Jesse Epstein has had a busy year on the festival circuit and receiving critical acclaim for the short film 34X25X36, which premiered at this past SXSW. Jesse was one of five short filmmakers from Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces” to present a mobile phone generated short film for a program at this last month’s IFP. She is also the founder of a youth video program in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and an instructor for Reel Stories: Sundance’s youth documentary lab.
SXSW’s Lya Guerra: What’s the state of the union between you and your very successful short film 34X25X36?
Jesse Epstein: 34×25x36 is one segment of a longer project about physical perfection that I’m working on (which includes WET DREAMS AND FALSE IMAGES, and THE GUARANTEE). The project just received funds from Chicken & Egg Pictures and the Fledgling Fund – to keep going. Thanks to it’s screening at SXSW a version of the film has recently been curated by the new Youtube Screening Room and has gotten more than a million views. It can be viewed HERE.
LG: You’ve recently been named one of the 25 New Faces of 2008 in Filmmaker Magazine.
Do you think such public and sought after acknowledgments will make a difference in your future film career?
JE: This has lead to some fun projects so far – including a short film project where I had to film the whole thing on a Nokia phone. Which was pretty liberating actually. The film was about bikes and I recorded bike sounds with the phone – and my brother mixed them into music.
LG: You’ve made other films, does this latest film and recognition go towards making you feel somehow new or changed?
JE: I feel like it’s all a journey and I’m learning a lot, and continually experimenting with how to turn social issues into stories. But I realized during the interview for the article just how much I want to start making more narrative based projects too. So in this way I feel like I have a new interest in further exploring other types of filmmaking.
LG: Practical questions; How long did it take you to make “34X25X36″? And which is more taxing, the making of a short doc, or the traveling from festival to festival with it?
JE: It’s funny, the actual filming was only 2 days and the editing was fairly quick, but with limited funds, what took longer was the music and the sound mix. Going to festivals has been a great — I think it’s important to screen a film and talk directly with the audience. Q&A’s force filmmakers figure out how to explain the mission behind a film, and some of the questions people asked really helped me further articulate, even to myself, the project as a whole.
LG: Tell me a bit about your involvement in Shooting People. How has it helped with “34X25X36″?
JE: Shooting People was actually a huge part in making the film – especially because the shoot was in LA (and I live in NY). Shooting People hosted a party in San Francisco, and through Malcolm Pullenger (the SF bulletin moderator), I met the awesome DP Christian Bruno, who shot the film. Well most of it. I shot some super 8, but he did the most – and was great to work with. He has a great eye and did a lot with not too much equipment. He even did a “dolly shot” through the mannequin factory without a dolly – just hand held. Filming in the factory was a trip visually, and we were all (a crew of three) pretty amazed at what we were looking at.
LG: Your docs seem to be made with a mind to make a difference, to open eyes without bludgeoning the viewer with a message. If so, do you see your films working, making a difference?
JE: I’m interested in how media can be used as a tool for social change, and the goal is to take a social issue and turn it into a compelling story. But in this, I really aim to question and open up, and to find out why people do what they do, rather than be accusatory. In terms of an outreach plan, through New Day Films the films are being used in classrooms. And, I’ve been traveling with the films a bit – going to places like The Lower East Side Girls Club with the films and having discussions around body image and culture.
Contact info:
www.jessedocs.com or
Jesse@Shootingpeople.org
Original post by jarod
Posted: September 29th, 2008 under Reel Talks.
Comments: none
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