DP: How did you choose the subject for your film?
AS: I discovered about two years ago that everyone I knew in New York was divorcing. All the people who I had 10-12 years before witnessed pairing up. It made me sad. So I decided to make a film about what happens when you get a divorce. All the footage is shot by myself. Marina and I worked together as waitresses at Pravda-a Russian nightclub/cigar bar. We had a blast,because it was 'the place' at the time. Celebrities and businessmen and artists all getting demented on vodka every night. I was part of Marina's falling in love with her husband, who also worked there and also is my very good friend. I went to their stag nights and filmed their wedding and gave it to them as a wedding present. I was still only 21 years old, so it was quite magical to be in the middle of a downtown social bar scene and experience so much life.
DP: The film looks aged, was that a process that you treated or filtered the film?
AS: No process. I had no clue what I was doing. I just filmed like a mad woman.
DP: When was the film made and how long did it take?
AS: The film was made in 2007-08. I decided to make it and went to NYC to shoot. Then I went home to edit and then back and shot some more. I had a lot of archives and the things that we also added. It was 6 months in the editing with a very young inexperienced, but devoted editor. She turned out to be a true master! The reason for making the film was that I was finishing a three-year program at an underground Copenhagen based film collective called Super16. So I had to make a short film. I wanted to make something punk and beautiful. My producer was going on paternity leave so I just said: just transfer the budget into my account and I will bounce over to NYC and make a film! Also , I wanted to investigate what happens when love fails. When you lose something, yet learn from it…
DP: The music works so well with it; can you tell me a bit about the sound track?
AS: I was very lucky with music. Peder is the main composer- he is Danish and an old friend and a rad composer. He has a sensibility like a strong female intuition. Then I met Tim from Gang Gang Dance and made a scene with him for the film because he was so miserable – and got to use some of teir unreleased raw material. Then I found this amazing San Francisco garage rock genius, Ty Segall. He let me use the clapping from one of his songs in the beginning and the end of the film. Then Adam Hashemi – another Copenhagen renaissance man who films and directs and plays music – let me use a track of his. Then my friends Hannah and Andrew (Hannah is the little sister of Kimberle from my other film 'American Losers') sent me a song in an e mail, which they had recorded on a beach in Mexico. Like: 'hey check this out, we're roadtrippin.' I was like: 'can I put it in my new film?' Luckily they agreed. They are talented and real and I love them.
DP: You've worked on both fiction and documentaries, how different is your approach to each?
AS: I suck at fiction. I have no visions. I can only work with reality. I'm trying to crack the nut, how to make a good fiction film. I have no imagination when it comes to making stuff up. But I can see something, and I know that there is something there and I try to build up a world around it with my camera.
People and emotions and locations and honesty inspires me and I just pick up the camera and shoot and then I find out afterwards why.
DP: The film feels so New York, how did you penetrate that scene?
AS: I don't know. I just hung out and did it alone when I was young. I think I was more quiet back then, just kind of watching everything. Being part of a scene but sticking to one man and one plan kind of thing. Now I'm much, much wilder.
DP: Did you ever consider getting a tattoo?
AS: I have a tattoo, an L for Louie the mysterious French boyfriend! It's not only for love for him. It's also a tattoo to remind me to rock out!
DP: What's up next, I guess we should say something about Russia?
AS: I just did a film in Russia and I am in love. Everything is upside down, the humor, the haircuts, and the lifestyle. Everyone smokes and walks around with a beer. The men carry their girlfriends over puddles. People are well read and even though they don't know English very well they still try to speak it, they form the most beautiful sentences like punk poetry. Dylan or Morrison or The Stokes could not do better if they tried.
It is kind of a film about when foreigners (me!) look at and experience Russia. My friend Emily has lived there for 4 years and sums up what happens to a foreigner after being in Russia for awhile: 'In the beginning I didn't want to eat any Chernobyl chicken, but now, I don't care."
Later,
Diane
