Local Film Plays BAM This Summer

There’s a new feature film making the festival circuit called The Unspeakable Act. Filmed predominantly in our neighborhood (specifically in a house on East 19th Street between Glenwood and Foster), it had its world premiere last night at the Sarasota Film Festival and, as was announced late last month, will be heading our way this summer as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAMcinemaFest. Here’s a description from the SFF’s site:

Jackie (Tallie Medel) is your average teenage girl, filled with new emotions and fresh doubts about the world in which she lives. But she also carries a secret that she cannot share; she’s deeply in love with her brother Matthew (Sky Hirschkron). But Matthew, who doesn’t share Jackie’s feelings, has his own life to live; he’s heading off to college and has finally met his first girlfriend.

I recently spoke with the film’s writer and director Dan Sallitt over coffee at Café Madeline, where many of the film’s early-morning production meetings were held (albeit under the previous ownership).

DPC: Can you talk about this film–where the story came from?

DS: It’s really hard for me to remember where it came from because a film idea kind of catches fire in your head and it’s exciting, but it’s not necessarily because you wanted to say something about the subject. I think there’s something about me that likes transgressive subjects to some extent. There’s also some other part of me that wants to prove I’m a good boy after all and set limits on it and that’s here too.

So maybe what I liked about this film was that there was a transgression, but there was a barrier that was not likely to be crossed. It was a chance to create this almost existential character. This girl has her own vision, which is totally at odds with society’s vision of what she’s supposed to do with her romantic and sexual urges.

It’s almost like a Sartre play in a way, where, like, the gods come down, and say, “no” and the Sartre character says, “I don’t care. The fact that you created me is not meaningful in terms of my moral constitution. It’s all over. You created me and now I’m on my own.” And in a way that’s kind of what’s going on here, so it’s fun. This character is exciting to me.

So you set out less to write a movie about incest and more a movie about this character? She kind of came to your mind first?

Absolutely. Well, the incest was part of it, but there’s nothing actually in this movie that bears on incest as it might occur in real psychology or sociology. I filled the film with lots of psychology and I try to make it look plausible, but that’s a surface layer. What I was really trying for was not explication, but mystery. I actually do not believe there is anyone with her psychological profile in the world. I conceived the film that way, around the fact that we’re outside her and can’t see in.

Did you write the movie for this area? The movie actually takes place, here, right? It’s not a substitute for somewhere else.

It takes place here absolutely. I did everything I possibly could to be geographically accurate and to make as many references as I could. There’s one shot that pains me because I had to use 18th Street because 19th Street was under construction and it bothers me to this day. But someone who lives here should be able to practically map what’s going on. But it was actually originally conceived for a town like the one I grew up in–Wilkes-Barre, PA. In a house with trees around, and I’m sure a lot of people come to Ditmas Park and Midwood for just that reason. You have that feeling of small-town America.

But you don’t live here.

No. I live in Fort Greene. But I knew the neighborhood existed. I didn’t have my eye on the house I wound up using. It’s a friend’s house and is actually a well-known house in certain circles.

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Brooklyn Woodstock, which is an event that used to happen down here in the ’90s. Basically, Gil Shuster, who is a musician and has for a long time been in a band called Kenny Young and the Eggplants–back in the late ’80s, his brother dies of AIDS and he started this impromptu musical show as a benefit for AIDS research. They were held in his backyard and it became this sort of hip event. By the time the revived it, you’d see notices in the Voice and on the radio.

What’s the address of the house?

It’s 696 E. 19th. So, my target audience includes probably 25 or so aging hipsters who will be distracted by the fact that I’m using the Brooklyn Woodstock house that some of us know really well from those events. The owner at that time was not Gil, but his father, Eddie, who died in January 2011. I think he was 99. Looked like he could have gone longer. He died right before my movie started shooting.

How do you know Gil?

I’ve known him forever. I met him 20 years ago when I moved to NY. My friends when I moved to NY were all musicians and he was part of that group. Unbeknownst to me, his band was covering a song I wrote in LA because it got passed from friend to friend.

So you’re also a musician?

Yeah, my band got put on hiatus when I started this movie. It’s called The Toneballs. I don’t know if they’ll rise again. I hope they will. We’ll see what happens once this whole festival thing dies down a bit.

Do you score your own films? Are they even scored?

They aren’t. There are a few bits of diegetic music in them, like someone goes to a party and there are two sounds on the soundtrack, but that’s it. Other than that, I haven’t used music in my movies since my first film at all. It’s just a real quiet film with natural sounds, like birds tweeting in Midwood Park at 6 in the morning.

How did you get into filmmaking? You said you work in IT (when he’s not making films, Sallit works for New York City’s IT Department). Is your background in tech?

The IT work came later in my life. I was a math major when I was an undergraduate; I went to film school as a graduate at UCLA. The math thing did not lead at all to my IT work, but there was a certain point in my life when I had committed myself to film when I decided that I should try to figure out some way of making money. So I kind of dragged myself to IT and that has worked out really well for me given that I have no fundraising skills. I can make a little more money than you can make at most arty-type professions. I saved money. I’ve made all my movies really on savings from these jobs. So that kind of worked out for me.

You also do some writing and criticism for film.

Yeah, I made my living as a print film critic once long ago in LA. Since then, I haven’t had any full-time gigs like that, but when the internet came along, I started writing a lot on newsgroups and mailing lists and now I have a blog I write for called Thanks for the Use of the Hall. I write some for Mubi.com, which is a pretty well-read film outlet, and did some DVD liner notes recently for a British company called Masters of Cinema.

And in terms of filmmaking, you started making films at UCLA when you were there?

At UCLA, I did not actually do a lot of filmmaking. I was a screenwriting major and I took a lot of critical studies classes. But all I made there was what they call a Project 1, which every student there has to make a Super 8 film. And I didn’t do anything beyond that there.

I made a brief, futile effort to sell scripts in Los Angeles, realized quickly that wasn’t me and the industry was changing. I got out of film school in ’79 and the tax shelter laws were rewritten in ’76, ’76 was the year of Rocky, ’77 was the year of Star Wars, everything was really shifting. By the time you get to 1980, you’ve got a totally different terrain. And the terrain in Hollywood made me interested, but frankly, I don’t think my personality would have been right for it–under the best of circumstances.

So when did you come to New York?

I didn’t come to NY until much later, until after I’d made one movie already. I came here in ’92. The first film I made was back in ’85/’86 in Los Angeles after I had quit a film critic job. I saw this opportunity and decided to make a really inexpensive film–it was my first feature. Not that good I don’t think. Then I came to New York on an IT job. Not too long after I landed here, that job dissolved and I made my first film on film–I made a film on 16mm. So three films since that time.

What was that first film called?

It was called Polly Perverse Strikes Again! Kind of an odd comedy. Not a film I showed to very many people. I’m sure it has its virtues. But I was 25 when I wrote the script, I was 30 when I shot it. That’s not really that young, but when I see that film, all I see is my embarrassing younger self. So somebody else has to decide whether there’s something interesting in it.

And the 16mm?

It was called Honeymoon and was shot in ’96. It didn’t play theaters until ’98. That was the first film I still feel like showing to people. Then back into a new job, and when that film dissolved, I made another film in 2002 that didn’t play theaters until 2004. That was called All the Ships at Sea and was my first film on video, which I would be very inclined…I will continue working on video unless someone really wants to pay for film.

Film’s beautiful but working on video makes it possible to do it like an artist. I’m just talking really about post-production because always you have the hell of pre-production and the rushing and difficulties of production, but post-production used to be horrible–going from lab to lab, dumping money, waiting on people, getting bad information.

Now, the last two movies, it goes onto my computer, it emerges from my computer, it’s finished. I do it at home. Final Cut this time, last time it was Avid. It makes you feel like an artist as opposed to a tool of these industrial remnants that are there for people with a lot different production workflow than I have.

You edited The Unspeakable Act as well?

I did. I’ve edited most, but not all my movies. Honeymoon had the most conventional workflow of any film that I did. My friend, Robin [Burchill], edited it and did a really nice job. Robin was a great editor, I loved working with her, but the ease of having it all under your own control is hard to beat. It’s fun.

And The Unspeakable Act was also filmed on HD?

Absolutely. We used a really nice camera owned by the Director of Photography called the Sony F3. It had just come out in April of that year; we shot in June and it’s kind of amazing. It can register things in really low light. There are scenes we shot just with candles and we loaded up with candles and had to take away candles the thing was so sensitive.

How would you describe the film–its story, style,…?

The style is the same in all my movies. Not a lot of camera movement. In fact, this is the first time I kind of accidentally managed to achieve absolutely no camera movements whatsoever. There’s not a single camera movement, which is something I’ve been flirting with all my life, but had never actually attained.

You left the dolly tracks at home then.

Yeah, no dollies. The film is still. There are pans and tilts, but no tracks. All fixed points. My natural style is to plan for cutting very carefully, plan the shots carefully, and I stick to it. It’s not exact, but basically it’s done before I shoot. It’s a little obsessive compulsive, kind of in the style of maybe a Hitchcock or an Ozu who does that. It’s the mark of somebody who’s afraid of anxiety and needs to control it, but it works for me and I like it.

I was about to ask about your influences, both for this film and in general. So Hitchcock and Ozu?

Again, Ozu…you would not look at my film–you might see a little resemblance to the way things are cut. I think Hitchcock’s a very distinctive filmmaker, but I would not say he was a very big influence on me other than that I love that precision. I would say, pretty definitely, of all the filmmakers I’ve loved, there was always one I felt I could do films that way. And it was the French filmmaker Eric Rohmer. This film’s dedicated to him actually. He died just before I started shooting.

Certainly, when I see my films, I see Rohmer everywhere. I don’t know if anyone else sees it that way, but it’s definitely the person I would say is the biggest influence. I just love live films. When I’m on the set I’m always babbling on and on about what this shot’s like or where I’m stealing this from or that from and the crew kind of looks at me quizzically. This time, I actually packed this crew with a lot of film buffs, so some of my obscure references fell on appreciate ears.

Was your selection for the BAM festival a surprise?

It’s a much better festival than I’ve ever gotten into, and the other festivals I’ve gotten this into are all better. The BAM screening will be the second screening. There are a few other things floating around for that time, but I haven’t accepted any of them. I find myself having choices, which is very strange.

But it’s a good strange.

It’s a good strange, but it’s strange.

Are you going down to Sarasota?

I am. The lead actress, Tallie Medel, and I are going down.

How did you find her–through open casting?

All my casting was word of mouth. She was recommended to me by filmmaker Joe Swanberg, who has a really good eye for actors. She hadn’t made too many films before that. I caught her very early in her career, and I suspect she’ll go further than I will. She’s a star. She’s got that thing.

Are you planning or writing your next film?

I’m not writing it. Between the time it was conceived and shot, this film became a trilogy. I have a treatment for Part 2, not for Part 3 yet. But the whole trilogy is kind of in place. I have another treatment I would really like to do and it just needs a little more in the way of resources than I could give it. So those are the two things I’ve thinking about.

My movies are entirely self-funded; I have done no fundraising in my life. So, what the future holds I don’t know. If I make money on a movie, I will feel a little more empowered to look people in the eye and tell them they might make money back on my film. If I get to the point where I feel it’s not a ridiculous thing to tell people, then maybe I’ll be emboldened to fundraise. It’s not the easiest thing for me. I could do it if I thought it wasn’t cheating them, but it would be tantamount to cheating at this point, so let’s see what happens.

Do you think either of the next films will also shoot here?

No. It’s a trilogy, but if it happens, the next one, the brother and sister will be the only ones in that and they would be much further along in their lives, neither one living at home. In Part 3, the whole family comes back, but it’s organized around a medical crisis, so a lot would have to happen in a hospital or recuperative places. But Ditmas Park is not ruled out for Part 3. Part 2 they’d have to move away.

Dan and Tallie are down in Sarasota as you read this, so send good thoughts for their second screening on Saturday night and any awards they might bring home. And make sure to keep your eye on BAM’s site for information about The Unspeakable Act’s Brooklyn premiere this summer.