Catching up to Sundance 2022 and 2021 films that are out and about now
We have a tremendous backlog of Films Gone Wild interviews that we are going to try and catch up on during the next month or so. We’ll start off with three films that we spoke to during the Sundance Film Festival – both the 2022 edition and even going back to a 2021 highlight. A couple of these interviews include my good friends Angela Tabora and Erin Lim from the incredibly fun and informative Bitch Talk podcast out of San Francisco. We have been teaming up on the next generation of what was the Daily Buzz show created by the legendary Irene Cho for a couple of years now. The spirit of those interviews combining our three points-of-view would make Irene happy, I think, as it remains true to her mission to not just talk to celebrities, but to discover new filmmakers as well as some cool veterans and occasional famous person and talk about the films that fascinate us and dig into their work in a fun way.
James P. Gannon (DEERWOODS DEATHTRAP)
What’s the film about?
50 years ago Jack and Betty were hit by a train and survived. This is their story.
While on a trip to Cape May New Jersey in 1971, Jack and Betty survived an accident that not many other humans have…they were hit by a train. Not only did they survive, but their 4-year-old son, infant daughter, and elderly Mother survived the crash as well. 50 years later, they return to the scene of the accident to recount their conflicting memories.
What do we talk about?
James P. Gannon’s short documentary DEERWOODS DEATHTRAP has been a frequent presence on the regional film festival circuit following its debut at Sundance earlier this year, most recently screening at the Sidewalk Film Festival. We talk about the humor he mined filming his parents and their Rashomon-like memories of the crash they survived. We also talk about Gannon’s approach including shooting on Super 8 to affect an artifact-finding, old school projector look on the film. Gannon talks about his process working with his parents, the challenges and benefits as well as finding a nugget of inspiration regarding their bantering dynamic. We also discuss how Gannon approaches his career (He’s an incredibly prolific filmmaker.) as he’s kind of developed his own cottage industry for the kinds of films he’s made. And spoiler: there’s a feature film script poised for takeoff. Finally, is he possibly the best, if not last, regular customer ever for Super 8 film?
Margaret Brown (DESCENDANT)
What’s the film about?
Another film that has really been a solid player on the regional film festival circuit (It was the Closing Night Gala selection fro the Sidewalk Film Festival.), DESCENDANT has made an impact with its story that was generations in the making. In the film, award-winning filmmaker Margaret Brown returns to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama, to document the search for and historic discovery of The Clotilda, the last known slave ship to arrive in America illegally transporting enslaved Africans. After a century of secrecy and speculation, descendants of The Clotilda’s survivors are reclaiming their story as they search for this elusive wreckage, joined by a team of globally renowned archeologists and divers from the Smithsonian.
What do we talk about?
While the film (of course) talks about the discovery and proof of the reality of The Clotilda, it also gets into a lot of other underlying and interwoven issues including environmental racism, which is a topic that I’m very interested in due to what Justina Walford and I have discovered in our home of South Dallas. We discuss Brown’s approach to filming civic politics so it doesn’t – bluntly – bore us. Brown also talks about how tricky it was to take on the subject of the film while being a white woman and how she questioned herself throughout regarding her right to tell that story. She also talks about her pursuit of one of the documentary’s participants and his influence on the finished film as well as capturing other participants in real-time emotions and discoveries throughout the timeline of the film. Brown also discusses the influence that historian Zora Neale Hurston had on the film and her personally.
Ninja Thyberg (PLEASURE)
What’s the film about?
Ninja Thyberg’s Pleasure made its debut at Sundance in 2021 (which is when we interviewed her). Thyberg’s feature directorial debut, the film is based on her 2013 short of the same name, and is about a young woman from a small Swedish town who moves to Los Angeles to become a porn star. Bella Cherry arrives in Los Angeles with dreams of becoming an adult film star, but she soon learns that fame won’t come easy as she harnesses her ambition and cunning to rise to the top of this mesmerizing and singular world. The film is currently available on most streaming platforms.
What do we talk about?
We talk about Thyberg’s perspective on what she went through to “get it right” including several years of research on the subject of pornography and needing to see that filmmaking process and that community in-person to challenge the cliches and find the truths. Thyberg also talks about the year and a half search to find Sofia Kappel, who played Bella in the film. She discusses the difficulties to achieve accuracy both within that world but also within the mind – and even conversation with a 19-year-old, as well as adjustments she needed to make to update the reality of that world including the difference between the male and female directors on adult film sets.
