the main protagonist, the viewer receives information at the same time as she does. I favor this approach to storytelling far more than that of an omniscient narrator/auteur who controls all aspects of the narrative and dispenses them according to his pleasure. I think that a film gains the most authenticity when its narrative is told from the perspectives of its protagonists.

Do people there yearn for the past? In our region, the past flows from generation to generation.

Because certain historical truths remain in question, the everyday experience of today’s 30-year-olds is still marred by the reverberations of their grandparents’ generation, born

Tell me about the striking cinematography. The film was primarily photographed using extended single takes; that is, each scene corresponds to a single continuous shot. This approach imparts veracity to the film, in contrast to classical editing techniques, which presuppose a manipulation of the filmed material. By placing obstructions such as curtains, windows, etc., in front of the camera, I tried to convey the hardships and uncertainties in Vesna’s life. This cinematic technique impresses upon the viewer Vesna’s painful life story, which she has kept secret for over 20 years.

The music is also haunting. Mate Matišić, who co-wrote the screenplay with me, also composed the music for the film. In addition to being one of the leading Croatian playwrights, Mate is also a preeminent musician, guitarist, and composer. I would venture to say that it is precisely because of his intimate involvement with the film’s narrative that the music he composed matches the movie’s scenes organically and spontaneously.

SPECIAl PRESENTATIONS • • • crOwD-pleasing Films applauDeD By Festivals acrOss the wOrlD

Interviews with the filmmakers

— Matt Kettmann

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 53

SPECIAl PRESENTATIONS • • • crOwD-pleasing Films applauDeD By Festivals acrOss the wOrlD

the dIStInguIShed cItIzen

cO-DirectOrs marianO cOhn anD gastón Duprat latidofilms.com/the-distinGUished-citizen Angst riddled and brooding in self-imposed isolation, a Nobel Prize–winning author decides inexplicably to return to his rural hometown in Argentina and accept an award from the very people and place he has used to inspire his fiction. Things do not go as planned — not even close. The Distinguished Citizen takes on the tensions of rural living versus urban worldliness, the disillusionment of lost dreams, the burden of success, and the weird ways we interpret other people’s art.

It would seem, based on the film, that one can never truly go home. Is this true? If so, why? The return of someone successful to his hometown, especially if it is a small town, can be misunderstood. People make a construction of what they think should be the “famous person,” and after they get to know him, it may turn out that the real-life person does not fit the

desires of people. It isn’t how they want it to be, and there the problems begin.

Is art in the eye of the beholder or the artist himself? The art is in the conscious look of the artist, in the viewer’s view, and especially in the artist’s view of his work without knowing it. The cosmo-vision and the universe of the artist get unconsciously expressed through his/her work.

That is the most powerful of all because it is beyond the control of the artist his or herself.

Is it possible to be completely happy and make poignant art? That question is part of the film. A participant in one of the writer’s classes asks a similar question: Is happiness an impossibility for artistic creation? It is often believed that in the most unequal societies, artists have more and better motives for expression.

I think it is not like that; you can be an unhappy person and live in the worst place in the world and be a terrible artist and vice versa.

54 | February 2, 2017 | Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | independent.com/SBIFF

— Ethan Stewart

independent.com presents

Meet The Makers

your name

prODucer genki kawamura fUnimationfilms.com/movie/yoUrname It’s rare for a film to open your emotions wide and ask you to think deep while also being wonderfully entertaining. A brilliantly done mash-up of bodyswapping fantasy and classic teenage romance, this Japanese animated film achieves high scores in both the entertainment and deep-thinking categories, all while breaking new technical ground in the Japanese anime genre.

Why does this film speak to multiple generations?

The film starts with the monologue, “I feel like I am always searching for someone and missing something.” This strong feeling of longing for that someone you are destined to meet is what all of us share, whether it is a teenager who ponders on this daily or an adult who remembers the familiar yearning inside them which may be long gone. And for that reason, the film resonates with multiple generations.

The animation blends ultra-realistic renderings; dreamlike, watercolor-inspired landscapes; and more traditional Japanese animation techniques.

What was the intention of this effect? [Writer/director] Makoto Shinkai is able to create hyperrealistic backgrounds and light which is by far more breathtaking than how we see the real world. Our intention was to infuse his art with that of Ghibli animators who have long

assisted Hayao Miyazaki to create a cinematic world that attracts a wider audience while evoking something strong inside.

The main characters are torn between the call of tradition and the pulse of modern life. Is this a common teenage problem in Japan? Mitsuha definitely is in the midst of this conflict, but her situation may be unique to Japan. The majority of Japanese youth have the big-city life like Taki. The struggle to balance past and present (old and new) is merely one way into finding out that there is longing for someone or restlessness to be somewhere else. These lasting yearnings are what prevail, not only in Japan, but among youth all over the world.

Is the goal of this film pure entertainment or something deeper? Entertainment has long provided something that can be expressed in one word. I personally do not agree with that. I think movies should and can be multilayered. [This] delves into Japanese Shintoism and values derived from the classics, transforms the story told in rock music, and conveys the inherent grief and obligations of the post-2011-earthquake Japan. As such, teenagers can appreciate the entertaining elements on the surface, and avid moviegoers or animation fans can enjoy reading further into the meanings below the surface.

SPECIAl PRESENTATIONS • • • crOwD-pleasing Films applauDeD By Festivals acrOss the wOrlD

Interviews with the filmmakers

— Ethan Stewart

For film festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/SBIFF. Santa BarBara InternatIonal FIlm FeStIval | February 2, 2017 | 55

The Environmental Defense Center 40 years of keeping our local environment in focus

Legal protection for what really matters E nv i ro n m e nta l D efe n s e Ce nte r.o rg