Hi8 is a new series of short interviews that serve as a quick hello to film figures we’re following. Inspired by the Walker’s 8-Ball Q&As, the series launches with a look at writers, producers, directors, and actors nominated for an Film Independent Spirit Award. In a self-navigated format, each artist picks questions from a list, answering those eight that best expose their current musings and fascinations. No two interviews are the same.
Land Ho! tells the story of two older men who, bored by retirement, decide to adventure through Iceland. The film received a nomination for a Film Independent Spirit Award in the John Cassavetes category for movies filmed with a budget of less than $500,000. Co-director Aaron Katz played an important role as a pioneer of “mumblecore”: an independent film genre that typically features a small budget, amateur actors, and emphasis on character rather than plot. His artistic partner, Martha Stephens, debuted as a director at the SXSW film festival in 2010 with Passenger Pigeons, a subtle film portraying life in her home of rural Appalachia. Katz and Stephens have been friends for over a decade and decided to shoot Land Ho! together while working on their own long-term projects. The film is produced by three women including Mynette Louie, president of Gamechanger Films, an equity fund that finances films directed by women. Louie won the Piaget Producer’s Award at last year’s Spirit Awards. Christina Jennings also helped produce the film and fell so in love with Iceland that she decided to move there post-shoot. Jennings first connected with director Stephens in Austin while attending school at the University of Texas. These four directors and producers took a moment to answer a few questions about dance hits, dinner parties, Ariana Grande, and the Australian Open. Land Ho! screens at the Walker at 6 pm on Wednesday, February 11, 2015.
Aaron Katz, Director
1. What have you been obsessing about lately?
El Dorado rum. On its own or in a rum Manhattan.
2. What’s your most vivid Minneapolis memory?
A long time ago some friends took me to a house party and someone put on “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.” I hadn’t thought of this song as enjoyable or good until that moment. I was at the peak of my just out of college music snobbery and I was reminded then that music can be enjoyed in lots of different ways.
3. What is your least favorite sound?
I’ve been watching the Australian Open and there’s this commercial that has run hundreds of times for Melbourne as a tourist destination. I remember to mute it most of the time now, but I’ll be hearing it in my nightmares for years to come.
4. What global issue most excites or angers you?
I’m angered by the lack of seriousness regarding environmental issues in mainstream political dialogue.
5. What have you been listening to lately?
Dance hits by CeCe Peniston and Crystal Waters. Also, Korean hip hop geniuses Dynamic Duo.
6. What recent album, film, or book did you consume recently that you wish you had created?
Nightcrawler. I caught the end credits of the movie recently while I was walking into a screening of a movie playing right after it and I was reminded, even just watching two minutes of credits, how great it is.
7. What is your favorite article of clothing?
The Fair Isle sweater I bought while in the Shetland Islands with my wife.
8. What have you been reading lately?
John Dickson Carr. He wrote “locked room mysteries” and I’m having a hard time reading anything else right now.
Martha Stephens, Director
1. What is your hometown like?
I grew up in the Appalachian foothills right outside of Ashland, Kentucky. People call this area Cancer Valley. We have several coal processing plants, oil refineries, steel plants, etc. It’s a gritty, depressed hybrid of the rust belt and coal country.
2. What’s one of your guilty pleasures?
Mystic Pizza. But I feel no guilt for loving it. Julia Roberts in that pool hustling scene is GOLD.
3. What’s your favorite mode of transport?
Inclined planes and chairlifts.
4. What artist turned your world upside-down as a teenager?
Bruce Springsteen. At thirteen I heard Born To Run and was never the same.
5. Whom would you like to spend three hours in an elevator with?
See above. I’m getting flustered just thinking about it.
6. What have you been listening to lately?
Suzi Quatro. She inspired the spirit of my latest script.
7. What’s your favorite comfort food?
Biscuits and gravy, the food of my people.
8. What artists would you like to collaborate with?
I’d love to work with Billy Bob Thornton one day. I think of him as a kindred spirit.
Mynette Louie, Producer
1. What’s one of your guilty pleasures?
ABC’s Scandal.
2. Who is your favorite villain of fiction?
Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca.
3. What is your advice for young people today?
This is advice for everyone, including myself: Don’t let the Internet rewire your brain more than it already has. Don’t fall prey to digital mob mentality or allow persecution by social media without asking rigorous questions. Cherish and nourish nuance and critical thinking. Learn grammar.
4. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Good manners and optimism (at the expense of truth and honesty).
5. What’s your favorite comfort food?
Mashed potatoes and soup dumplings (but not together).
6. Who’s your favorite cartoon character?
Lucy from Peanuts.
7. What is one of the most unexpected influences on your art?
Riding the NYC subway. It’s rife with humanity and ripe for existential musings.
8. Describe a recent dream in 15 words or less.
Hollywood agent disappears from office without a trace. Co-workers discover he went on a walkabout.
Christina Jennings, Producer
1. What’s one of your guilty pleasures?
Nada. I own my love of Ariana Grande.
2. If you could throw a dinner party for anyone in the world, who would you invite?
Rashida Jones, Cara Delevingne, the Broad City gals (Ilana Glazer & Abbi Jacobson), Emma Watson, Amanda Seyfried, Addie Bryant, Cobie Smulders, Anna Wintour, Tavi Gevinson, Drake and Paul Rudd.
3. What is your advice for young people today?
Don’t do something just because you think you’re supposed to do it. There are no “rules” in life.
4. Who’s your favorite superhero?
Joan Rivers.
5. If you own a pet, what kind and what characteristics do you share with it?
My cat Finn and I are both sweet-natured and gentle but we bite if we have no other choice.
6. What have you been reading lately?
Yes Please by Amy Poehler & Under the Glacier by Halldór Laxness
7. Name something you would love to possess, but never will.
A neck tattoo. My mom made me vow I would never get one. I love her so I will obey.
8. What do you wish to have done with your mortal remains?
I’m working towards my immortality so hopefully this need not worry me.
The Film Independent Spirit Award nominees screen annually at the Walker Art Center as part of a collaboration with IFP. Screenings are free for all IFP and Walker members. Click here for the complete list of screenings.
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