"I left the Residency with new-found siblings-in-art"
Edition 9: Feature on Woodstock Film Festival Residency, Part 2: Interviews with the 2021 Fellows
From L-R: Alex Smith, Brooke Pepion Swaney, Maba Ba, unkown, Eunice Lau, Meira Blaustein, Set Hernandez Rongkilyo
Last week, we heard from writer-director Alex Smith, the Artistic Director of the new Woodstock Film Festival Residency that was set up to support filmmakers from underrepresented backgrounds who are working on projects with social justice themes. Mentors at the Residency include Academy Award nominated documentary maker Julie Anderson, and Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís of Skylight, a not-for-profit that combines cinematic arts with the quest for justice to inspire the defense of human rights.
This edition I am thrilled to share with you insights from the four filmmakers who were picked to be the inaugural Fellows of the Residency: Eunice Lau, Set Hernandez Rongkilyo, Brooke Pepion Swaney and Maba Ba (the ‘Fellows’). I asked each of them about the subjects that inspire them and how the experience at the Residency — surrounded by sage mentors and abundant nature at White Feather Farm — has impacted their projects and outlook.
Eunice Lau (she/her) is a documentary filmmaker driven by passion and purpose. Her previous docs include PBS-aired Accept the Call and she is currently working on a feature — Son of Soil — “that explores climate change and climate justice through the story of David Buckel, former LGBTQ-lawyer-turned-environmentalist… who became the first person to commit political self-immolation in the name of climate change. [The film] explores what drove him to such a harrowing decision, and the legacy that he left behind.”
As a former journalist, Eunice felt a personal motivation to tell David’s story: “I had felt his anger and frustration when I was… reporting on stories about deforestation and wildlife decimation, and witnessed the wreck we were making of a bountiful and living world in pursue of debt-fueled ‘growth’.” Plus, as person of color and descendant of immigrants displaced by conflict, Eunice felt strongly that this story should highlight not just the environmental challenges we face, but the climate justice issues at stake where abuse of the planet intersects with social inequity: “Climate change affects BIPOC communities like mine most, and it is important… to explore how we can mitigate that.”
Eunice found the Residency gave her both practical support for her growth as a filmmaker — “[The mentors] are the very guru-filmmakers that I needed for this film, and with their guidance, I’m able to take the creation process to the next level” — plus the chance to build life-lasting friendships: “I left the Residency with a new-found family with my siblings-in-art.”
Set Hernandez Rongkilyo (they/them) is an undocumented immigrant filmmaker and community organizer who pushes the boundaries of accessibility through storytelling. They have directed/produced many short documentaries, including the award-winning COVER/AGE (2019) about healthcare expansion for undocumented immigrants, and they are currently working on several projects, including “‘unseen’, a multi-platform documentary about Pedro, an aspiring social worker in Las Vegas who happens to be a blind, undocumented immigrant.”
Set explores inclusivity in all senses, from centering underrepresented protagonists to expanding the way we experience film: “Through ambient sound and experimental cinematography, [‘unseen’ is an] “audio-based” film [that] reimagines the accessibility of cinema for audience members that cannot see.” Set is also keen to “complicate” the pervading narrative around the undocumented community: “Our lives are often seen through the lens of criminalization and deportation… but we are more than just that. We have fun, we fall in love, we make mistakes, because we are just as human as anyone else.”
Set was surprised by the impact of the relationships he formed at the Residency: “Living in the same house as Eunice, Brooke, and Maba was a true privilege because it allowed me to have access to “life mentors” 24/7… What I realized… is that learning how to make a film is barely the tip of the iceberg. To tell a story with such profundity, an artist needs to dive into themself and grapple with what’s going on in their heart to unearth the truest version of the story they want to bring to life.”
Brooke Pepion Swaney (she/her) is documentary filmmaker focused on Indigenous representation: “As a Blackfeet/Salish person living in the United States, I know the collective conscience is stuck on an image of Native Americans being stuck in the past… and most likely dead. But we’re not dead, we’re here.” Despite the longstanding media aversion to telling Native stories — “I guess… being reminded that there are still Indigenous people here was a buzzkill” — Brooke is optimistic about being part of the growing movement of Indigenous shows and features (like Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs) coming to mainstream audiences, that dare to break the stereotypes of “stoic spiritual Indian, or a broke drunk.”
Brooke, by her own admission is “working on too many things like most independent filmmakers.” Her previous feature — Daughter of a Lost Bird, following a Native American woman who was adopted by white parents, as she reconnects with her Native identity — is in festivals right now, and she is working on a new feature script “about a tribal cop, some white supremacists, and some radical acts of justice.” “It’s a comedy,” she deadpans.
Brooke found the Residency experience moving, both professionally and personally: “The experience touched me deeply. When people talk about support, I got that through the workshops, one-on-ones with accomplished mentors (I mean, Mira Nair, legend!), guest visits, but mainly through forging personal connections with everyone there.”
Maba Ba (he/him) is an actor, producer and writer/director from Senegal who focuses on telling stories from the perspective of the oppressed. His first feature as a producer (from his company JoyeDidi) — Nafi’s Father — won multiple awards including two Golden Leopards at Locarno Film Festival and was the Senegalese selection for the 2021 Oscars.
His new project — following the return from America of an estranged son back to his mother, a Muslim agronomist fighting a food shortage crisis in a troubled and volatile country, and the betrayal that ensues — deals with one of Maba’s prevailing fascinations: why do the oppressed turn against their own? Maba’s hypothesis is that it has much to do with “psychological colonization… a feeling of inferiority rooted in false truth” too often experienced by those living (as Maba did) in a literal ex-colony, and by the “generations of people who still believe the lies perpetrated in the dehumanization, enslavement and colonization process.”
Maba found valuable challenge and support from the other Fellows — “These stories come from personal places and it is scary to be that vulnerable. My fellows made it safe and welcoming and for that I am forever thankful” — and is in debt to one mentor in particular for her influence on his work: “The single most profound change for me as an artist came from my first one on one meeting with Mira Nair, I have yet to tell her this but she changed my writing process by adding a crucial step to it in the earlier stage.”
Lastly, I asked each of the Fellows about how the time in Woodstock — with its unique, almost mythical community and history of creativity — influenced their work?
Eunice: “Woodstock is very special, almost magical. Since ’69, Woodstock stands for peace and love and it still rings true today and I can feel it everywhere… being here makes me feel like I, an Asian woman filmmaker, is in a safe space to work.”
Set: “Joy Harjo says in Eagle poem: “We are truly blessed because we / Were born, and die soon within a / True circle of motion.” Being in Woodstock allowed me to be open to feeling whatever comes to me, like a stream. And I am forever blessed by those who work the land and those on whose ancestral lands I was able to visit.”
Brooke: “The fact that we were all there in late spring felt very auspicious, like we were planting something that would grow and ripen and provide real fruit… Sometimes without accountability, it’s easy to float off into the ether… But the work ethic of the focused artist is mainly what I picked up from my time in the community.”
Maba: “I’m an early riser, so just about every morning around 5am I would go [to the gazebo] with some tea and take in the nature. The water made a wonderful soothing sound of flow as she travelled through the stream… I realized the beautiful sound… was caused by water hitting [the rocks], her obstacles, and going past them along her way. Is that what makes us connect to great art and people, the beauty that comes out from the obstacles endured through their path?”
Thank you, truly, Eunice, Set, Brooke and Maba, for your art and dedication to telling the stories we need to hear. Come back to the Hudson Valley soon!
Look out for work from Eunice, Set, Brooke and Maba as their new projects take flight, and make sure to check out the Woodstock Film Festival this Fall and its roster of movies from ‘fiercely independent’ and ambitious filmmakers.