independent.com presents

MEET THE MAKERS2 ISSUE

TWO

JAN. 27–FEB. 7 • 2015

INTERVIEWS WITHsanta BarBara FILMMAKERS

When William Louis-Dreyfus decided to sell his fabulous, idiosyncratic art collection of more than 3,000 pieces, including works by

such modern masters as Gauguin and Kandinsky, his daughter the actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus was shocked. Not so much by the sale, but by what her mega-suc-cessful dad planned to do with the proceeds: create an endowment for the Harlem Children’s Zone. Th is fascinating fi lm, which began as a home movie by the star’s husband, producer and director Brad Hall, morphed into something more when Hall put the gen-erous father-in-law and his famous daughter together on camera.

Was William’s art collection a big part of Julia’s life?Julia had no idea that her father’s collection was this extensive nor that he had such intimate connections with so many of the artists. Her memories of this art are hilarious: the Dubuff et sculpture her sister

ran into on her bike, the Giacometti sculpture that terrifi ed her as a kid. But, though much is familiar, much more of the art in the collection is new to her — and she’s crazy about all of it.

Where does Julia fi t into the story?Th e fi lm really is about Julia’s discov-ery of her father’s dual passions: art and justice. Originally I just wanted Julia to chat a little bit with a few of the living artists in the collection, and with an art critic or two, and then show a bunch of photos of the art. As soon as we started making the fi lm, however, Julia’s rela-tionship with her dad — complicated, funny, touching, aff ectionate — became the heart of the thing. Th at relationship became the vehicle for exploring how art can be transformed into education

for these amazing kids in Harlem. At the beginning of the fi lm, Julia says that she wants to learn more about the art and artists in the collection, about the Harlem Children’s zone, and  “… maybe even a little bit about my dad.” In the end, I think that’s what happened, and it’s what we caught on fi lm. — Charles Donelan

GenerosiTY of eYedirector brAd HAll generositYofeYe.com

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Funding support provided by the santa Barbara county arts commission through a partnership with the City of Santa Barbara.

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interviews with Santa BarBara FilmmakerS

A cinematic and thoughtful look at Iceland’s complex relationship to whaling, this fi lm, directed by Santa Barbara–born Jonny

Zwick, details the island nation’s struggle to rec-oncile its still productive and time-honored whale-hunting industry with a growing international and local desire to protect whales.

How did you get turned on to the topic of whale hunting and the situation in Iceland?My uncle is a marine biologist and has dedicated his life to the well-being of dolphins. I was speaking with him about my desire to photograph Iceland’s other-worldly landscapes when he told me about the commercial whale hunting taking place there. I did some research and was shocked at what I found.

Have your own views on the topic changed at all? It’s really easy to see a topic such as whale hunting on paper and immediately decide what your stance is based off of your beliefs and personal experi-ences. My overall viewpoint is the same as when I left , but my reasoning for why I think it is wrong has changed. Seeing it in person and getting to know the men behind the harpoons defi nitely changed my perspective, but not how I feel about it.

In your words, what is the rift in Iceland really about?At fi rst glance, one would suspect that the primary mo-tive involved in this practice is monetary gain. In reality it comes down to a small num-ber of powerful individuals and their national sentiments toward the utilization of “Ice-land’s” natural resources. Th ey are a young country in terms of gaining indepen-dence and feel as though it is their national right to hunt whales.

Have you tried whale meat? I had quite a few opportuni-ties to try the meat, but I al-ways refused out of my sup-port for whale watching over

whale hunting. Oft entimes those who appreciate the whales in Iceland don’t make the connection that they are supporting the whale-hunting indus-try by eating the meat.

What do you hope to accomplish in telling this story?Beyond promoting awareness, I want to start a pub-lic discussion. If people become educated about the issue, they will ask the right questions and demand answers to those questions. — Ethan Stewart

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Breach breachthefilm.com

director jonny ZWick

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independent.com presentsMEET THE MAKERS INTERVIEWS WITH SANTA BARBARA FILMMAKERS

For fi lm festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/sBiff

At 60, Hal Holbrook’s Mark Twain Tonight is the longest-running one-man show in theatrical history. Holbrook, who will be 90 in February,

has been playing Mark Twain longer than Samuel Clemens did. Th is beautiful and haunting black-and-white documentary mixes interview and ar-chival footage with scenes showing the actor preparing for a recent performance as Twain that took place in San Luis Obispo. Th e portrait that emerges overfl ows with the humanity of an epic and the pathos of a tragedy. Hover-ing above it all is the spirit of Holbrook’s third wife, Dixie Carter, who died a little over a year before the fi lm was made.

How did you fi nd this story?Th e genesis of the fi lm start-ed back in 2008, when I fi rst met Hal and Dixie to convince them to be in my fi lm Th at Evening Sun. At that fi rst meeting, Dixie told me her longtime dream was to see a fi lm made about the Twain show. And then she told me I was the one who would make it!

And what made you decide she was right about that?As anyone who ever had the privilege to know Dixie can attest, she could be a very persuasive woman, and once she got her mind set on something, it was pretty much impossible to deny her. So she kept on me about the documentary, telling me how im-

portant it would be, tell-ing me it was a story the world needed to hear. But it wasn’t until I fi nally saw the show for myself that I realized she was right. And I realized how much I wanted to tell this story.

What happened when she died?When Dixie passed away unexpectedly in 2010, my producer (Laura D. Smith, a Santa Barbara

native!) and I just started shooting. We paid for the fi lm ourselves, getting help from countless folks along the way. It has been a labor of love, and we couldn’t be happier to fi nally be sharing the fi lm with the world. — Charles Donelan

holBrooK/TWainfacebook.com/holbrooktwain feature

director scott teems

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interviews with Santa BarBara FilmmakerS

This eye-opening, heart-wrenching, and stun-ningly shot documentary about the plight of el-ephants in Kenya’s Tsavo National Park, where

poaching for ivory is worse than ever, shows the efforts of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (shel-drickwildlifetrust.org) to rehabilitate orphaned ani-mals. Made by Santa Barbara-turned-Kenya filmmakers Austin Peck and Anneliese Van-denberg, the film stars Sex and the City actress-turned-conservationist Kristin Davis, who also produced the film. Peck and Davis answer questions below.

How does the ivory trade even still exist?KD: Everyone was under the impression that the poaching problem had been fixed when there was a global ban on ivory in the ’80s. Then there was a “one-off sale” in 2009, agreed to by CITES, the international board regulating wildlife “trade.” This sale created so many loopholes that the current poach-ing crisis is now worse than anything we’ve seen before. Every 15 minutes, an elephant is bru-tally killed for its tusks. Soon we will have no wild elephants on the entire planet.

Humans anthropomorphize many animals, but elephants seem to actually be like us.AP: Upon encountering the elephants, eye-to-eye, there was undeniably something intelligent and emotionally complex coming back at us.  Seeing how they respond to the tenderness and even mo-ments of discipline given to them by the human

keepers, we felt as if we’d just landed on a new planet where humans are not the only sentient show in town. My sense is that they’ve got forms of intelligence that we don’t even know how to mea-sure. We deliberately shot to bring out those opportunities for bonding and re-lating: eye contact, expressive gestures, play. We hope it will evoke that instinct to care for something as precious as our own kin. 

How do the true infant orphans do once they are back in the wild?AP: One thing we perhaps didn’t really make clear with the film is that it can take almost a decade to reintroduce them. Slowly, a desire starts welling up

in the orphans to join those wild herds, and they start experimenting with their independence, go-ing out for hours without the keepers or their fellow orphans, then maybe for a whole night out, and then one day, they just go and decide they don’t want to sleep in the stockade anymore. They come back and

visit and still have the familial bond with their former keep-ers, but a clear shift has taken place. The dirt on their skin even changes. The real tes-tament to the success of the process is that former orphans are mating with wild bulls. In fact, they are expecting three babies from former orphans in the next few months.  

What were some challenges faced in shining light on this issue?KD: Sometimes it is surpris-

ingly difficult to get press coverage about the im-minent extinction of a beloved animal species! I assume this is because our media world is chaotic, at best. Also people don’t know that they can help! We need to apply political pressure on our states to ban ivory. California just had this legislation intro-duced. People can let their lawmakers know that they care about what happens to the elephants. Also, obviously NEVER buy ivory! — Matt Kettmann

Gardeners of edenco-director Austin Peck And Producer kristin dAvissheldrickwildlifetrust.org

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independent.com presentsMEET THE MAKERS INTERVIEWS WITH SANTA BARBARA FILMMAKERS

For fi lm festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/sBiff

Using underwater cameras with 3D, slow-mo-tion, macro, and motion-control capabilities, Jean-Michel Cousteau and his team plunge

viewers deep under the sea surface with Secret Ocean 3D. Th e fi lm, which looks at the food chain at the bottom of the ocean, includes more than 40 species from locations like the Bahamas, Fiji, and Biminis. As Cousteau puts it, the fi lm “will literally dive into the virtu-ally unknown new underwater world as if they were there.”

Secret Ocean 3D includes scenes with a friendly grou-per — as does your father’s 1956 fi lm, Silent World. Your father and his crew named their on-camera grouper Ulysses. Was your grouper intended as an homage?No, we didn’t do anything like that. Not on purpose, anyway. If we chose some of the same creatures, it must have come from my guts. Th e grouper in Secret Ocean would show up again and again in the same location. I jokingly called it “my girlfriend.” It was just curious, looking for food. One day it didn’t show up, and I was sad. But the next day, our last day at that reef, it was back again. So we got to say good-bye.

Besides the Bahamas and Fiji, you fi lmed in the Channel Islands — and captured a zillion squid hav-ing sex in the night.We didn’t plan it.  We were fi lming kelp. Th en we noticed the squid — fi rst one, then hundreds and

thousands. Squid mate every year in Southern California. Because of regulations, the squid is not fi shed out — squid fi shing is a success story. Th at was off Catalina.  By pure coincidence, I was in the ex-act same spot in 1968 with my fa-ther and the same thing happened! We were there to do a show about

submersibles and suddenly came upon all these squid mating. 

The acclaimed oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle narrates the fi lm. How did you two meet?Th at goes way, way, way back. I think it was a meet-ing of scientists in Monterey. She was an algae ex-pert, studying plants. Th at was before she [became known as] ‘Her Deepness,’ and before she was on the cover of Time. When we asked her about doing the narration, she was so easy. She refused to let us pay her anything. She only made one tiny change in the script. — Trish Reynales

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interviews with Santa BarBara FilmmakerS

SBIFF veteran Susan Sember’s doc is the perfect antidote for people feeling helpless and hope-less in the face of our Mother Earth–damning

ways of consuming energy. It provides a series of inside looks at some the most innovative work be-ing done in the name of creating a better tomorrow.

What is the biggest obstacle on our path to a more earth-friendly energy-harvesting existence?I believe that all too often people discount the power of one. I also think people can buy into the negativity and end up thinking that the is-sues are too big to be solved. However, as the film dem-onstrates, that  simply is not the case. There is an interna-tional groundswell growing that is truly revolutionary on the sustainability front. Each individual can make a differ-ence. Whatever action, large or small, we all have the power to make Earth a healthier and livable planet.

Anything catch you off guard along the way?The unlimited creativity and drive exhibited by the individuals we interviewed around the world was primary. However, I was also surprised to see how each member of our camera crew was personally in-terested in following up, changing their attitudes, and doing things such as buying an electric car, support-

ing emerging millen-nial farmers in Northern California, and investing in solar panels  for  their personal residences. That was pretty cool.

What practice has the greatest potential to change our collective reality?As consumers, support-ing sustainable agricul-tural practices and the farmers associated with them is a choice we can each make every day in the three meals we bring

to our tables. Doing this would have incredible upside. — Ethan Stewart

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enerGizinG our Worlddirector susAn sember jnbholdingfilms.com

independent.com presentsMEET THE MAKERS INTERVIEWS WITH SANTA BARBARA FILMMAKERS

For fi lm festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/sBiff

This half-hour documentary is about San Mar-cos High School’s staging of Th e Rocky Horror Picture Show in honor of a popular teacher’s

retirement.

How did you come to cover this story?I graduated from San Marcos in 1993 and was into theater. We always produced a musical in the spring, and the joke every year from David Holmes was that we would produce Th e Rocky Horror Show. We never produced it, because it is obviously too racy for a high school production. When David announced that his retirement show would be Rocky Horror with an alumni cast, it just made sense. Alumni from 30 years returning to their high school to fulfi ll a long-run-ning joke, produce a show in six days, and honor their drama teacher makes for a great story. I expected the experience would be more Waiting for Guff man, but it turned out to be this beautiful and emotional expe-rience. Th e performances and my documentary are

love letters not just to David Holmes but to the role that theater in high school played in our lives.

How large was the cast?Cast, crew, and production staff was 84. All cast and crew were alumni. Th e show was double cast for most roles, and I’m going to guess there were 20 to 25 actors. I would guess 10 to 20 percent of the actors and crew are professional or have been pro-fessional. Some of them are actors. Some work in TV post-production, and others do makeup and costumes. Tariqh Akoni, who was the musical di-rector and played the role of Eddie, has played with Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Christina Aguilera, and Josh Groban.

Was there any controversy at the school related to the somewhat racy content?If anything was controversial, it was food in the auditorium. Food in the theater is a big no-no, and yet the fl oors were covered every night in rice, toast, newspaper, and all of the stuff people bring to a Rocky show.

Is there momentum for a second annual aff air?Th e show was expected to be a one-off , but the ex-perience was so great that they decided to go ahead and do an alumni show in 2015. Some of the cast and crew got together to create the San Marcos High School Alumni Foundation Th eater Group. (See smhsalumnitheater.org.) In June of 2015, they will produce Spamalot, and all proceeds will ben-efi t the school. — Matt Kettmann

TiMe Warpdirector lAel WAGeneck smhsalumnitheater.org

short documentary

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interviews with Santa BarBara FilmmakerS

For decades, Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens was both literally and figuratively at the center of life in downtown Santa Barbara, serving as a gather-

ing place for the ages in a town that takes its fun and gatherings quite seriously. This documentary explores the rich history of the restaurant, bar, and neighborhood while celebrating the cast of characters that made it what it was.

What’s up with the secret tunnels and catacombs beneath down-town S.B.? I didn’t know there had been a thriv-ing Chinatown in Santa Barbara before making this film, and I grew up here! The tunnels were, apparently, a part of that. There is just something about that property and its legend that really trig-gers people’s curiosity in the place. Un-derground tunnels, gambling, opium dens, and the like. People wander in off the street all the time, wondering about the history of the place. The folklore and mystique behind Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens was definitely a selling point for me in making this film.

What’s the magic and import of a place like Jimmy’s?Well, that’s kind of like the thesis of the film. What is it that made Jim-my’s so special? At first, I was running with this idea of “establishment as character” because the building itself and the location is such a central figure in the film, but it turned out what really made Jimmy’s so special was the people. Jimmy’s really was this classic neighborhood bar. It was the Cheers of Santa Bar-bara.

What else surprised you while making this film?A recurring joke I would make while making this thing was, “Santa Barbarans really love their own history, don’t they?!?” And it’s kind of true: Santa Barbara his-tory is incredibly well-preserved and documented for

being such a small little town way back when. But people from around the world love Jimmy’s, too. It’s just one of those places. Everyone has their own Jimmy’s story. And although Jimmy’s was a very accepting and friendly environ-ment, there is definitely a private club of indi-viduals that made up the place. And not just any old person off the street could just prance in and join. You had to earn your keep. And that group is pretty serious about their membership. — Ethan Stewart

Grasshopper for Grandpa facebook.com/grasshopperforgrandpa

short documentary

director cAsey mcGArry

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independent.com presentsMEET THE MAKERS INTERVIEWS WITH SANTA BARBARA FILMMAKERS

For fi lm festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/sBiff

This insightful documentary follows Santa Bar-bara aquaculturalist Bernard Friedman as he tends to his mussels and deals with the bureau-

cracy of being the only open-ocean fi sh farm on the California coast.

Why did you decide to focus on Bernard?Bernard conducted a short presentation about his unique aquaculture methods in an environmental issues class that I was a part of. More than a cut-and-dry science lesson, I saw that Bernard had a vital stake in the survival of his methods and an air of intrigue around his story and personality; he’s a fantastic character. 

Did you realize how unique his situation was when you started the fi lm?Not quite. Going into it, I was aware that he was among a vast minority; however, I was not aware of the extent to which he is spearheading the success of open-ocean mussel farming in California and the United States. 

Do you hope to open more eyes to how sustainable mussel farming can be?I really do. Making this fi lm defi nitely opened my eyes to some of the misconceptions that surround fi sh/mollusk farming, and I hope that it will have a positive impact in clearing the air around open-ocean mussel farming. Bernard provides such a fantastic product to our community, and I hope his work will gain wider recognition for the sustain-ability he practices. —Matt Kettmann

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Mussel Mandirector elvis metcAlF musselmanfilm.com

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interviews with Santa BarBara FilmmakerS

This heart-warming short doc by the longtime Santa Barbara filmmaker is set in Willie’s Bar-bershop on Figueroa Street but is really about

complicated father-son relationships.

Did you go into this knowing that it would be a father-son story?I didn’t want to make a film about what a cool bar-bershop it was. I find those kinds of films boring. So I sat down with Gilbert one day and talked to him for a while. Eventually a story came out that I really wanted to tell, about he and his dad, a universal story about fathers and sons. And it just so happened that it was set in this masculine, visually rich place. 

What do you think makes a good father? What makes a good barber?A good father, that’s impossible to say. There are a million kinds of good fathers. A good barber is one who knows that the haircut is only about 10 percent of the service he’s providing. 

Do you get your hair cut there?I didn’t get my hair cut there before, but, yes, Gil-bert is now my barber.  —Matt Kettmann

This short film by the French SBCC student fol-lows a group of friends who engage in a heinous game that goes violently wrong. He answered

these questions from Paris in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, explaining, “Movies are a way to fight against those terrorists as well as were the cartoons of my friends who died in the attack.”

Does this game exist in real life? Yes. I think it was two years ago when I first saw on the news in France, and then Monique Rosario, my writer, came up to me with a short script talking about this subject.

What compelled you to tell this story? What is interesting in the story is the process of how a young person can get to the point of doing such hor-ror. Peer pressure and the need to be liked and loved pushes the main character to go into this terrible game. 

Where did you find the young actress?Yes, she is great! She is actually the writer of the film, Monique Rosario. We’ve been working together for the past two years, and we’re currently developing a feature film. —Matt Kettmann

short documentary

a Man’s place director russ sPencer vimeo.com/tsmeeks

The KnocKouT GaMedirector benjAmin GoAlAbrefacebook.com/theknockoutgame

narrative short

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independent.com presentsMEET THE MAKERS INTERVIEWS WITH SANTA BARBARA FILMMAKERS

For fi lm festival coverage and schedule changes, visit independent.com/sBiff

This short fi lm by the UCSB professor and vet-eran documentarian follows artist/architect Jeff Shelton as he ropes the creative community

into decorating the outside of a colorful house at 521 Santa Barbara Street.

How did you get into this story?I’ve been friends with Jeff and his amazing family for a few years now, and he just asked me one day if I’d be interested in capturing the Vera Cruz House as it progressed. I began shooting images for the fi lm in March of 2013, rigging cameras that could stay in place for extended periods of time, and, on important production days, I brought in UCSB alum Cory Cul-lington. Aft er some convincing from Jeff , I was re-cruited to do a few paintings myself, which ended up being scenes from Queensland, Australia, and South Sudan

Does Jeff get special treatment from our notoriously rigid city design offi cials?From what I’ve witnessed, he gets projects ap-proved because his preparation goes above and beyond the expectations of city offi cials. He has pushed the limits oft en enough to know where the boundaries are. Jeff has quite a track record with buildings that have become landmarks: El Andaluz, the Cota Street Studios, the Ablitt House, El Jardin, and now the Vera Cruz House. — Matt Kettmann

Vera cruz director cHristoPHer jenkins productionblue.com

This short by the Santa Ynez Valley native fea-tures Bolivian actor Javier Suarez’s very inter-esting face in a study of big-city loneliness.

Where did you fi nd the protagonist?I met Javier at a friend’s dinner party. My friend came up to me and said, “Hey, if you ever need some-

one with an interesting face.” I thought to myself, “An interesting face? What is he talking about?” About 30 minutes later, I fi nd myself talking to this man with an interesting face … about his pursuit of acting here in the United States. I found myself moved by his passion for life and his humility. My friend was right about needing to meet Javier, but it had very little to do with his interesting face and much more to do with his soul.

What prompted you to tell this man’s story of loneliness?I think loneliness is something that we all have to deal with in our lives; I don’t think there is any escaping it. In the fi lm, the main character is longing to be con-

nected to both man and a higher power. I guess what prompted me was the idea of loneliness as something that makes us uniquely human and that we have the opportunity to reach out to those who are alone.  —Matt Kettmann

disTanciadirector t.s. meeks vimeo.com/tsmeeks

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narrative short

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This short narrative that examines the life of a man who may work too much is the third but fi rst “se-rious” fi lm by this 17-year-old Santa Barbara na-

tive and SBCC student.

How did you develop the story?Interesting enough, I came up with the idea by wondering what coma patients thought of as they slept. An original draft of the script had Jake wake up to fi nd he had been in a car crash. However, I realized that would be a little anticlimactic. I also wanted to shape the story so it could portray a good moral. I feel like so many shorts are missing these nowadays. 

How do you feel about fortune cookies now?I’ll never eat one again; that’s for sure. 

Do you fear a life of working too much?No, I don’t. However, I know for a fact many people, especially adults, believe happiness comes from ex-ternal things, such as work, social status, money, etc. I believe happiness comes from within.  — Matt Kettmann

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chasinG forTunedirector nAtHAniel GrotenHuis

This short, about a gardener wooed by pool mer-maid by the longtime Santa Barbara journalist and fi lmmaker, fi rst screened at the County

Courthouse this past summer aft er winning a silent fi lm contest.

What prompted you to tell this story?Th e location and the pool in its backyard came fi rst, and the story followed. I knew I wanted to do some-thing with the heat (it was written in July!) and the drought. Because it was initially for the UCSB Silent Film Summer Series competition, I was also think-ing of Chaplin, and how his character is a homeless guy yet was universally loved. Can you imagine that now?! So I thought about the other people who we “don’t see” in our daily lives and made one of them the hero. While writing, my producer mentioned something in passing about a “party underwater,” and suddenly everything popped into focus.

Will silent fi lms ever experience a revival?As I started to answer this question, I wasn’t too sure how to defi ne “silent fi lm.” Th ere’s music and dialog (albeit on title cards) in ours. Music videos that tell a narrative are “silent” in their way. Time-lapse videos of “the day in the life of a city” are all over Vimeo, and those are just a version of Dziga Vertov’s “Man with a Movie Camera” from 1929. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, as they say in French. I think we’re still watching silent fi lms, in a way. Th ey’re just way noisi-er now! —Matt Kettmann

WhaT a pool BelieVes director ted mills tedmills.com

narrative short

Funding support provided by the santa Barbara county arts commission through a partnership with the City of Santa Barbara.

independent.com presentsMEET THE MAKERS interviews with the nominees

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