Kaye Cleave and James Daggett CATHERINE'S KINDERGARTEN's -- Lake Travis FF 2021 Interview: personal tragedies without it being a therapy session

Kaye Cleave and James Daggett’s CATHERINE’S KINDERGARTEN, which screened at the Lake Travis Film Festival is Cleave’s exploration of her daughter’s life, it’s trajectory that was cut short, and her own emotional journey as her mother – both during her daughter’s life as well as being the custodian of her daughter’s memory afterward.

All of which is centered around the literal journey she takes to a Nepalese mountain village to open a school in memory of her daughter, Catherine — all while still confronting her grief.

Kaye Cleave James Daggett CATHERINE'S KINDERGARTEN's — CATHERINE’S KINDERGARTEN

Prior to watching the film, you could be tempted to dismiss it as cinematic therapy – a mother working exploiting the camera (and us, as viewers) to navigate her way back to a semblance of acceptance over her daughter’s untimely death.

However, to the film’s credit, CATHERINE’S KINDERGARTEN has layers of depth to it as it unflinchingly mines her relationship with her daughter, as well as being a loving, emotionally forensic examination of the spirit of the young woman.

And there IS a spirit that comes through the footage and stills of Catherine, a charisma that is impossible to deny and underlines the tragedy of her loss so early in her life.

In the interview, we talk about the measures both directors took (in concert and separately) to make sure they were making a film and not “filming a therapy session”. They also discuss what it took to figure out what the film was actually about over the course of the filming and editing process. James also discusses a documentary that he keeps coming back to because it still mesmerizes him to this day.