Interview with filmmaker Vitória Vasconcellos

Fogo Infinito will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? 
At first it was just about editing little videos for my mother and sister on iMovie, then it quickly became a way through which I developed my English speaking skills and next thing I knew, filmmaking became the only way through which I can properly understand the world. And explain how I see the world. Because I never had much money for filmmaking, despite attending the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, filmmaking also became a way to explore places, practice my creativity and resourcefulness and meet passionate artists. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
This movie was supposed to be a visual identity for a poem about oblivion that I had written years ago. A couple of days after we shot, COVID happened and I ended up editing Fogo Infinito during quarantine, which substantially changed the story. Instead, I saw myself cutting and writing a movie that reflected the impact of loneliness and toyed with the idea of ownership, ultimately thinking about the questions: are humans only humans when we are in a community? Do we lose ownership of ourselves when we are isolated? 

*How has your style evolved? 
At first, I just wanted to adapt a poem I had written while following the motto of Cinema Novo (“a camera in the hand, an idea in the head”), but I ended up trying to bring some style references from Agnes Varda’s work in Cleo from 5 to 7, since Fogo Infinito deals strongly with mortality; and I also believe my film evokes a bit of Andrea Arnold’s style when it comes to the way she portrays the human-nature connection. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
It was my brilliant idea to shoot the final scene at this VERY COLD beach in California (and being from Brazil I’m used to the warm Atlantic sea and I often forget that American beaches are ridiculously cold). In the scene, I had to fake drown as the tide carried me, but the water was so cold that I kept shaking involuntarily when I was supposed to be “dead”. So apparently we freaked out the few people that were at the beach who would stare at me and not understand (what is this floating thing? is it dead? WHY is it shaking?) because they couldn’t see the camera. We also got kicked out of the garden where we shot the third scene by a cop, we told him “but every filmmaker trasspasses here, it’s a California tradition”,to which he just agreed and let us go. 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
Freedom. As an actor-director with no money who just went around with one friend and a camera and shot Fogo Infinito on the spot, going against everything I’m taught at USC, Pink8 manifesto reinforces my freedom as a filmmaker. As I “wrote” and put together the movie in my laptop, I embraced the lack of plot and the nature of street filmmaking. The Misrule Film Movement encourages me to continue making unconventional films and to not obey the restraining rules of Hollywood filmmaking, which, in my opinion, often hurt films and put them in a box. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
My next film is a crazy censorial trip that reflects the effect that PTSD can have on someone’s life. We made it with a very limited budget but a lot of heart and I’m excited for the world to see it, specially because it’s directly inspired by what I learned after being temporarily disabled after getting hit by a car.

Interview with filmmaker Zygmunt Cendinsky

Interferencia will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

How did you get into making films? 
After making a couple of experimental short films with a borrowed video 8 camera in the late 80s I started working with different filmmakers collectives who started making short films in 16 mm with all kinds of cameras (Arri BL, Bolex, Zenith, etc) all organized as self-managed cooperatives. Later, when the year 2000 arrived, all these collectives dispersed and each one followed its own path in different ways, some directly linked to industrial and advertising cinema and others, as is my case to this day, still linked to alternative, independent, experimental and underground cinema, the visual, scenic and performative arts. 

What inspired you to make your movie? 
This film was based on a failed project in the mid-90s based directly on the documents of the interrogations of CIA agent Dan Mitrione by the Uruguayan guerrilla group Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros in the late 1960s in Montevideo, Uruguay. We did not know that a film called "State of Siege" (Costa-Gavras, 1972) had already been made based on the same event. So, surprised to realize that little gap in our research and thinking about how anachronistic the whole proposal could be, the project gradually mutated into an interstellar science fiction plot in which the CIA agent became a high official of a criminal syndicate called "United Narcotics Organization" in a direct reference to the novel "Nova Express" (William Burroughs, 1964). 

How has your style evolved? 
Since I started making short films in the late 80's with video 8 cameras, through all kinds of 16 mm and 35 mm cameras in the 90's, until now I'm working with the aesthetics of smart phone cameras, the search has been to escape from any stylization of the image and a devaluation of it as an artistic product. Rather than style, the process has been to explore different aesthetics and how these are directly linked to their forms of production.  In the case of the film "Interference" this was recorded seven years ago and its aesthetic makes direct reference to the sci-fi films of the 50s and the American spy TV series of the 60s in which the cold war was parodied, but evidently, Kafka, Dr. Caligari, Dr. Mabuse, Alphaville and the Glauber Rocha of Terra em Transe were also present from A to Z. Satire and parody in discourse is a theme that I have not stopped working on since my first works in film and also in the various artistic practices that I continue to carry out in the performing, visual and performing arts. 

Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
Everything was strange in this film and nothing was funny, it was literally a bad trip like the one that the protagonist of the film had, the agent Jack Martinez (Francisco Denis), but as Fritz Lang (Metropolis, "M" The Vampire of Düsseldorf, Dr. Mabuse) said at some point... Cinema for me is a vice. (Lang, 1964). 

The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
One thing: that when I hear the word "producer" I immediately pull out a revolver. 

What can we expect from your next film? 
The next film is called "Panoptic Files of the Present-Future: Tropical Quarantine, which is an experimental project already in the process of recording transmedia cinema made completely independently in collaboration between 16 visual, multidisciplinary, sound and performance artists about the global quarantine experienced in Caracas during the months of June and July of this year 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 virus that currently continues to affect the human population of planet Earth.

Interview with filmmaker Fran Martin

La Estrella will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

How did you get into making films? 
At the age of 12 I was diagnosed with mononucleosis, a disease that forced me to stay locked up in my house because of the severe symptoms I had and the possibility of infecting my friends. For a month the only thing that kept me entertained were my toys and a digital camera that with only 512 Mb of memory allowed me to portray them in heroic and risky poses. I asked my dad to buy me a Telgopor template to make the streets of a city to scale, adapt shoe boxes to make the buildings and look for my big brother's toy cars. I made up a short story where my Spider-Man doll had to face some villains. With the camera I made an improvised attempt to capture him in action. I downloaded the pictures to the computer, manually synchronised the music of the original film and, passing photo by photo in the digital viewer, I showed my relatives the final result. Without realising it, what had kept me busy all afternoon was called StopMotion. At that moment, I realized that I wanted to make movies. During the following years I tortured my friends to be actors, extras or directors of photography for the short films I wanted to produce. Even though, as they were made by 16-year-old children, they lacked an outstanding quality, one could already appreciate a certain sense of composition in the image, a concern for continuity and editing, but fundamentally a willingness to narrate through sound. None of this is casual, I was raised in a cultural family. A sister an actress, another a designer, a brother a philosopher, mother a visual artist and father a storyteller and above all an excellent observer and listener. Films were always present in my life, through classics (El ciudadano Kane, Casablanca), national directors (Lucrecia Martel, Carlos Sorín, etc), international ones (Hermanos Coen, Alejandro Iñarritu, etc). 

What inspired you to make your movie? 
The project originated in my fourth year at the university. My older sister (who has a degree in theatre), after having starred in several plays, told me that she wanted to star in a film and that I should write a script for her. I kept in my memory a character from my childhood "The Star", a house painter who worked fixing the openings in my paternal grandmother's house. "The Star" was a very particular character, whom I deeply admired. He was apparently rough, short and with big hands, muscular in spite of his age, about 50 years old. He didn't have the hands of a painter, but he was very delicate and meticulous. He used to tell me legends of mythological animals while drawing them on paper and pencil in perfect detail. One day, when I arrived at my grandmother's house he was waiting for me and asked me to beat him up. I couldn't understand what he meant and he insisted that I hit him. I stood in front of him and threw a very clumsy punch. He easily dodged me and put his fist very close to my face. That day he confessed to me that he had been a boxer, but that because of a betrayal in his last fight he had decided to quit the sport. My little head at that moment exploded, how could anyone go from being a boxer to a house painter? Being a boxer was the closest thing to being a superhero and a painter... well I was a painter. For many years I treasured that memory. It was time to take that story to the movies. A small but complex story. I imagined that the path of a boxer should be much more complex than that of a boxer and even more so if it was a mother-boxer. With these triggers I began to weave the threads of the story. 

How has your style evolved? 
Usually when we think about the “style of an artist” we put our selves in a place of hope. We hope, as viewers, that our speculations or respectability to that artists get satisfied when we consume his art. I always say that I will or could talk about my style as a movie director in the future, probably when I be an old man waiting for death. I the meantime I would try to make the movies that I would like to see and not worried about an “aesthetic line”. Although I understand what we mean when we talk about the “artist style” and I can talk about things that I like or inspire me. I have a strong commitment with the things we try to name “reality”. That´s why when I make “The Star” I try to get involved with all the boxing mood. I know that the line of making art that I´m (TRYING) to fallow it´s a political one. We have a world that we need to change. 

Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
The project already had approximately 90 pages of script when I met Mario Pereyro, a 60-year-old boxing trainer in charge of the most important gym of the Civil Association of Boxing Technicians in the province of Córdoba. He would be the one designated to train the actresses in the techniques and choreography that would be part of the film. At the same time, I met with a professional actor whose physical characteristics attracted me to the character of Miguel, the trainer in the film. However, as the training of the actresses advanced, in which I also participated by training, assisting the teachers or collecting anecdotes from that immense world, I saw how Mario surprisingly presented several of Miguel's characteristics. One icy winter night we met in the gymnasium to shoot the movie teaser. A very simple scene where Victoria would be training and her son sleeping in the stands of the gym. The actor who plays Miguel didn't show up due to certain circumstances. Julieta, my sister, Victoria's actress, approaches me and proposes to offer Mario the character of Miguel. Mario had never in his life stood in front of a camera, but I trusted him and his responsibility. We offered him and he automatically said yes. From that moment on, and thanks to that small decision, the project acquired a freshness and a very big impression of realism. Where the professional actors and actresses who shared (or did not share) the scene with Mario, felt revitalised and challenged to relate the naturalness of words and actions with which Mario performed. 

The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto brings what to mind? 
The thing that i really like about this manifesto is that it tries to bring a way of making  films thinking out of the industry. And it´s connected with my last answer. Manifestos must exist and they take place in their being. They are a way to talk and discus and thats why we are here. The Pink8 manifesto it´s also like a recipe for making movies but I would like to say something about it. To really understand what this (and all) manifesto it´s talking about, we need to know and understand the other ways of filming. This is the kind of question that i would love to answer it in a bar drinking a bear. 

What can we expect from your next film? 
This is a very difficult question to answer my friend. Right now I´m making my second movie. This time a documentary. It´s a movie that I´m making since 2016. Here I´m gonna let you the synopsis but I can´t talk no more about it because… I just don´t know where I´m going to, but I love it. In 2016 

Daniel Mollani, a former guitar concert artist and music teacher, they diagnose cancer. Daniel, on the verge of turning sixty, had been my teacher guitar for five years and one of my mentors in the artistic field. Paradoxically, his excellence with the guitar had not given him recognition, on the contrary, society had forgotten him, confining him to his home and his poverty. However, Daniel never lowered his arms and remained firm in the composition of works, writing in newspapers and novels never edited, always fantasising about the idea of shooting your own movie. For the next 4 years, Daniel ran away from his reality, began to ramble on time travel, with the ability to connect with your ancestors through of archival materials and I even have conversations with his pocket watch that he recorded with his new camera. I accompanied him teaching him to post produce his images, to think about your camera settings and to make your ideas come true. When Daniel showed me what he had been working on I couldn't believe the simplicity and sensitivity of their achievements. He had recorded the subtleties of life, the aromas and flavors that the rest of us could not capture mired in our work daily. Through cinema, he had found a new meaning in his life.

Interview with filmmaker Ricardo Ceballos

Los Olvidados will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

* How did you get into making movies? 
I started as a theatre actor, then I made television in my country, soap operas, but I felt something else was missing, and I found the cinema, it caught me, but I needed more, I wanted to tell the story, from my vision and I dared to lead 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
It's about people in street situations, either for reasons beyond their control, or by their own decision, I was inspired to see how people in that situation were adding up in my country, and it made me reflect and want to see their underworld a bit How has your style evolved? I feel that I am still missing, I have not even reached what I want, in my country it is difficult to make movies, I have no resources, this is my first film, but then I have recorded 3 more feature films, there is more mastery of the technique and the way to tell the stories, but always with the limitations that I present in my country. 

*Tell us some strange or funny story while making the movie? 
I have the support of a small staff, people who like me want to do things for their state, for their country, but I have to do everything, like a man orchestra, cook, do art direction, act, direct, almost everything and it is Something funny but with all the discipline of the command, to see how I have and we have with my team of people to do everything with so little, an austere cinema. 

*What does the The Misrule film movement & Pink8 manifesto bring to mind?
I want to expand my mind and soul with cinema, I love cinema and independent movements, tell and see stories from the bowels of a city, far from an ultra-commercial stereotype that can also be valid, on the street there is so much to tell and with New festivals and platforms have the way of uniting diverse cultures, languages and being heard. I am fascinated by weighing down the old machinery of cinema and shouting that there are other ways here 

*What can we expect from your next movie? 
Intimate, little can say a lot, something condensed from so many feelings and situations that we ordinary people, of flesh and blood, go through and that can be someone's reflection and help. always in the critical and deep of being, questioning something and looking for answers

Interview with filmmaker Michael Cuenca

Jerry Powell & the Delusions of Grandeur will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? 
I used to play with action figures ’til I was maybe 11, or 12. And I’d come up with all these stories and I’d tape them with my parents’ camcorder. During school, instead of writing essays, etc. I would make short films, too. So I’d put all this effort into that sort of stuff. By then I was becoming a huge cinephile and I took a film history college course when I was 16 and still in high school (dual enrollment). I was blown away by all this stuff I had never been exposed to: from the great silents to the French New Wave, etc. I started writing scripts in my late-teens. And I tried to get people to give me money for them, with no luck. So I started to save everything I earned. I made my first feature film — which I couldn’t complete and ended up cutting it down as a short — in 2008. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
Well, JERRY… in 2011 I was living in an artist house. You know, a bunch of people — musicians, filmmakers, creatives — living together in a house, splitting rent, sharing rooms, rooming in the backyard in a tent. I was unemployed and was living with Joe Halter (who plays Jerry), and whenever our mutual girlfriends would go out to their band practice, we’d just hang out, having nothing better to do. Joe would slip into this New Jersey persona.. This character was a misanthrope, pissed off at everybody and everything. And I wanted to make a series of sketches to showcase Joe’s talent and this character. So when I first started writing what became JERRY POWELL, it was very episodic. Hence, the first quarter of the movie. And then I got the idea to just make it into an entire DIY feature. Why not? I thought it would be fun. Putting this character into this crime-fiction universe, stylized in black and white… and he also was an unreliable narrator. Pretty much inspired by all the stuff at the time that I was reading, or exposing myself to. 

*How has your style evolved? 
Since JERRY? JERRY was made in 2011. And my latest feature I’LL BE AROUND was completed earlier this year. In a way, that flick encapsulates everything I’ve learned in my past dozen years as a filmmaker. I do love long takes. I wish I could do more of them, but, it’s tough when you make guerrilla/DIY films. Anything can happen. I don’t think my style would truly evolve without some financing, to be honest - haha. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
Wouldn’t call it funny. But it’s on the strange side. When we were making the flick… a hood pulled out a gun on us. It’s the scene where Jerry is talking to the camera and Donna yells out, “Street dogs!”. Small crew. Shooting at nite. Pretty much wearing all-black. DP Ammo was buried behind a cloak over the camera. So maybe this guy thought that Brittany Samson (“Donna”) was yelling out, “Street thugs!”. We don’t know. This guy is with his homies or whatever, hanging outside of their car in a parking lot. And he’s a bit away from us. But he’s yelling random stuff out while we’re shooting. And Joe, who never breaks character stops and goes, “Wait…” looking out in that guy’s direction and he goes, “I think that guy’s got a gun.” And we stop and go, “What?” We look and the dude is leaning against his car, gun resting on its side, on the roof of the car. And he says, “Fuck you sayin’, Hawaiian Boy?” Jerry’s wearing this tropical-esque shirt in the scene. And the dude comes directly towards us, gun behind his back, his buddies egging him on from their position. He goes up to Joe and starts cussing him out. And Joe completely becomes submissive — which was a good thing. And he tells the guy that hey, we’re just shooting a movie, we’re not causing any trouble, etc. And I look, the next parking lot over, this cop had pulled over a car and were talking to the passengers. This guy with the gun, looks at us, looks at Joe, sees the camera, waits a beat and goes, “Okay”. And he leaves. Just like that. We get the fuck out of there. The funny part is that the guy had a limp the entire time because one of his legs was in a cast! And this was our first official day of shooting. The next day I get an email from our scriptee and she wrote, “You guys are very brave for what you’re doing and I wish you good luck on the project but I have to quit.” (!!) Now, the strange part is that in front of this building we were shooting behind of— the building is on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles, very busy area — maybe a month before this, a young man had been shot and killed. The young man actually lived in the building. A couple of years go by and Joe moves into, not only the same building, but finds out he moved into the guy’s same apartment! 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
Punk rock. Just do it. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
I was set to make a sequel to my experimental second flick BY THE WAYSIDE, catching up on the characters eight years later, but due to life circumstances and what have youse, we’re going to have to wait maybe a year or two before we tackle that one. If we tackle that one. Would love. The first flick was entirely improvised, without a script. This time we have a script, but the dialogue will be improvised. And I think we came up with a fantastic story that will make the first one better when watched back-to-back. I’ve been filming THE BOYS ABOUT TOWN since 2018. That one follows the friendship of two best friends in their early-twenties, and both are obsessed with the Mod subculture and just alternative music in general, and it’s about their friendship and the changes you go through in your early-twenties. I have an anthology movie, slightly interconnected stand-alone stories, that I’LL BE AROUND co-writer Dan Rojay, and ‘Oblivion’* writer Asheel Elfman and I penned. Very excited about that one. After the anthology one I’m taking a crack at my first serious non-comedy. 
Oblivion was my half-hour long punk-inspired web series that we worked on from 2008-2010.

Interview with filmmaker Allabhya Ghosh

Lockdown will permier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? 
From a very young age, I like to think and telling stories.I was famous in my primary to high school friends for the every day new stories.The stories come from my life.In my childhood, I used to live near the Zamindar palace at Tollygunge in Kolkata.I never entered the palace;But my imagination was very comfortable to revolted around the garden and in the beautiful palace.Those imaginations become my everyday story. My stories and fantasy were looking for methods of expression.In those days a bioscopewala was very popular among children.I got confirmed that I would make myself a bioscopewala. But the dream was broken.I was unable to create a projector with useless spectacular spectacles.But I made a pinhole camera and was start dreaming with antagonistic images. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
This is not a story of a day.From early days I am very home keeping.In my childhood, I used to play wedding game with dolls like a girl.In fact, by the doll I arranged for family drama, parade and fight in those days.This was the first methods of my dramatic expression.After that, I start writing, drawing & clay modelling was interested in art, music, drama, and literature.In group theatre; Joined.When I was acting film, television and opera theatre; Writing script for others; I was not satisfied.I started the children's street drama group.My friend wanted to make a short film on my story.I was not only a screenwriter of his film, I helped him in direction, shot division, music design, make-up, artist selection and other activities.The film was selected at the Kolkata International Film Festival.I was surprised; I had a small credit in the credit list.I left all my jobs and decided to make my own movie.I became more poor.But among the difficulties, I have succeeded in making my debut film "The Thief".Life inspires me to tell the story at any cost through any art form.The demand for large canvas and composited art inspired me to make my own movie. 

*How has your style evolved? 
The style of my film depends on the story or the subject.I have no definite style. panning, tracking or static camera, dialog or without dialog, music or without music, silent or sound in my film give importance to the storytelling.I look forward to a new style of storytelling for my every movie.I like versatility in my films.I am not grammatically correct. My filmmaking style comes naturally, spontaneously with its love of art, with the passion of the heart. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
This is my first independent film which is people’s film and it is about people and for people. "Lockdown" is an experimental mobile film. This film has been made with some Facebook friends from India and Bangladesh during quarantine. 
1) What is love; it is eaten or coated? 
2) Who did you benefit from being born? (What's so significant about a birthday?
3) Is your religion human or animal? (Does religion provide you to eat or does it prove the eligibility of the usefulness of the biodata?
4) What do you mean by politics? (Giving speech or ration to please the people or licking the position of king? 
5) Are you afraid of Corona virus or are you afraid of illiteracy and poverty? (What is the biggest virus indeed?
6) If death really knocks your door, what would you do to make it wait? 
7) What would you do if you were made the Prime Minister or President of this country or the God? (Would you be careless about what happens? Would you sing? Would you dance? Would you clap on the side in joy? Or travel abroad happily? 
8) What do think at the moment? Are people's lives expensive or the economy of the world? 9) Do you realize something new in life from being locked at home? (Is it freedom or subjugation?
10) What do you mean by educated? At what stage are you now; educated, uneducated or semi-educated) We are trying to make a film at home using the time during quarantine to find the answers of some questions. 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
I think need a parallel culture. And I also feel proud that I am practising the culture which is completely against the ruined mainstream. Misrule Cinema Movement (2010-2016) & Pink8 manifesto have a great backing for independent filmmakers to the government's disbanded, micro budgets films. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
Film is very expensive media for us.We are tirelessly trying to make independent films without compromising arts. We think ; this type of film is not art for art's sake . It is art for human's sake.We are trying to rise ethics, integrity, individuality, dignity, love, faith, etc more important human values.Which are the basic ingredients of all cultures and religions . We are friend of general people

Interview with filmmaker Hector M Aguilar

Some Be will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films?

Since I was five years old I have been attracted to tell stories. Back then I was doing comics. At thirteen I took my mother's VHS camera and made movies with my friends in the summer. At the age of 17 Bad Taste, Fando and Lis and 8 1/2 confirmed to me that I wanted to dedicate my life.

*What inspired you to make your movie?

I love being behind the camera, telling stories. I am fascinated by the power that cinema gives you to create your own micro-universes within it. And the impact that cinema can have and how you can affect someone with a film.

*How has your style evolved?

For the past 10 years I have been making video clips for independent bands. That helped me to polish the technique and to define my style. I'm still searching.

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film?

Recording Some Be here in the city where I live, Cancun, it was a scene on a big avenue, with abandoned traffic and dead bodies on the pavement. We asked permission to close the avenue for a few hours and the traffic police supported us. We were starting to block the scene, when suddenly ambulances, Federal Police, the Army and the Navy arrived, as they had reports from citizens calling emergency numbers. They hadn't realized we were recording from a movie. In less than 15 minutes we already had the press and the media with a drone flying over the film set. This is understandable in a city where violence from drug cartels has increased in recent years. That day we gained 1000 followers on our fanpage.

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind?

I think that these types of movements are very necessary so that the world knows other voices and another way of doing things.

*What can we expect from your next film?

Well, currently we are about to start the development stage to raise my second film, a social story and also comes the second part of Some Be, which is being rewritten day by day with everything that is happening in the world with this pandemic that we live.

Interview with filmmaker Peter Rajesh Joachim

Blood Empire will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? 
Film-making has always been a passion of mine. A perfect escape mechanism to get away from life's troubles. Also my mother was a well known stage and drama director so she played a major role in my decision to get into films. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
I was always fascinated by the darker side of humanity and their struggles to achieve salvation. There is nothing complex in Blood Empires. A simple examination of character tests and circumstances. 

*How has your style evolved? 
I learnt alot from my first film and fine tuned my skills especially in the areas of pre and post-production. I am eager to start production on my second feature which is going to be a comedy about the adventures of people who seek fame in Hollywood. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
On the 3rd day of production our lead actress dropped out which caused us a lot of grief but we managed to persevere and get the film made. I remember how supportive the cast and crew were towards the production. We went out and got the coverage for the day and also got some amazing off script shots which lightened the mood of everyone. Looking back one could say that was one kind of a funny experience we all can never forget. 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
A relatively unheard of movement started by film-making students in USA. A kind of anti-studio, anti establishment movement which supported DIY principles which is very common today. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
Laughs, action and fun.

Interview with filmmaker Laura Grace Robles

Alice In Acid Wonderland will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

How did you get into making films? 
While studying art at the University of Texas at San Antonio I took a video art class with Leslie Raymond, now the Ann Arbor film festival executive director. I was assigned to make my first short film. It was then that I developed a love for film making. After that i couldn’t stop making films. The class was very inspiring and motivating for dreams I had of becoming a director like my Mother. 

What inspired you to make your movie? 
I was wandering YouTube watching all kinds of different versions of Alice In Wonderland, so I thought it would be cool to compile some of these different versions into my own acid version. 

How has your style evolved? 
I’ve always tried to contribute some kind of dream like interpretation to my films. Eventually I started becoming more interested into the “ACID” idea of psychedelic transformation for my films into to an acid dream experimental video art film form which I conceptualised my films with an Acid Dream Experimental Video Art film making manifesto which i wrote after directing DICA The Acid Dream Experiment and my latest film Alice in Acid Wonderland. Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? The funny thing I guess is that even though I was directing Alice In Acid Wonderland an acid film I never really actually tripped on acid. 

The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
It brings to mind challenges that most film making standards don’t expect you to follow through with. Its exciting how DIY the movement is and accepting to those rebel artists who have been doing these sorts of things all along. 

What can we expect from your next film? 
I’m not sure what to expect from my next film but I do know it will be very dream like and have some kind of psychedelic characteristics. I’m thinking of directing a film titled Acid Cinderella.

Interview with filmmaker Lazaro Mareco

Curtido will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

How did you get into making films? 
Cinema interested me since I was a child but I saw it as something distant, unattainable. After many years of dedicating myself to theatre, I made up my mind and moved to Buenos Aires to study filmmaking. It was only then that I started writing my own scripts and filming short films. 

What inspired you to make your movie? 
My film talks about a provincial actor frustrated by the lack of opportunities. This is what happens with artists who try to exercise their profession in small places. That is an experience that I know very well and it touches me closely. From there, I imagined a lonely and self-destructive character (an actor over forty) suffering from a lack of professional achievement. Instead of going in search of opportunities to bigger cities, he does the opposite, takes the opposite path, isolating himself from society in the middle of the countryside. 

How has your style evolved? 
I still don't think I have my own style. That would be one of my goals. I am in full search, on a path of experimentation that leads me to find that uniqueness that every artist must have. I hope to get it sometime even though I'm in no rush. What worries me the most is being able to continue filming and that is enough. 

Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
We started filming Curtido (Hardened) in January, it is the middle of summer in my country. The temperatures are really very high and the heat is unbearable. I needed that what was seen on the screen was the opposite, that is, a cold climate. So I asked the costume designer to wear winter clothes. The actors hated me for this. We had to stop filming for them to cool off a little bit between takes. It was necessary to fight so that perspiration that was permanent was not noticed. It was difficult but in the end we were happy with the result. 

The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
I did not know the movement or the manifesto before meeting the Festival. When I met you, I also got to know your ideas about the movies, of which I feel identified. I was born, live and produce my films in the province of Formosa (Argentina), which is very small compared to the big city in the world. For this reason, it is very difficult to access industrial cinema and many times we are totally oblivious to the stories they tell us. For this reason, we experience alternative modes of expression that are consistent with who we really are. 

What can we expect from your next film? 
My next movie is also about a village character. A woman tied to social and religious conventions who feels overwhelmed by her surroundings but also by the decisions I make in her life. From a series of events, she will be able to see that there are other ways for her, very different from those she knows. You should only be encouraged to take them. I think these characters reflect a somewhat invisible part of the society of my country. My idea is to continue telling stories where they are reflected.

Interview with filmmaker Ray Robison

Vampire Cap will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films?  
Right out of high school I went to art school. I was just 18 years old and spending 6 to 9 hours every week drawing and painting nude models. I remember being very nervous about it at first but quickly it just became something I did as a part of my creative routine. Toward the end of my second term a friend from high school came to visit and he told me of the program he was in at another college that included photography, television and film.  As soon as he mentioned film I knew that was what I wanted to do. It would be the medium which would replace my pencils and paints. I felt that it was a much more powerful medium and way to communicate to others. So I transferred schools and enrolled in the film program. It would be over 20 years after I graduated before I would finally start making the films that I wanted to make. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
I knew I was going to be furloughed from my job for a couple months so I scheduled surgery with the idea that I would spend the furlough time recovering. But a month before the fulough was to begin I was prescribed a new drug that eliminated my need for the surgery.  So now I had a couple months off from work with nothing scheduled so I decided it was an opportunity to make my third ultra low-budget feature. I had previously made "Die Before I Wake" and "Sixes and the One Eyed King". So there wasn't any specific inspiration to make the film other than my passion for filmmaking and an opportunity of time that availed itself. 

*How has your style evolved?  
As I mentioned in my response to the first question it was over 20 years after film school that I really got to make the films I wanted to make. That was because during those 20 years I was making low-budget TV commercials. It paid the bills and was a good way to hone my filmmaking skills so I don't regret making all those television commercials.  It really helped me learn how to create films without money - though of course it is always nice to have a budget. I knew when I started my first feature I could do it with very little money. My style is based a great deal on my working for so long without budgets but also after being strapped down by commercial requirements it was quite freeing to self-finance a film and just do it the way I wanted.  I'd say I stay away from filming trends and maybe I stay away from trends in general as I've never really felt too connected to American culture. My mom was raised in a world of eastern philosophy and even though I grew up in the US my mother's perspected was definitely a part of who I was and am. So I just go with what I like whether it is the current style or not. I want to be able to be as eclectic as my budgets will allow. Specifically to "Vampire Camp" it borrows a lot from the beach movies of the 60's, like "Ghost in the Invisible Bikini" and the low budget comedies of the 40's and 50's like "Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein".  But you notice "Vampire Camp" is not very similar to my previous feature films. Like I said, I like being eclectic. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
Reuben Rox plays a character in the film that the vampires leave alone. One of the reasons is that he is constantly eating garlic. I told him he could just palm the garlic hiding it in his hand while bringing it to his mouth instead of actually eating it.  He insisted it was fine so he ate garlic cloves in each of his scenes. There were a couple times he needed a break from chewing on the garlic but I'm amazed he never got sick. 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
I went to film school which a lot of independent filmmakers view as a waste of time. Not to debate that opinion I will say that I studied filmmaking and not film. I do see a difference.  I don't know what other film school programs encompassed but where I went it was more about learning how to make a film from a technical and basic aesthetic direction and not a lot of over anylysing film styles and admiring the work of over praised filmmakers. All I was looking for was a way to make the films I wanted to make. The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto to me bring attention to so much that is unfortunate in humanity - a lack of adventure in creativity - both from film audiences and filmmakers. What is popular is mainstream and mainstream exists for the purpose of making money so big business filmmaking brings in the masses to watch the same formula remakes and sequels. Sadly most audiences are not willing to take a risk on an unknown film and because of that we as an artistic community cannot grow. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
I never know what to expect from my next film so can't really tell you what to expect. I've been doing a lot of short films lately but really want to get back to making another feature.  Some of the options I am exploring are: "And Evil Makes 8" a blend of the typical horror setup where people gather at a cabin in the woods and cosplayers; a film called "The Other N-word" that I wrote as a sequel to "Besetment" which I executive produced but looks like I will need to disassociate it from "Besetment". None the less if you haven't seen "Besetment" you should - it is fucked up. And of course I would love to do a sequel to "Vampire Camp" called "Zombie Camp".

Interview with filmmaker Ungyu Yeo

Making 100 Friends From All Over The World - premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? ​ 
I’m a movie buff. Sometimes I was into a bunch of Hollywood movies, and sometimes I was into some deep European art films. But when it comes down to it, I always wanted to be a film-maker since I was little. ​ 

*What inspired you to make your movie? ​ 
I love traveling. I’ve visited around 32 countries so far. Along the way I just wanted to film something fun while I’m traveling. ​ 

*How has your style evolved? ​
Making 100 Friends From All Over The World is not only a travel documentary but also a mockumentary and documentary comedy. I love the whole process that we reach the truth from the untruth. ​ 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? ​ 
I hate geckos! (You know what I mean?) ​ 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? ​ 
Freedom. ​ 

*What can we expect from your next film? ​ 
I’m not sure yet but I think I will make something meaningful in the UK soon.

Interview with filmmaker Halle Capone

Misfits Of The Profane will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

How did you get into making films? 
I moved to Los Angeles when I was 20 to get into film. I started taking my writing more seriously and made the decision. It’s like a domino effect from there. I spent my time working as an AD on some projects and learned a lot, ultimately supplying me with the practical knowledge that I could make a feature with a crew of two. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
Real female stories. Real humanism in the streets of LA. Stories I’ve heard over the years from living and existing here. The confidence to be heard. Probably too much to write here. But all in all, to see if I could do it with the resources I had available. 

*How has your style evolved? 
This is my first feature film. So in short, we shall see! 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
Given the world will be so different with virus threats now, I think the message of the manifesto and Misrule are probably more prevalent than ever. Although I subscribe to it nominally, my focus is on storytelling. I really love writing. The movements themselves are freeing, and sending the right message that you can just go out and do it. Technology is here and cinema is achievable through your fingertips. I can get behind that message. I co-founded a club with Gabriel Hans Durst in LA called The Hollywood Guerrilla Film Club where we focus on that notion, get out there and shoot. We made Misfits of the Profane together, we were the only crew besides cast. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
You can expect that I’ll break the boundaries of traditional cinema. What one can accomplish with a small amount of money, to produce quality narrative stories that evoke consideration and thought.

Interview with filmmaker Natthaphon Amorntut

*How did you get into making films? 
I am script writer and director my  investor told me have film project story about religion value of life. I saw something have value to the audience. I need do it. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
I need expression to life value 

*How has your style evolved? 
My style develop from short film scrip writer cinematographer 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
Every day to shoot film my crew is funny  make more smoke of mistake every day 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
I think so strange and other art films. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
I think about make film from my spirit.

Interview with filmmaker Erik Zavala

Anya will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? 
When I was a boy I  always knew I had a lot of things to share but I didn't know how. In my adolescence I discovered cinema as a window to new worlds were I learned different visions of life, and identify myself with many characters that expressed my emotions better that I could even understand at the time. Then I questioned myself the meaning of life; A nice house, a new car, a good job, a pretty wife... is that it? and then disappearing without no one ever knowing you were really here.... In filmmaking I found a meaning, a means to express my thoughts and feelings and the best way to cheat death by making my ideas, all the images and stories in my head transcend my physical existence. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
Like all young filmmakers, I wanted to make a film, but I was very aware of my limitations and how difficult it is to finance a first film. So I set out to write a story with certain rules: - most of the story has to happen in one location - two main characters - The script has to be achievable in terms of budget - the story has to provoke strong emotions With that determination I went to Cuba for a month to isolate myself and write, I found in the genre cinema (psychological thriller) the best way to tell a visceral story that could transmit the anguish and hell that a victim of abuse goes through in a character that you could see on the street and you never imagine the psychological hell that goes through every day. 

*How has your style evolved? 
When I finished film school it was more a matter of replicating influences, then I realized that these were sterile images that did not express my way of understanding the world and I had to find my voice as a screenwriter and director. As I shot Anya I discovered that my major virtue as a director is the work with actors I feel very comfortable with an open Mise-en-scène, delimiting emotional goals that help them reach emotional extremes. This is complemented by the script, which becomes a fundamental tool to build actions and situations visceral that provoke the audience on an intellectual and emotional level. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
One of the last days all the crew was super tired, we were doing running shots at 4 am as it was an indie film we didn't have a camera car so we put the camera rigged, actors were in place and the only option for the sound guy was in the trunk of the car. So, we went to do the shots and spent some time doing them and when we finished we stepped off and went to rest but after some minutes we realized the sound guy was missing and said: shit! we forgot him in the trunk, when we opened it it was really funny to see that he fell asleep and didn't realize the running shots were over. 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
I think both appeal to the very essence of Cinema, it is a common belief that in order to be a filmmaker you have to go to film school. Theory is easy you can learn it on your own, the beauty of cinema is portraying the complexity of human emotions and there's no theory for that, the only school for that is living, seeing, learning from happiness and suffering. The comfort zone is the death of the Artist so what I like of both of them is that there's no excuses to do a feature film 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
My next film is going to be more visceral, violent and provocative. Is a reflection about toxic love using cannibalism as a metaphor in which we devour our loved ones out of fear of loneliness.

Interview with filmmaker Roger Davill

Amores Artificiais will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

*How did you get into making films? 
Well, my career as a director started in college, with experimental work, as well as other students who had the same goals, and I started to enjoy the possibility of telling stories my way, as my way of seeing the world. 

*What inspired you to make your movie? 
Some experiences I had and observation of other similar stories, motivated me to deal with the theme covered in Artificial Loves; SOCIAL PATHOLOGIES 

*How has your style evolved? 
Before making cinema, I was a theater actor and then I worked as a director, but I can say that my way of doing suffers references from the great directors of my country, of course we look at other good names in world cinema, but as I consider myself to be in the early career there is still a lot to learn and experience in the audiovisual universe. 

*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film? 
Well, i have several stories, but i will report one that caught my attention, as this film was inspired by real events, it took place in a scene in which the actors did not know the (real) name of the person being represented in the film and in a very strange way they started to give the text and saying the person's name in real life and that caught my attention, because I was careful to change the names of the characters so that there would be no problems with processes or something, but the actors insisted on treating the characters by their real names that was very bizarre. because nobody knew that the story was based on facts. 

*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind? 
My identification with the aforementioned movements comes from the possibility of making cinema in an alternative way, without resources and sometimes improvised, but in the end it works and the result is surprising. Guerrilla cinema is not tied to the big studios or large producers of the traditional film industry, and for that reason we suffer a certain prejudice for making this type of cinema. do my works, I believe that over time we will be seen and recognized, I say because cinema is an art it is not done collectively and my companions think just like me. 

*What can we expect from your next film? 
I am working on an action film, also in the guerrillas, it will be a film that addresses political and social issues, heinous crimes and the fight against them, the name is Tiro Certo. We will have news soon!

Interview with filmmaker Mani Shankar Iyer

Sattham will premier at the Straight-Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival

How did you get into making films? 
I was always  interested in watching movies from my childhood.. It was in my high school days , I happened to see a Tamil film called RHYTHM, directed by Vasanth from Tamil Nadu, India. I got so much fascinated with that film. More than watching the film, I got addicted to that film.. I started analysing all the layers involved behind that film be it acting, Screenplay structure, cinematography, lighting, sound design, background score . I stared learning the process of  filmmaking through this film.. I understood later that I have the ability to act, narrate stories. Eventually I also  realized that the fascination is growing more for films rather than literature or theatre and then the journey of being Filmmaker started..  I joined Madras Film Institute and graduated in Direction and Screenplay writing with a Gold Medal. In my academic career, I made several short films and featurette which helped me to experiment with my style of filmmaking and understand cinema 

What inspired to make your Cinema? 
Sound is always a thrilling experience be it in theatres or any medium.. If you watch a horror film the real anxiety and fear is created not by seeing ghosts alone but it is due to the sound . Same way if you watch Jurassic Park or any action movies the real thrill is through the sound effects.. I always wanted to focus more on sound aspects in my films . When the idea strike to me that what if a man is haunted by a sound and it so happens that only he can listen to those sounds and no one else can, I realized this is my idea and started developing this film. I found sound to be a very intriguing element in storytelling and here, sound itself being a part of the conflict and narration, I was very motivated.. I loved the mystery part of the script where as an audience we are immersed inside deep to know what is bothering the protagonist and why the sounds are audible only to him.. Having said that, it was also challenging for me to design this sounds realistically in order to bring the characters closer to reality. I didn't want to design sound stereotype like in horror films. I wanted to bring a different mood through this sounds where as an audience while watching the film it should be interesting and the same time should convey the irritation the protagonist is going through.. 

How has your style evolved? 
I think the main focus for any film should be the story. The story is the key factor which decides how the film has to be crafted. I don't believe in style. I look deep into the script and decide what justice I can do as a filmmaker and screenwriter. I have watched so many International films and have learnt one thing.  Language is not a barrier for watching a film. Film itself is a language.  Irrespective of language, culture what really works with all set of audience is feelings. If a movie delivers the message honestly and emotionally,. It is conveyed to all set of audience.. Titanic was enjoyed world wide for it's emotion and simplicity. There are so many examples.. MEMORIES OF MURDER, BICYCLE THIEVES, CHILDREN OF HEAVEN, GREEN MILE, SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION..  I follow this sincerely in all my films.  Simplicity and emotion and narrating the story closer to reality.. 

Tell us any strange or funny experience with this film?
It was a big experience making this film.  Honestly I didn't plan to make this as a feature film.. the original script which I wrote consisted of 35 scenes in total.. I planned to make it as a featurette , lesser than 60 mins . We had a very shoe string budget and so we couldn't shoot continuously.  I first shot for five days and my budget was over. I decided to edit the footages and convince my parents and friends to fund further.  But as the process of edit started , I started generating extension off various ideas connected with this script.  I felt I can tell this more interesting and can add few more details.  Finally when I finished the film, it had total 105 scenes including Montages.. Though this practice is not the healthy way to approach a film technically but I learnt one thing that there is always a space for improvisation in all the stages of filmmaking. I finished the shoot for the entire film in just 15 days.  The budget spent for this film was very very very minimum but I could bring the result.  We did all the work ourselves.  We recorded sounds in Sony Recorder and brought the original Foley feel. To add another point as a part of this question. No one from my team charged even a single penny for this film. Everyone are newcomers and passionate.. what really brought us all together is the script and bonding.  I don't know whether I can recreate this magic again, but what magic happened with this film, the true appreciation should be shared equally to all my team members. 

The Misrule Film Movement and Pink8 Manifesto bring what to mind? 
Well.. I think films don't have a classification. It is not like genres- big budget, small budget, commercial cinema, parallel cinema..Film is a film. The budget and the strategy don't decide what type of film you have made. All that matters is the story, the theme and the emotional connection. With the advancement of digital cinema, I believe we have break all the stereotype. We can experiment with new stories, shoot in more real places, bring more reality. All we need is the courage and passion. 

What can we expect from your next film? 
Well. I don't rush myself doing films. The idea and story is what , matters me the most. We might get lot of ideas but they might not materialize everytime.  Something happens with an idea and that will not let you sleep or do anything.  Once I get an idea so fascinating, I will start writing the script . So I don't pressurize myself what I am going to do next.  It will happen itself.  But whatever movie I make , I will really focus that the film has something interesting to say, it has am emotional connection with the audience and it falls closer to the reality