BIBLE STORYLAND: A CONVERSATION WITH DIRECTOR STEPHANIE HUBBARD

Several months ago, I came across an article on Laughing Squid about a quirky looking, new documentary called Bible Storyland.  The film deals with the discovery of conceptual artwork and plans for a large, 1960s Bible-themed amusement park by one Harvey Jordan, an art-collector/dealer from Southern California.  Although (or maybe because) the park was never built, Harvey's interaction with these long-forgotten artifacts send him off on a journey to learn the behind the scenes secrets of Bible Storyland.  Driven by his own doubts and fears, Harvey chases after the abandoned dreams of the park's would-be-entrepreneurs to the detriment of his family and, perhaps, his own best interests.

I'll be running a review of the film in the very near future, so keep an eye out for that posting.  In the meantime, Bible Storyland director Stephanie Hubbard took some time to speak to me about the film.  Here's how our conversation went down:

NICK: Can you tell us a little bit about how you became involved in telling the story of Bible Storyland? Did Harvey Jordan approach you with his discovery of the design sketches, paintings, and a forgotten tale of 1960s Americana or did you stumble upon the subject matter some other way? 

STEPHANIE: Harvey came to my workshop then as I worked with him on ideas of how to make the film - he suggested that I be the director. I said no at first, but he persisted, and ultimately I took on the role, and I'm glad I did.  

NICK: What elements tend to be present for you to begin thinking about telling a story via a film or documentary treatment?

STEPHANIE: I'm always looking for transformation...and funding.

NICK:  Your film is ostensibly about Harvey’s quest to research a biblically inspired theme park that was never built. But a fascinating thing happens as the story moves forward: the focus shifts from Harvey’s detective work to become a portrait of Harvey himself, his fears and relentless drive to solve the mystery at the heart of Bible Storyland are all laid bare. 

Was there a moment during the production when you began to understand that the story was moving in a whole different direction? And, if so, was there some initial discomfort at coming to the realization that the project would be much more of a character piece than an investigation of Bible Storyland itself?

STEPHANIE: Well thank you - I'm glad you found it to be fascinating. 

When I was first exposed to the material and to Harvey - I knew that Bible Storyland was a jumping off point for something more - and that more had to be there to make it a film worth making. So before production began I knew it had to be bigger than Bible Storyland. I also knew from talking to Harvey that there were issues afoot in his household - that his wife was not being supportive - in fact, before we started shooting, he came very close to quitting. So - in answer to your question: I had no discomfort at the realization that it would be more of a character piece - I knew that's what it needed to be. Fortunately Harvey and Debi trusted me and themselves to tell the story. 

NICK: Obsession appears to be the main theme forwarded by the film. As we follow Harvey, he encounters what begins to feel like an endless series of dead ends to finding out the truth about Bible Storyland, none of which discourage him enough to abandon his investigation. 

Far more curious is Harvey’s admission that he’s developing a sense of kinship with Nat Winecoff, the forgotten early Disney exec turned chief instigator of the Bible Storyland project, even going so far as to begin talking as if he plans to break ground on the long-abandoned Bible Storyland construction himself. 

How many years did Harvey end up devoting to this project? Do you think it’s fair to say that at a certain point along the line that the quest began to take over Harvey’s life?

STEPHANIE: By the time we finished the film - Harvey had spent 10 years - now it's been eleven years. 

Yes it's fair to say on the one hand that the quest took over Harvey's life. On the other hand, Harvey has a variety of interests (including his meditation - he goes on one or two ten day silent meditation retreats a year in the time I've known him) (and Debi doesn't like him to go on those either) that he finds engaging and interesting. 

NICK: Do you see his particular form of obsession as pointing to a larger, societal trend or issue?

STEPHANIE: I think that it's fair to say many many people don't like everything about their daily lives, and are looking for ways to escape. A lot of folks just watch TV - and get really into a show (I have friends who both work on The Bachelorette and others who seem to live for it) or into movies - other people get into complicated hobbies - like Live Action Role Playing - or motocross - or what ever that might be. 

One thing that struck me about Harvey's quest is that it was essentially very lonely. He was the only guy going after the Bible Storyland Story - and I think he really liked the uniqueness of his quest. Other people get a hold of something and it makes them part of a group and that's the appeal. That was not the case with Harvey. 

NICK: Okay, so do you feel that Harvey’s compulsion becomes easier to identify with because, to a certain degree, so many of us are driven by passions that aren’t always rooted in reality?

STEPHANIE: Well, as a filmmaker - I really related to Harvey's quest. 

Most of the people I know here in Los Angeles are driven by similar passions, though I'm happy to say that in my community I think my friends are increasingly rooted in reality. But to be an artist working to make art - especially an expensive and essentially speculative art form like filmmaking - the passion almost has to be detached from reality. 

It's interesting - because as I was making this film about Harvey becoming unhinged in an artful quest for Bible Storyland, the protagonist of my second book (a novel) was feeling that all this time spent and dedicated to pursuit of her art form had actually been a betrayal to herself - now she was past 45 years old, still an artist, and still struggling in a rotting rent controlled apartment, seething with jealousy at anyone who had health insurance much less a pension. It was almost as if the Harvey project was success enough to free me to explore this angry aspect of the life I'd created for myself as a working artist. 

I think that it's very important in my work to explore the domestic, the struggle to express oneself amid the daily constraints of paying the rent or picking up the kid. That's what I think is interesting, and what I think Bible Storyland managed to explore just a little bit. 

NICK: Harvey really commits to putting himself out there as a subject, allowing the audience to see some fairly unflattering and tense moments in his domestic life, as well as more than a few confessional and crisis-driven moments along the way. I’ve got to say that it’s really inspiring to see his growth as a character from the time we meet Harvey until the point where the film reaches it’s conclusion.

Was featuring so much of Harvey’s personal life a process of negotiation between you, Harvey, and his family? Did the necessity of telling the story the way you did become more evident once you entered the editing room or were those decisions arrived at before you began cutting the film?

STEPHANIE: As I said in the beginning - I knew I wanted and needed to include Harvey's story even before we started shooting. What I didn't know was how much they'd show me. The good news was that from the very first or second shoot - they were on board. I never asked them for permission or negotiated anything. I and my cameraman would just show up with cameras and Harvey and his family lived their lives. 

Once we hit the editing room then began the waltz to really hit the right mix. I felt it was really important to find that line where Debi's frustration was understandable, and where Harvey's transformation was complete. I've also done this long enough to know to edit almost to the end before we were done shooting - that way after I had screened it and gotten notes and knew where I needed to bring elements forward, I was able to have one last day of shooting to gather it all. 

Too often I've seen filmmakers think that there were two discrete phases: shooting - then when that's done - cutting. It's much better for there to be a time of capturing but for that to overlap with cutting, input, more cutting - and then more shooting. Sometimes it's simply not possible, but more often then not it's entirely possible. 

NICK: Congrats on bringing the film to completion. I think it’s a really solid piece.

You’ve taken Bible Storyland to a few festivals now. What’s the reception to the film been like so far? You’re currently selling the dvd on your website. Are you still looking to tour the film in various cities? 

STEPHANIE: Thanks very much. I was very lucky to have a great producer who really gave me free rein with my artistic vision and really made himself available. It was a really wonderful experience which he and I have both really appreciated.

We've actually only premiered the film in July in San Antonio, and people were really engaged and really enjoyed it. The film just ran a couple of days ago at the Kingston Film Festival, but we weren't there. This upcoming week, it will be shown as part of DocUtah. 

Yes we sell the DVD on the site - but it's really fun to watch in a crowded theater - lots of laughing and self recognition. And yes we are currently looking to tour the film in various cities. We'd love to bring it to Portland. 

NICK: It’s kind of an uncertain time as far as distribution for independently produced films is concerned. What’s your experience of self-distributing a film in today’s crowded market been like so far?

STEPHANIE: We are not actually self distributing it YET. We are represented by Cargo Films Releasing and David Piperni.   We have been making the rounds of festivals. We are currently actually (and frankly very surprising to me) in the process of pursuing a small theatrical release. 

I really hope we are able to run in Portland and attend. 

As far as standing out in today's crowded market: here is what I will say: I feel that Bible Storyland is the way I like documentaries to be: fun, and edgy and warm and unexpected. When I think of what has influenced my storytelling in this film, I keep coming back to "The Big Lebowski", fun and edgy and warm and unexpected - full of twists and turns - and ultimately: "The Dude Abides". 

One by one - we find our viewers: people looking for documentaries that are fun, and edgy and warm and unexpected and who don't get scared by the title. 

NICK: Looking to the future, do you have any projects in the works or any that you’re excited to begin developing?

STEPHANIE: Actually I have a few projects. I just completed a Kickstarter Campaign for my next film, for the time being, it's called, The Improv Movie - and it tracks a top level comedy improv team and the concept of "Group Mind" in a fun way of course. 

I've also been working with my good friend Joanna Vassilatos on an album - I've written the words, she's the vocalist and doing the music and we are working together with Sasha Smith to producer it. 

I have finished my second book (you can find out about my first at www.bluffislandrescueservice.com) and I'm partnering with an amazing producer on a documentary series that i can't talk about yet, but which is really cool. 

In the meantime I'm story producing for folks making a documentary about BronyCon - and teaching my workshops - and writing my blog at www.thedocumentaryinsider.com. Also for the record, I have health insurance, and do not live in a rotting apartment (anymore). 

Bible Storyland is available for sale on the film's website.  More info available here.

THE LOVE SONG OF R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER @ TBA: A CONVERSATION WITH DIRECTOR SAM GREEN

The annual Time-Based Art Festival (TBA) usually has at least one film-related event intermingled with all its dance, theater, art installations and various other programming.  The 2012 edition of the festival is all set to knock it out of the park with this year's big film presentation, The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller.  The program is a live documentary directed and performed by Sam Green, whose 2002 documentary The Weather Underground was nominated for an Academy Award.

For the Buckminster Fuller piece, Green has transformed himself into an MC of sorts for his own multimedia presentation.  The show has him reflecting on the archival images and research he's gathered in real time, offering context about the life and times of his subject that couldn't be arrived at via the filmed materials alone.  Musical three-piece Yo La Tengo serves as the third element in the mix, providing a live score, supporting and elevating Green's work.

The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller had its world premiere this past May at SFMOMA.  Thanks to the NW Film Center and PICA's efforts, Portland's got it's dirty mitts on one of the first touring performances since the May premiere.

Sam Green was kind enough to offer up his time for a short interview in advance of the event.  What follows is a transcript of our conversation:

NICK: Film fans are probably most aware of your work because of your Oscar-nominated documentary The Weather Underground. Since then, you’ve made several shorts, including the excellent Lot 63, Grave C, and then, beginning with Utopia in Four Movements (2010), you’ve branched out into multimedia performance pieces based in non-fiction or “live documentaries”, including your current piece The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller. 

Did you have a history of performance prior to conceiving these live documentary projects?

SAM: No, I really didn't. And I still think of myself as a kind of accidental performer. I sort of backed into it. 

NICK: In your mind, what does the live presentational aspect of these projects add to an audience’s appreciation and understanding of a given subject? Conversely, is there anything that’s lost by moving away from the concrete safety of a film where, once the editing is finalized, there’s no risk of going off script?  

SAM: This is a great question. I am really interested in "liveness" these days and what the difference is between seeing a regular movie and seeing a movie that is performed live. 

A few years ago, Guy Maddin did a live film. It was called Brand Upon the Brain. I saw it at a film festival in Mexcio City. It was phenomenal! Isabella Rossellini narrated as the film screened. There was a live band. And even a group of people doing live foley! It was such a magic experience - people in the audience were giddy. 

NICK: That was great!  I saw it in Portland w/ Karen Black narrating.

SAM: Later Maddin released Brand Upon the Brain as a regular movie that screened in theaters like a regular film, and it was just so-so. 

There's something exciting about live events, I think. The unpredictability, the ephemeral nature of what you are experiencing, the fact that you are in a room with other people and are not checking your phone. Especially now, when filmmakers have to accept that more and more that people are watching their work on a phone, or one a laptop while they check email, I feel like the live film events I'm doing are a valuable way to hang on to the magic of cinema.

NICK: Can you conceive of a time where you would return to a purely cinematic presentation or embrace one rooted entirely in performance? 

SAM: I actually am still making normal movies, even as I do the live documentaries. I'm currently editing a short film about fog in San Francisco. I was just doing a residency at an art center in Troy, NY last week called EMPAC and they set me up to edit the fog movie in a huge theater! It was wild. (see photo below).
 

NICK: Buckminster Fuller was a man who wore many hats. He was an engineer, inventor, architect, and, as your piece forwards, a bit of a philosopher, too. The format in which you’re working requires you to take on several roles at once. 

Were you drawn to telling Fuller’s story in part due to the multi-disciplinary techniques you’ve developed for these live documentary pieces? Or, more to the point, did you find yourself identifying with elements of Fuller’s journey through life as you became engaged with telling his story?

SAM: I did a previous live documentary called UTOPIA IN FOUR MOVEMENTS. That piece was a kind of essay/poem about utopia and the fact that today we live in an anti-utopian age. I thought that the live form really worked for that piece because utopia has always been about a kind of collective experience. The idea of a bunch of people watching a film about utopia, all sitting alone in their own apartments is kinda tragic. So the live form actually came out of the subject of that film. 

With this new piece, I feel like the film fits, but for other reasons. Buckminster Fuller, perhaps more than anything else, was an amazing performer. He spent years and years traveling the world speaking all over the place and a big part of his fame and popularity came out of these campaigns. 

Fuller was legendary for speaking for five to eight to ten hours at a time. Sometimes at a college he would speak all night, and then take the few remaining students who were still in the auditorium at daybreak out to breakfast. He once did a lecture series called "Everything I Know." It's 42 hours long! (A video of it is actually on youtube in about 7,000 little parts). 

So the live element was very important to Fuller - he loved people and got a lot of energy from engaging with them. And that seemed to fit with this form. 
 

NICK: It’s quite a burden you’re taking on with a piece like this, representing an individual who can no longer speak for himself. 

In conventional documentary filmmaking, you’re often dealing with more direct and primary texts, since the folks you’re highlighting can tell their own stories or, at the very least, it’s other people interpreting your subject’s lives and actions. Here, though, you’re taking on the responsibility of being seen as the interpreter of the story, both as the narrator in the performance and for having conceived the piece. Obviously, you can’t distill every nuance of a person into a one-hour performance. 

When researching Fuller’s life and work, how difficult was it to select those characteristics, beliefs, and contributions that best described him?

SAM: Another great question. Obviously, there are hundreds of different films that could be made about Buckminster Fuller - there's the one that focuses on his geometry, there's a film about Fuller and his World Game project - you could make a movie that focuses on the trauma of his early life and how that shaped who he was. So you get the point: there's almost an infinite number of "angles" one could approach him with. 

In making movies, I'm always very clear that this is just my own take - the parts of the story that happened to resonate with me. I never make any claim to be making an authoritative film about Fuller. I think that in some ways, this is easier to do w/ a live film. You can see that it's just me up there talking - it's in some ways a humble form. 

In any event, what draws me most to Fuller is the fact that he really was a utopian - and I mean that in the best sense of the word. He had certain points that he made over and over again in interviews and speeches and in his writing. 

When you've looked at his work long enough, you start to see these themes reappear constantly. And one of his most consistent spiels was the fact that there were plenty of resources to go around - it was completely possible back in the 1920s, when he first started saying this, and still in the 70s and 80s, and even today - the fact is that there are enough resources so that every person on the planet could have a very comfortable life. 

The problem is not that there's not enough to go around - it's that we don't distribute things fairly. That's a radical thought and one that I think is more relevant and important today than it's ever been. 

NICK: Were there things that you discovered about Fuler that you really wanted to include but had to be set aside for the benefit of telling the best overall story? 

SAM: Oh, there are tons of things. When you are putting together a film, you fall in love with things, and then when you have to cut 'em, or you can't fit 'em in the piece, it's heartbreaking. Editors call this killing your babies. 

Anyway, there are lots. I was hoping in Portland to be able to include some photos I found in the Fuller archive of him at Oregon State University in 1953 building a dome with students. I couldn't figure out the right place to fit this in the piece, but I still love the photos.  (Note from Nick: Sam shared a few of those pictures.  The next 3 photos are among the ones he's referring to.)
  

NICK: This project is a collaborative presentation with the band Yo La Tengo. Besides being a popular indie rock group, they’ve developed a sizable body of non-album oriented work composing music for a variety of films. Probably the closest they’ve come to filling the role they’re playing in this project is with their live musical accompaniment for a presentation of Jean Painlevé shorts (toured around as The Sounds of Science). 

How did you hook up with the band for this project? Were they quick to come on board for it or did you have to convince them over time?

SAM: I saw the premiere of Yo La Tengo's Painlevé program at the San Francisco Film Festival about 10 years ago.  

NICK: Hey, I was there, too!

SAM: I was just completely agog at how luminous and fantastic it was. I was practically sitting there weeping! It's still one of my top 5 all-time film experiences. I've always loved the band's music, but seeing that really showed me that they could do music for film (which can be a whole different thing). 

This Buckminster Fuller piece was commissioned by the SF MOMA and the SF Film Festival earlier this year. When we started to talking about who might be right to play the score, I thought of YLT. Since they had already worked with the SF Film Fest, there was a relationship there. It didn't take a lot of convincing. 

I met with Georgia and Ira and explained the project and they were game. I think they like trying new things, and they certainly love film. You know that Georgia Hubley from YLT comes from a famous animation family. Her parents Faith and John Hubley were amazing filmmakers and animators, as is Georgia's sister Emily. 

NICK: I love the Hubley animations and once attended a workshop led by Emily Hubley at the NW Film Center.

Would you mind describing how the collaboration took shape over time?  

SAM: To put this piece together, I gave them ten different sections of footage - one section that's some great newsreel footage of Fuller's Dynamixon Car, for example; another section shows the huge dome he built at the Montreal World Expo - and they made music for those segments. 

That's kind of like the backbone of the piece. And then I wrote words around that. We got together a few times at their practice space in New Jersey and just went through it a bunch of times fine-tuning and really putting together the piece like that. 

NICK: I’m really looking forward to seeing the show next Wednesday. It’s pretty much the highlight of this year’s TBA schedule as far as I’m concerned. 

Am I correct in my understanding that Portland will only be the second city (after the premiere in San Francisco) where you’ve performed the show? Do you foresee touring the piece beyond the PDX dates?

SAM: We premiered the piece in SF in May. Then we are doing a show in Seattle on 9/11 - the nite before Portland. After that we have a few other shows this fall. You can see those dates at: www.buckminsterfullerfilm.com.

Sam Green and Yo La Tengo will perform The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller twice as a part of this year's TBA Festival at Washington High School on Wednesday, September 12th at 6:30pm and again at 8:30pm.  The program is a co-presentation of the NW Film Center & TBA.  More info available here.


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THE WRECKING CREW: 5 (OR SO) QUESTIONS FOR DIRECTOR DENNY TEDESCO

Any discussion of the great American songbook of the 1960s and early 70s ought to include mention of the highly prolific band of L.A. studio musicians known as The Wrecking Crew.  These musicians played on an incredible amount of hit records, arranging and adding embellishment to what became the defining sound of the time.  Most remarkable of all, The Wrecking Crew was an industry secret.  Their contributions were hidden from the public by the labels and their marketing teams, who (rightfully?) understood that the public wouldn't understand why the members of their favorite bands weren't actually playing on the majority of their records.

Director Denny Tedesco, son of Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco, decided that it was high time for the public to be educated about what his father and his "extended family" had given the world.  Thus, The Wrecking Crew documentary was born.  It's a lively lesson on the history behind some of the best pop music of the 20th century, packed to the gills with incredible songs that were brought to life by a group of nearly anonymous players.  As a buddy of mine kept saying each time another famous song began to pour out of the television speakers: "holy sh*t, they're on that one, too!"

Tedesco is bringing The Wrecking Crew to Portland's Hollywood Theatre next Monday night.  He was kind enough to speak with me in advance of the screening.

NICK: With The Wrecking Crew, you’ve brought attention to some of the most influential yet, simultaneously, obscure musicians of the rock ‘n’ roll era. These players were kind of hidden in plain sight from the music buying public. But I imagine, growing up as the son of studio guitarist Tommy Tedesco, you probably had a much different experience from the general public when it came to knowing about the culture of studio musicians who played on all these classic albums. 

Their anonymity is really driven home in the film when an industry insider like Dick Clark admits that he, too, was surprised to find out about the Wrecking Crew’s significant contribution to many of the biggest hits of the 60s and early 70s. 

Was there a definitive moment when you came to realize that most people were not clued in to the role played by your father and his colleagues, essentially shaping the sound of the times? Did this plant the seed that eventually drove you to tell their story? And for how long did it percolate before you reached completion on the doc?

DENNY: I knew most of my life that most people had no concept of what my dad and his friends did, but I didn't realize how much I underestimated the impact of their story until I saw the film with audiences around the world.  Even though I lived with it my whole life, I forgot that most of the world, although they heard these songs, had no idea that it was a certain group that did all the recordings. 

The seed (for the film) was there for a long time, but when my dad was diagnosed with cancer, that kicked me into gear.  I knew we didn't have much time with my dad and I didn't want to have the regret of not jumping on the opportunity.  I'm so glad I did. 

NICK: Access is a big issue when it comes to making documentary work. If you can’t get in the right rooms, it can be really limiting on the final product. You definitely seem to have had a charmed experience when it comes to access. 

Beyond the actual members of the Wrecking Crew, you were able to interview Brian Wilson, Cher, Nancy Sinatra, members of The Monkees, Herb Alpert and other musical luminaries who were on the scene at the time. In addition to those interviews, the film is chock full of iconic recordings, archival photos and footage that all had to be licensed to be used. 

Did being the son of Tommy make getting access a bit easier than it might have been otherwise?

DENNY: Absolutely.  If I could get past the keeper of the gate and get that request in, I felt I had a chance.  I had a couple of contacts but not many.  I knew Cher's agent and asked her to ask. I think she asked Cher out of courtesy for me, which is unusual in that world.  Most requests are shot down at the door.  But I knew Cher loved this time period from working with her in the 80s on a rock video.  I was a grip and was standing next to her when we were about to roll camera.  I mentioned to her that she had worked with my father on some Spector dates and she asked who he was.  When I told her, her face turned with a smile.  

Don't forget, Cher was 16 at the time when she started working with these old studio guys.  Brian Wilson, Cher and many others were not stars when they worked with these musicians.  So their memories are of the early days when it was fun for them.  

The other great thing was my father's reputation as a person as well as the guitar player.  He was really well liked and loved.  He took care of the musicians that he worked alongside as well as the many young musicians that he came across.

NICK: Were there ways in which being your father's son was an impediment to the process? 

DENNY: No. I don't think so. If anything, I was maybe hesitant to keep calling and bothering people for interviews. But sooner or later they came around.

NICK: And were there any people, materials or music that you’d hoped to include but, ultimately, were not able to secure for the film?

DENNY: A couple of folks I wish I had interviewed.  The only person to turn it down was Leon Russell.  Not sure why, but I tried a few times.  He is a huge part of those years.  I tried to get Phil Spector and never did.  In the end, maybe that was for the better. 

Because I have funded it myself, it wasn't that easy to keep on shooting.  You still need a crew and gear.  I wish I would have been able to interview Jan Berry, Jack Nitzsche, Bobby Hatfield, of the artists and Ray Pohlman, Steve Douglas who died years earlier. 

Many folks didn't live south and I wasn't able to travel too much.  The one interview that I wish I could have redone was Larry Knechtel the great Piano and bass player who is from the Northwest.  I did an interview in Nashville when he was there and I had camera problems.  When you're doing it by yourself, its hard if you're wearing too many hats; I don't recommend it.

NICK: I first heard about the Wrecking Crew in the late 90s from other record collectors who were obsessively tracking down recordings featuring Hal Blaine on drums. Later, when getting into the Beach Boys post-surf material, I became aware of Carol Kaye’s innovative playing on Pet Sounds and the sessions for the aborted Smile sessions. Word has it that members of the Beach Boys began to, in addition to feeling uncomfortable with the material that Brian Wilson was coming up with for Smile, resent their lack of involvement in the recording process. 

In the film, Peter Tork of The Monkees speaks to his own feelings of disappointment upon learning that he would not be playing on the his band’s early studio recordings. Roger McGuinn of The Byrds also reveals that while his band mates felt slighted by being pushed out of studio sessions, The Wrecking Crew’s work on “Mr. Tambourine Man” lasted a few hours, whereas The Byrd’s band session for “Turn, Turn, Turn” involved upwards of 70 takes to get it right. 

Did you find when making the film that bruised feelings were just par for the course when it came to groups whose records were realized via The Wrecking Crew’s studio work?

DENNY: Not now. I think that is so far behind them. In some cases, its cool to say you had the Wrecking Crew play on your album.  Now I find everyone talking about how they recorded with these guys and its a badge of honor.  Everyone claims to have played with the guys and everyone says they are Wrecking Crew members.  Which is fine with me.

NICK: Your film occupies two documentary sub-genres in that it functions as both a profile of a musical phenomenon as well as a loving tribute to your father. Was it difficult to balance the two sides of this narrative coin? Was there anything that you were really attached to that you found yourself needing to leave out of the finished film to achieve this balance?

DENNY: This was a huge problem at the beginning.  I was never going to give it a certain slant towards my father or anyone else at the beginning.  Then in the editing, we had 30 minutes cut, and a friend and director, Grady Cooper asked me why I was doing this film?  I wasn't following the question but then he cut to the chase. "Any one of us can put together what you just did. But what you have is an inside to the story that none of us have and you can take advantage of it."  So my editor, Claire Scanlon and I started playing around with it and included my voice over at the beginning.  Then the notes came in at screenings, "What happened to the narrator?" 

This went on for months.  But one question kept coming up.  Was this a film about your father or the Wrecking Crew members?  I got that note from someone at Sundance who saw a rough cut and said we almost got in the festival, but that was the issue with the screeners.  I mentioned this to a friend who wasn't a film maker and he suggested, "why don't you just give a line like, "This is the story of my father and his extended family, The wrecking Crew?"  That was the last time we ever heard that problem come up again. 

Regarding the cutting room floor..... that's where it sucks.  Claire was brutal and she said to me at one point, you have to stop interviewing people.  We can't put everyone in or you won't fall in love with the characters.  I totally get that now but that's why God gave us DVDs and out takes.

NICK: The Wrecking Crew is your directorial debut. Congrats on having toured it around the world, as well as garnering quite a lot of praise from the press and audiences. Have you been surprised by the overwhelmingly positive reactions to your film? 

And on a side note, you began working on this film in 1996.  What's kept it from reaching an official release?

DENNY: The biggest surprises came with certain scenes in the movie that always get laughs that we never expected (while cutting it) it in the editing room.  Something about seeing a film together (as an audience) brought out laughter and emotions as a group.  The other big surprise is related to how we always talk about the British Invasion.   But I've shown this film from Israel to Spain and Glasgow to London.  Everyone knows this music.  This was America's greatest export. You didn't need to speak the language to love the songs. 

The greatest compliments come from unsuspecting audience members who were dragged to a "music documentary" by their husband, boyfriend or friend.  They walk away smiling.  The music that these musicians created brings back a time for the audience that was a good time for them. 

Even with the awards, great reviews, sold out audiences, we couldn't get a distributor to take on a documentary with a music budget to clear that was 300K.  So over the last couple of years, we've had to work through the International Documentary Association who have become our fiscal sponsor.  They're allowed to take tax deductible donations that enable us to pay off the labels and publishers, one by one.   Its not the best way of making a film but it's become the only way for us.  We've had donations come in from $10.00 to $50K.  It's the little ones that add up and because of them we're able to see the light.

NICK: Ok, so are there any plans for a future dvd release?  And, once the film does reach the end of its screening tour, what’s next for you?

DENNY: Yes yes yes.  I'm hoping it comes out for my birthday in March.  The film will not "end" until we pay off the licensing.  All these screenings have helped us pay off the labels and publishers over the last 2 years.  I've got about 150 to go and then we'll release it.  But I have to say, there isn't anything better than seeing this film with an audience. 

What's next for me?  I'm a freelance producer/director so I'm always working and looking--just like my dad did his whole life.  You have to keep answering the phone.  You never know who is on the other end.

The Wrecking Crew screens at the Hollywood Theatre on Monday, August 6th at 7:30pm.  Denny Tedesco will be in attendance with special guests in tow.  More info available here.


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ECSTASY OF ORDER: THE TETRIS MASTERS -- 5 QUESTIONS FOR DIRECTOR ADAM CORNELIUS

A lot of people have played Tetris.  Millions, in fact.  And many of them, myself included, have returned to the game periodically to find it just as addicting as it was when they first encountered it.  The common experience, though, is that the game always gets the best of you, usually not too long after the difficulty ramps up a few notches.  But what of those individuals who never put the game down at all?  What about players whose mastery allows them to sail past levels that crush the average enthusiast? 

Portland-based documentary filmmaker Adam Cornelius went searching for the story behind the game's most devoted, advanced players.  His film Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters follows former Nintendo World Championship (NWC) finalist Robin Mihara as he organizes a tournament of master players (including NWC champion Thor Aackerlund).

Cornelius will be hosting a screening that doubles as the film's dvd release party this coming Friday night at the Hollywood Theatre.  Leading up to that event, he was kind enough to answer a few questions about the film and its subjects.

NICK: What drew you to make a film about prodigious players of Tetris? And to further unpack that question: why now, almost 30 years after the game’s creation? What is it about the game and its players that brought you to explore the topic? And what’s your own explanation for the enduring appeal of Tetris so many years after its introduction? 

ADAM: The simple answer is I had been trying to master Tetris myself. So I was watching YouTube videos of record games by the people who are now in the movie to try and learn from them. But I really didn’t see a documentary film there because the whole scene was just people recording their games and mailing them to Twin Galaxies to be posted on the Internet. There was no human interaction or filmable action, frankly. In spite of that, when Harry Hong finally maxed out the game, as a Tetris player myself, I was just blown away and really wanted to go down to LA and shoot an interview with him and make a little video of some kind. Once I put that video on the internet (called Max-Out!) the whole movie just came to me from that point on. I met Robin Mihara who had been interested in putting together a tournament and it was just a critical mass kinda thing that grew exponentially into what you see in the movie. 

It is great that the game is old, because we have this group of people who’ve been playing the same simple video game for 20+ years, and since video games are relatively new, that’s unprecedented. So it warrants some reflection. In this case, especially for the guys who were in the 1990 Nintendo World Championships, a lot of hopes and dreams are wrapped up in this game. So there really is a history there that gives the movie some depth. When I started I hadn’t even heard of the 1990 NWC. So there’s another example of how things just unfolded before me and I had to put it all together and tell the story. 

My explanation for the greatness of Tetris is it is elemental and almost feels like an ancient game. For people who play all the time, it takes on almost a talismanic property where people talk about the Tetris God and the game denying you the pieces you need at critical moments. So you keep going back, hoping to get some cooperation from the Gods and break your high score. The truth is the top players in the movie have genuinely mastered the game and have managed to mostly remove the luck element… in a way they have given the Tetris God the finger, which is what we all wish we could do. 

NICK: Your previous film, People Who Do Noise, was about musicians participating in the Portland, Oregon noise scene. Does Ecstasy of Order fit into a larger fascination within your work for documenting individuals operating outside the trends of dominant pop culture? Or is there another explanation as to why you’ve focused in on these stories? 

ADAM: Well, first off, in both cases it was something I was directly involved with. In 2005, I played guitar in a drone-metal/guitar feedback band, and we ended up playing a bunch of noise shows, something I hadn’t had much exposure to. I discovered I really liked noise music, and viewed it as a really legitimate art form. And I was just blown away that most people didn’t even know it existed! Like everyone’s heard of abstract visual art, but you bring up abstract sound and just get blank stares. Even people who listen to extreme music like death metal or punk can be outright hostile and amazingly close-minded towards noise. So its just my way of trying to, I don’t know, generate some relevance or spotlight it in some way. And yeah, within that extreme marginalization comes a deep camaraderie that I found really touching. 

Tetris was the same way, in the sense that Harry’s max-out was front page news in my mind, like climbing Mount Everest, but in reality almost no one cared. So something compelled me to go to him and try to glorify his achievement. I mean, I actually hope the film becomes famous so that people will take competitive Tetris seriously and perhaps a more established league can form. That’s actually been one of my goals from the start, along with, of course, making a good movie. 

Another bond the films have is they depict people who’ve developed an almost spiritual connection with technology. In the case of the noise musicians, they’re like these mediums who’ve awakened all this broken circuitry and are having a séance. With Tetris, you have the Tetris God and I do feel the game becomes a meditative exercise. That’s where the title comes from.

NICK: There still lingers in the public mind at large an assumption that video games are a medium not to be taken seriously. From the get-go, Ecstasy of Order argues that Tetris is a serious game based in strategy and timing, there’s even an attempt in your film to align the game’s complexity with that of chess. Did you feel that Tetris needed defending? And, if so, was it a matter of principle, a means of building a basic argument within your film or somewhere in between? 

ADAM: Well Tetris is actually marketed and sold here in the States as the “Godfather of Casual Gaming” which is true. But I was still surprised that when I would bring up my film to people, they would often laugh and think I was joking. In my mind there’s no debating Tetris’s legitimacy as one of the great strategy games of all time. But people often don’t realize there is an elite level of play, and they don’t know what it entails. So I wasn’t defending it, more so just explaining it so that the audience could understand the challenge the game represented and hopefully enjoy the action of the tournament more during the film’s climactic scene. I’ve gotten enough positive feedback on that to think it basically worked. 

One of the most common reactions to the film is that people really want to play Tetris, because now they understand how the game should be played! They want to see if they can build a wall, leave a well, and burn lines while waiting for a long bar, instead of just blandly clearing lines at slow speeds. Even my parents got a Nintendo after seeing the film and they are way better than they were when I was a kid. 

NICK: For me, the most surprising and affecting moment of the film occurs when we finally get to meet Thor Aackerlund, the formerly teenaged Tetris champion of the early 90s. He’s been the elephant in the room for much of the picture, with the other players constantly spouting their theories about his skills, his undocumented claims of surviving the Tetris “kill screen,” and whether or not he’ll even show up for the competition. When the now adult Thor does make the scene, he comes off as quite modest and very candidly opens up about a past filled with personal tragedy, shifting any understanding we might have had about him as a “character” prior to that moment. Did this turn of events surprise you? Were there any other notable discoveries made during the course of production? And were there any moments that you ended up leaving on the cutting room floor that you now wish you had included in the film? 

ADAM: Well, I try to let Thor’s appearance in the film speak for itself. I will say that the way it unfolds in the movie is directly what I experienced behind the camera. All I had to go on were these rumors and this growing suspicion that Thor was some kind of fraud or a recluse. We really weren’t sure if he was going to show up or not. So its all true. I feel very lucky that the film has a real story that unfolded organically during the shoot. I think that’s often what sets apart the really memorable documentaries, is when they actually capture a real story arc in the present tense rather than being forced to manufacture one or remain stuck in the past. But you really just have to feel lucky if it happens. 

My biggest regret is that we did not do more to hunt down the other Nintendo World Champions who lost to Thor in 1990. Frankly from what I’ve heard through the grapevine, Thor is not the only finalist who went on to have a troubled life. But maybe he encapsulates that whole experience and its not needed. 

NICK: The screening at the Hollywood on July 20th also functions as Ecstasy of Order’s dvd and soundtrack release party. Congrats on bringing the film to the home video market. Are you already planning your next project? And, if so, would you feel comfortable sharing a little about it? 

ADAM: Thanks. It means a lot to me to have Portlanders come out and see the film and ask Robin and I some questions. I try to remind people that Robin Mihara was born in Portland and the film is about him as much as anyone, so it really is a Portland story. 

I have many ideas. There is an event in Texas called the One-Armed Dove Hunt that I’m hoping to shoot. It will be new for me because I will be a complete outsider. I have never hunted, and I am not an amputee, so it will require a higher degree of empathy on my part. I would also like to do something about primitivism and living off the grid. But I am so busy with the Tetris stuff that its hard to move on. We are hosting the 2012 Classic Tetris World Championship at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo on September 29th and 30th, so keep an eye out for that if you want to see Ecstasy of Order stars duke it out in person! 

Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters screens at the Hollywood Theatre on Friday, July 20th at 7:30pm.  More info available here.



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COLOR ME OBSESSED: 5 QUESTIONS FOR DIRECTOR GORMAN BECHARD

Damn near the top of my list of favorite damaged heroes rests The Replacements.  I stumbled upon the band in the pages of Spin Magazine sometime around 1987 as I was entering high school.  It was a revelation; here was a truly obsession worthy American band, a group of beautiful losers unafraid to rock, but juxtaposed with this swagger was a raw, near-confessional vulnerability in their material that still shakes me to this day.  Critics far and wide declared Paul Westerberg the best songwriter of the 80s; it's something I swallowed wholesale and still believe to be true.  All it takes is a little over 30 minutes time spent listening to their Let It Be or Hootenanny LPs and that conviction rises up anew.

Now, some 20 years after the disintegration of the band, there's a documentary film about them making the rounds.  But, instead of going the all too familiar, paint-by number rock doc route, Color Me Obsessed purposefully eschews the usual collage of band interviews, archival photos and live clips set to a series of the band's greatest hits.  Director Gorman Bechard rejects that formula, putting the focus directly on those affected by the band: the fans, other musicians from the period, and members of the industry who dealt directly with the group.

Don't worry.  This isn't one of those lackluster Classic Albums or Under Review-style documentaries, where the proceedings feel like a cheap cash-in on a great band's legacy.  Bechard's working some fairly conceptual territory here, digging into the myth of the band without demystifying it.  If anything, hearing how the fans still feel about this ragtag group of musical misfits only solidifies their importance within the canon of the 80s underground. 

Bechard was gracious enough to answer a few questions in advance of tomorrow night's screening at the Hollywood Theatre.  Here's what we spoke about:

NICK: You decided somewhere along the line to make a documentary where the subject is absent. But, even with no music, (few) pictures or any video of the band, they’re sort of up front and center, held firmly in the thoughts and memories of the people that you speak to during the film. 
At what point during your creative process did you decide to move more traditional depictions of your subject beyond the periphery? And, having made that decision, how long did it take you to come up with the strategy that you ended up employing? 

GORMAN: Right from the very start. There was never a point in time when I wanted to use the band’s music, or video clips, or to interview the surviving members. I’m not a fan of the traditional VH1 “where are they now” format. Doing a rock doc without the band or music, the first ever, was what turned me on about the project. And I also felt that The Replacements were a band that shot a stereo speaker for 4 minutes for their first music video. This was the perfect concept for them.

NICK: There was a lot of ink spilled about the band during the mid-to-late 80s; they ended up being press darlings rather than the commercial success that so many thought they might become. Even with that knowledge, I was shocked when the film details album by album just how few records the band sold. Did you begin the project with the impression that the band was more successful than what their sales figures betray? 

GORMAN: Actually I thought they had sold even less records. I always knew they weren’t commercially successful. Most of the band I love aren’t. And I do believe they were probably too good for the music buying public on the 80s. That the average listener’s head would explode trying to comprehend the qualities of “Let It Be,” But as someone in the films says, “If Bob Dylan had only sold 100,000 albums, he’d still be Bob Dylan.”
 

 

NICK: Obsession, as denoted by the title of your film, plays a large part in the relationship between The Replacements and the people who appear in your film. Some, like the writer Robert Voedisch, share these really emotionally touching stories about their connections with the band, despite never having forged an actual person-to-person connection with them. Can you share what it was like to stumble upon these moments during production? 
What was the process of finding individuals who weren’t necessarily connected to the group but willing to talk about their relationships to the band’s work? And could you speak a bit about your own attachment to The Replacements (the myth, the music, etc.)?

GORMAN: Voedisch was the true find. He actually wrote to us and said he had a weird story about the Mats, and how as a 14 year old he used to imagine they were his friends on his farm in northern Minnesota. He’d have conversations with them. His interview was amazing. He laid himself emotionally naked. He compared the band to oxygen. That’s how important they are to his life. I remember walking out of the interview and turning to my crew and saying that was the most important interview we’ve done. 
As for me, it really became about how they saved rock n roll. It was 1984. Punk had come and gone, and had turned to new wave. Rock was dying again as it was in 1975. And here come these two bands from Minneapolis, the Mats and Husker Du. And they redefined what a rock band should be. Everything from attitude to what was on record. They just spoke to me in ways I almost can’t explain. Sort of like when you walk into a party and you see a girl across the room, and you know in your heart you’re going to spend the rest of your life with her. That’s what listening to Let It Be for the first time was like for me.

NICK: Over the past several years, there have been a few films (We Jam Econo and Not a Photograph, for instance) documenting the unsung heroes of the 80s independent rock scene. Michael Azerrad’s book, Our Band Could Be Your Life, seems to have paved the way for these reassessments, or at least redirected attention back to the bands highlighted in his book. 
One of your upcoming projects is a film about Husker Dü drummer/songwriter Grant Hart, whose band, like The Replacements, was also profiled in Azerrad’s book. 
Did Our Band Could Be Your Life’s success prefigure at all in your decision to work on these projects? Or were they fueled by other influences?

GORMAN: No, it had nothing to do with the book. I don’t really take on projects ever thinking about whether or not I can sell them. I don’t make films with anyone else in mind other than myself. I make these films for myself. I need to be feel proud of them. I need to feel comfortable signing my name to them. Hopefully other people like them. But if not, it’s okay. So no outside influence. It really comes from what would I like to spend a few years of my life doing. It has to come from an internal passion. All art does. Just as you can never create art with an audience in mind. That’s “product,” not “art.” It’s why most movies are so damn bad. And it’s nothing I’m interested in.

NICK: Are there any other projects you have up your sleeve? A dream project, perhaps?

GORMAN: Well…other than the Grant Hart doc, I’m working on Pizza, A Love Story, about the three famous pizza joints in New Haven (the only real pizza places in the world…yes, I do believe that!), as well as parts two and three to my ALONE trilogy: a horror film called One Night Stand and a dark drama called Broken Side of Time. 
But I guess the dream project which is planned for next year hopefully will be in the animal rights arena. I am an extreme animal rights fanatic, especially dogs. I personally would love to see Michael Vick put in a cage and ripped apart by Pit Bulls. That is his crime. Seems only just and fair. Instead of the ridiculous slap on the wrist he received. It’s pathetic. But I plan to shake up a lot of people with this one. Much like Vick’s fighting dogs, I’ll be going for the throat!

 

Color Me Obsessed plays at the Hollywood Theatre on Tues., May 15th at 6pm.  The School of Rock will be offering up a selection of Replacements covers at the screening.   More info on the program available here.  Additional info about the film and Gorman Bechard's other projects can be found at What Were We Thinking Films.

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