Marco Zaffino asks Keren Weissman about making "Not a Single Tear"

          Marco Zaffino asks Keren Weissman about making "Not a Single Tear"

MZ.
Keren, how did you find the learning curve of your first film adventure?. What G-Force were you at?

KW.
Naturally, I'm overwhelmed.  I don’t know where to start.  As a writer, I was trained (at NYU, mostly, where I did my masters in dramatic writing) to write and let go.  That is, to expect the best or the worst or something in between as the outcome of what I write alone in my room once it comes to life on the screen by someone else.  A lot of someone elses.   And here I am, taking control of all of the process.  Doing it from A to Z, all letters included.  And I think it's too much to ask for.

MZ
How did you find the move from Writing for the Screen, for a Director and Directing yourself?

KW.
This short film is part of one of the many features I wrote, non to be produced yet.  This is a flashback scene, so to speak.  In most of the screenplay, my main character, Dana, is 29 years old.  She is stuck in her old childhood home, in her old room, she has a life outside of it, but she refuses to take the final steps it takes to really grow up and let go of the past.  I do know it is not possible to really grow up and really let go, but people have a way of playing it.  By moving out of their parents' house, for starters.  By earning a full living.  By sometimes having kids.  Etc.  Dana is in one of those ever lasting loops, and when a shrink asks her if she wants to change her life, she cannot quite answer him.  She is in great pain and she is suffering, but that still doesn’t mean she's ready for change.  She doesn’t believe in change.  And this is where this flashback comes.  It was once a longer piece, but due to my lack of budget, I squared it in 22 minutes. 

MZ.
Did you enjoy as Producer the orchestration of Film-making?

KW.
Going back to my departure from writer to writer-director.  I wasn’t planning on it.  I was forever told that I write like a director, that my writing is specific and visual, and cinematic, but I never had the guts to go out and say – I want to direct.  When I thought of making a short film out of part of my feature, I was desperate to produce.  I've been teaching film for years, my students at 18 years of age, have produced much more than I ever dared to, and though I love being there for them and being part of the process, that was never enough for me.  I did get produced and still do so as a writer for children's animation films and shows, but those are not my babies, so to speak.  So I wanted to go all the way with something I wrote, something, which is by the way semi-autobiographical, very personal – a very painful bit of my history.  But I was going to be brave finally.  And I chose one of my first student of 9 years ago, who has been making films ever since school to direct it.  I was always there reading his work and supporting him, and I believed he could do a good job with the script.  I still do.  I offered to finance the film and he was happy to direct it.  He loved the script.  We had a contract made, in which I asked to be part of the artistic decision making, which was problematic from day one, even though, we both agreed on this clause, and despite the fact we also seemed to agree on most artistic decisions.  But at some point it was clear that we cannot share the same chair, and we split.  I had a few rough weeks in which I thought mostly of giving up.  But a few good fellows, one director, one editor, told me: "If you can direct as you can write, you should do this".  So I did.  And this was the best thing I ever did to myself.  I truly felt at some point, still do to a certain degree, that it doesn’t matter if no one likes this film, which cost me my son's and I lifesavings, I am so proud of daring.
   Despite the hardship, I loved everything about the process.  I fell in love with the role of director, though I have yet so much to learn.  So much.  I liked certain parts of producing it.  I did hire a producer to do all the hard work – such as making calls, getting everyone there on time, arranging the equipment, food – the works.  But I did do the casting, some of the art direction and loved doing the costume design, which was one of my favorite bits.  It wasn’t easy dealing with real live people, I must say.  I was intimidated at first.  But I think I learned that if I spend some intimate quiet time with each one of my cast or crew, later on, on set, they'd just know what to do.
     I had that experience with my cinematographer.  We worked for a month on the shooting.  We planned every thing to the last detail, and he had a full understanding of  my vision, well, most of the time.  Since I have a tendency for the surreal, some of my lighting choices and directions in general, were un-real.  He did try to persuade to be more realistic, but I think, during the process, he discovered some of my more extreme choices were right for this project.  I had it written in my script that Dana's room should be like two separate worlds cramped into one little space.  Dana's side should be pinkish and bright, and her baby sister's side should be greenish, hospital like.  When Ramy was working on getting the first night scene in that room, he kept asking me: "is this green enough for you?"  and I kept saying "no", till at one point, he said: "well, this is going to look line an effect"  and I said, that's the way I want it.  Some people may look at those scenes and say: "well, that looks like a mistake.", and there is a fine line between mistakes and innovations.  That won't stop me from trying.
    We had the same kind of "dispute" over the scene in which Dana runs downs the stairs into the light.  That scene was originally supposed to be shot outside, in the street, but at some point during pre-production, I realized that I don’t have time to shoot outside and I'm not sure I have the money for it.  I took out all the exterior scenes from the screenplay.  Some were replaced, some dropped.  I dropped the running scene just before the shooting began, because I understood we may not have time to complete the film in the 8 days we were given (the house belongs to dear family friends, who were staying in it all the time, and my actress had to go back to school).  But the night before the last day of shooting I couldn’t sleep, and I tried to figure a way to replace that scene in the little close to nothing amount of time I had, because I knew it was essential to the story.  I always saw it as Dana's only moment of freedom.  Her sister dies, she goes into the light, but so does Dana.  Disease is a terrible burden.  And her sister was slowly dying for the longest time.  Her death is a way out.  For both of the girls.  Dana runs into the light with her new pink bag, the bag that for her symbolizes girlhood, playfulness, whatever's left of all that.  So during my sleepless night, I thought of using the few moments of shooting and have my actress run down the stairs. The house will be completely dark, for it is the middle of the night, but the door will mysteriously be open and a strong light, "the mother-ship" light, as I call it, will come through it.  Of course I got reactions like: "why is the door open?" or "why is there light out there?", but I didn’t have time to explain it.  When Ramy first got the scene together, there wasn’t enough light coming from the outside, the whole scene looked pretty realistic and not at all the way I saw it.  We had 20 minutes before we were kicked out for good, and I told him: "forget about it.  Don't shoot it."  But he looked at me and said: "how much more light do you want there?" and I told him "everything you have.  Just take it off the stands and put it all on the ground."  And he did it.  I told him to shoot the shot out of focus, and we watched that girl run into her light on the monitor and both felt the beauty.

MZ.
How did you find your leading Actress Bar Miniely

KW.
Bar Mineily was definitely the greatest asset on the set.  She's a child actress and she's been around on TV for the last year, and the moment I saw her photos, I just knew she was the one.  I worked with her for 3 months and she truly lived the part.  The fact that she knew she was playing me really helped the connection.  She could see through Dana's eyes.  She is a true antsy read head, just as I am, but in front of the camera she's magic.  She has so much patience.  In scenes where she had to take the time, like the scene in which she had to  stare at the bare side of her room, her dead sister's side, she did it, at her own pace, time and again and again.  It was as if she saw what was not there.  She's got a whole world of fairies and demons in her soul, and I used them to help her relate to the baby sister's illness and imminent death.  It was such a great experience working with this child.  I acted out the scenes for her before each first take, and she'd be playing a game on the computer, giving me half an eye, and yet, she did exactly what I did, she imitated me perfectly, not missing a detail. Amazing.

MZ.
Where have you shown 'Not a Sinlgle Tear'? And where are you going to show it next?

KW.
The film premiered in the Tel Aviv cinemateque to an audience of 437 people, and I truly hope it gets into festivals around the world.  Since I am not a student and on top of it, the film is longer than 15 minutes, some of the important festivals won't take it, such as Cannes and Berlin.  Other festivals insist on a 35 mm copy, which is way expensive.  I haven’t got a cent left.  So this all limits my festival prism.  The Locarno Film Festival is looking into it.  I will get the answer in June.  I'm hoping for the best.

MZ.
How has the reaction to your film been?

KW.
All reactions to my film were emotional and strong and very positive, despite or because of the tears and grimness that goes with it.  Hagai Levi (creator and producer of "In Treatment") was touched and impressed, and so were other local Israeli producers who saw it.  My hope is for them to take on my feature screenplay, firstly the one from which this short is taken from, later others, which are just waiting.

MZ.
Will you make another?

KW.
After my first taste in directing, I have to admit, I want more.  I'd love to keep on writing and directing, but I will also be happy if my screenplays will be taken and interpreted by other directors.  I would be honored, as a matter of fact. 

MZ.
Most importantly, where as a Mother of a wonderful son, do you feel your Film Dreams could take you? As a committed Father this is constantly on my mind and I wanted to get your perspective on this real matter?

KW.
Yes, I am a mother of a four year old, and on top of it, a totally single mom, one that does it all on her own and spends much of her time with her child, and yet, I think, for the sake of both of us, the more I create outside of the home, the happier we both would be.  Even if it means missing each other.  I know how proud my son is of my film.  How grown up he was for not seeing me for long days, this after having me around every hour of every day and night from the moment he was born.  He learns from me, he has his own projects, we also create together, and I know motherhood cannot be calculated by hours and minutes.  On the contrary, I sometimes dream to be one of those "fathers" who are barely home, and when they do come home, their children admire them.  Many stay-at-home-mom's feel like part of the furniture.  We are often taken for granted.  I don't want to be taken for granted ever again.  Firstly, not by me.



Keren Weissman