[film reel clicking] - (male announcer) In this online exclusive half-hour, we'll hear more from the five filmmakers whose work is featured in the 2023 edition of Indie TV Local short films from Indie Memphis on WKNO.

[wind blowing] [sprinkler trickling] [kids chatting] [phone dinging] [upbeat electronic rock music] - I have a friend who is a pilot here in Memphis, but he's also a part of the Air National Guard, and he volunteered to go to Afghanistan and fly troops and refugees, you know, on various legs of the withdrawal effort that was happening in Afghanistan in 2021.

And when he returned home safely, thank goodness, and we began to catch up about his experiences there I also began to talk with his wife, who's a close friend, about what it was like for her to be home while he was gone doing that.

And the idea for the short, you know, began to form as I had conversations with her about her experience taking care of their young kids and being worried about his safety while he was in Afghanistan.

And it became clear to me that it might be a very high stakes, interesting way to explore fear, anxiety, our relationships with our devices, our relationships to the news, when those things hold life and death information for someone who has a loved one that's in the middle of an event that might be happening, you know, where she has to interact with those devices and with the news and get her information about what's happening from that.

[film reel clicking] Lauren's a great actress and she and I had worked on a couple of things in the past together, and she was someone that I had always wanted to direct in a film.

And when this idea began to percolate, I thought maybe this would be a good short film and I knew that it would be a female around her age, you know, she was sort of top of the list to ask to do it.

She's done a lot of training, both for stage and screen.

And so, she brings kind of this, she brings this highly trained ability to what she does, and she's the kind of actor who will do something the same way every single time.

She's thinking about continuity.

She's also thinking about where she needs to drop in emotionally to her character at any given moment.

You know, one of my favorite anecdotes about working with Lauren on this short was that there's a scene towards the end where she comes into the garage and she's been both met with the news that there's been a bombing at the airport in Kabul, but also she gets a barrage of text messages from people and she feels completely overwhelmed.

And the scene prior to that where she's watching the news in the living room and the scene where she comes into the garage and gets this onslaught of text messages were shot about an hour and a half apart.

But when we filmed that scene in the garage, in her eyes were some tears and you could tell that she had instantly gotten back to a place, emotionally, that she hadn't been for an hour and a half while she waited on us to set up in the garage.

And those kinds of skills as an actor that she brought to it were really amazing to work with.

[film reel clicking] In earlier drafts of the script I had the character finding the piece she finds at the end, after learning that her husband is safe.

But it was my wife Emily who suggested actually she should find that on her own and then we can learn that he's safe, presumably.

But she doesn't know that yet.

And I think that that's, you know, what makes it so powerful.

[film reel clicking] So, I love Indie Memphis.

I'm a huge fanboy of the festival, and it has meant so much to me over the years.

The programmers at Indie Memphis have always embraced my short film work, and to have my short film selected for the festival, played at the festival, and then some of them win awards at the festival is validating.

But not because it's about awards or some external validation, but because it's a celebration of everyone's hard work and that is incredibly meaningful and impactful, as a filmmaker.

So, when I can go to the festival and I can sit with the cast and the crew and we can all enjoy on the big screen like the fruits of our labor, that is an incredibly meaningful feeling that kind of completes the circle on the whole project.

And Indie Memphis, specifically, has always been a big part of the life cycle of my creative work.

♪ So I drive out to that further place ♪ ♪ Where there are no interruptions ♪ ♪ Just me alone ♪ ♪ Just me beneath an old familiar glow ♪ ♪ Can't see stars [can't see stars] ♪ [upbeat electronic rock music] - Erin and I had been friends for a little while, met her in Nashville when I'd go visit my sister there.

And she had asked me about shooting a video, wanted me to shoot just some Super 8 of her playing like a live show at a festival there.

And the festival ended up getting rained out, and so we rescheduled to shoot, and I told her like, oh, you should come to Memphis, there's like this warehouse downtown that it would be kind of cool to like film a live performance.

And she ended up coming down and we put together this whole live show down here, and picked up some footage, and she just loved it, that we ended up talking about like, oh, why don't you actually just come back to town and we shoot a whole music video for your new album coming out?

[film reel clicking] That's a good question.

But usually when I pay the bill of that, I ask myself that too, is, why am I working in this?

But it's impossible to replicate with digital a lens in a camera.

I mean, you can't get that same look.

Like in that video, the red and everything in it like really pops.

And I'm crediting that to the film, not even like my color grade.

There's just such a richness in that stock, in 16 millimeter stock from Kodak, and it's just impossible to replicate.

And it kind of enticed them too.

Just was like, okay, we've got like three rolls, we're gonna just go out into Memphis and shoot, and like whatever we get we're gonna get.

And it was a little bit nerve-wracking because I had never used this camera.

I've used a 16 millimeter camera in the past, but I bought a new one for this off some guy from Russia.

And he DHL'd it to me and I had never used it before I shot this.

And I like prefaced them like, "Hey, just so you know, "when shooting on film there's no guarantee "it's gonna turn out the way we shot it "or turn out at all, since I'm not the one developing it, I have to send it out."

And when I first got the film sent back, it actually looked terrible and I had to ask him to like re-scan it with a few settings.

And that like 24 hours when I first got the film back and like put a rush in on getting another scan, my heart like sank 'cause it was like, how do I tell these two musicians like I screwed up their music video?

Like, it looks terrible.

But they scanned it, sent it back, and then I just had like all this film to work with and, to me, it turned out great.

[film reel clicking] When I asked Erin kind of if she had any ideas, 'cause usually I like to have like a seed before I start planning a whole video, know a starting point.

She had sent me some like images of "Mystery Train," and we're like, yeah I like really love the way this film feels with the colors and all the locations here.

And after she sent that, I was like, well, why don't we just kind of redo... Like, there's two of you singing in the song, it's a feature.

If Kevin comes on down let's just like get the red suitcase and like film you guys walking around town and kinda go to all the spots.

And they both were like, yeah.

Like, why would we try to do something that kind of feels like it, instead of just like, let's try to do it ourselves?

And so, yeah, it felt like a home movie type version of "Mystery Train".

I mean, we're shooting on a smaller kit, like we're not shooting 35 millimeter, we're shooting on like 16.

So, it's like a little bit grittier and like not as nice resolution, and then we're just driving like in the car, following them around.

But yeah, I mean, it all just like came from the idea of the film, and just, why don't we just redo that shot right there?

[film reel clicking] Yeah, I mean it was great, especially because like when I first watched the print of it, it was like kind of small, and then when I was editing it, you're only watching it like so big for so long.

And I get really worried with film just 'cause I don't see that many other people use it in the festival.

They're like, when they blow this up to be on a big screen like is it still gonna look good, or is like this grain gonna be like this thick and it's gonna look terrible?

But it looked great.

It really did.

So, they ended up processing it and then they scanned it at a 4K resolution or something.

So, I mean, they scanned it very big, but, I mean, you're still getting all the grain and like burn marks and everything else really big.

- Mini bobbed up and down the currents, mistaking water for air, familiarity for safety.

Her skin, like water, shuddered under the rejection of heat, under the guise of river ever providing her warmth.

[upbeat electronic rock music] So, like growing up just as a Black woman in general, and especially as a Black woman in the South, like the fear and the realities of like sexual assault and just of like sexual trauma and sexual harm goes back generations in my family.

And even just spans across all of my friend groups.

Like, we all have stories of how somebody has done us wrong, like sexually, or has violated us in that sense.

And "The River" kind of speaks to like both of those histories of like being historically chained in silence and then also being culturally and socially chained in silence as well.

[film reel clicking] The majority of all of my film pieces have had narration of some sort.

I really appreciate like oral traditions and like oral traditions of storytelling.

And so, I try to incorporate that as much as I possibly can into film, and it actually ended up being pretty easy 'cause even when I'm like writing and I'm like thinking as a writer, I'm thinking in images.

And it feels very film-like, it feels like I have like the opening shot and then like everything is happening and stuff like that.

So, it kind of blended in very naturally.

Like, I feel like the only way for me to go was to gravitate towards film.

[film reel clicking] Even though my grandmother died when I was really, really young, she left me and my sisters like three amazing great aunts, like, her sisters.

And so, they never, they never waste time to tell us stories about like their youth and what it was like for them growing up and like what our grandmother was like.

And they're all very loud in their own way and that is something that I kind of aspire to be 'cause even though I'm a filmmaker and I'm very confident in my craft, I'm also very, very shy and reserved about it.

And I'm trying to do better about taking compliments, but...

They have always had ways of like telling their stories, and even just the people like around them, like my family on my father's side is from Orange Mound which is a very prominent Black neighborhood.

One of the oldest Black neighborhoods in America.

And just like the pride that they wear their heritage, and like where they come from, and the fact that like two of my aunts still stay at Orange Mound and like there's no sign of them leaving.

And even of just like me growing up, going to church in Orange Mound, and like when my grandmother was still here, like her house that was in Orange Mound and stuff like that.

And like a house that is still within our family.

I don't know, it's just very African-esque, like gathering around.

My aunts feel like griots, in a way.

And I think that's something that I also want to bring to my filmmaking, of telling a story in a way that is direct, but direct to people who have the necessary understanding of it, if that makes sense.

[film reel clicking] My filmmaking, like, it's where I found my confidence and courage to go into filmmaking.

I am a product of the Indie Memphis Youth Film Festival, and then I was able to, you know, graduate into the adult film festival.

And if it wasn't for my mentors and if it wasn't for the opportunities that Indie Memphis gave me, of just, one, being able to not only go to their festival but win their festival two years in a row, and then also being able to get like production packages and grants and connections with like older or more mature filmmakers in Memphis, I don't think I would still be making films.

And I have to send a special shout-out to Amanda Willoughby, who is my mentor and who is also a contract worker at Indie Memphis, and very involved in like the Indie Memphis Youth Film Festival.

If it was not for her, like, submitting my first film into the festival, without my knowledge, I would not be making films today.

And so, I'm very, very appreciative of the Indie Memphis Film system, and I feel like everybody should support them.

What's better than watching films made in your hometown by people who are like you?

So, yeah.

♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up!

♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ Here's to diversity ♪ ♪ D-Up!

D-Up!

♪ ♪ We've got to come together!

♪ ♪ So, D-Up!

We've got to help one another!

♪ ♪ D-Up!

♪ [upbeat electronic rock music] - Well, FreeWorld started in October of 1987, which was 36 years ago at this point.

Crazy to even think of.

And we've been a Memphis staple ever since then.

Dr. Herman Green was the man who co-founded the band with me, among several others.

Ross Rice, Willie Waldman, Clint Wagner, Jimmy Ellis.

We started first gigs at the South End, 1987.

Since then, the band has mutated and evolved perpetually.

We have currently seven CDs and one DVD officially released, currently working on our eighth.

We play up and down Beale Street and have forever.

Back in the day we did a lot more touring than we do now.

Now, we don't have to tour, the world comes to us on Beale Street.

I wanna sleep in my own bed.

[film reel clicking] David Skypeck, our drummer emeritus, he wrote the words to the song probably back in '98 or so.

A combined influence of both his concept of diversity, and also "D-Up" is a phrase that came from Larry Finch.

As he coached university, he'd run up and down going, "D-Up!

D-Up!

Defense, get on defense."

And so, the combination of the shout-out, "D-Up!

", and connecting it to diversity was David Skypeck's idea.

And David's since had health issues and he isn't with the band anymore.

He's still our brother and he's still with us and he's still part of the band, but he can't play or be a member of the band.

But I really wanted to give him something to hold onto and to cherish, that something he created back in the '90s is not just still alive, but growing.

[film reel clicking] So, I was on stage, and it was also George Floyd, and a bunch of stuff was going on in our society at that point in time.

And I was singing that song on stage, at Rum Boogie, and as I was singing it, it was like I'd never heard the lyrics to our own song.

As I'm singing these lyrics, well, this is perfect for what's going on right now.

It was ahead of its time.

You know, maybe we should go back in the studio and re-record it.

Maybe we should go back in the studio and re-record it like a Memphis "We Are the World" and I can get like everybody that I know in town to be involved in it.

It can be this whole big thing.

And, meanwhile, I'm playing on stage.

This is all going through my head, you know, off in this other realm of what about this, what about that?

And so I percolated it in my brain for a few weeks and then I knew I needed a producer to make it work.

I couldn't have done all that myself.

And I also knew that I wanted to take the saxophone solo in the middle of the song and insert a hip-hop segment into it.

And I'm not really that connected to that community myself, but I knew that Nico Lyras and his studio Cotton Row did a lot of that work, and he's an amazing producer and engineer.

And so, of course, he as a studio guy wasn't doing that much around that time either because of the pandemic, and so I approached him with the project and he bought in, you know, a hundred percent.

He brought in people and I brought in everybody that I could think of to bring in.

And it was everything I could...

I wanted to show the diversity of Memphis and the music.

And so, there was white people and black people and brown people, and straight people and gay people, and Christians and Muslims and Jews, and, you know, old and young, and male and female.

Everything that I could show visually was the diversity of our city.

But Nico knew even more people than I did, so he brought in some extra people that were super talented that I wouldn't have had the connection to.

Wendy Moton, for example.

And the project took on its own life.

And then of course, in my mind also, it wasn't just re-recording the song, it was the video as well.

So, I had known Justin Jaggers from the past and I called Justin up to be our video producer and he jumped on board as well.

And I can only imagine... All these different people came into the studio and recorded sections of the song.

And Justin was there for the most part, almost every time when someone was in the studio, he was there recording them singing their parts.

But then to have all that film and all that video to have to edit down into what works best, who works best where, how does that puzzle fit together?

Nico and Justin did amazing work.

I was so proud, am so proud of the finished product.

And it was just fantastic.

Everything about it.

It went smooth as silk.

It fell together in the right kind of way.

The editing worked, the music worked, the video was amazing.

And since then, it's since gone on to win several awards across the world.

So, it's done it's job.

- Are you ready to meet my little puppet friend?

- Yes, sir.

- Okey dokey.

Are you a sinner, little girl?!

[child screaming] You cannot run from Satan!

[upbeat electronic rock music] - I've had this idea for a long time.

I like the idea of, when we remember things we all have very different memories.

I mean, if you get four people together and tell you what happened last week at lunch, they're gonna have very similar remembrances, but they're gonna have different viewpoints.

And some might remember something that... One person might remember something that no one else remembers.

And so, the characters in my movie are recalling events from like 40 years earlier.

And so, each person remembers things differently.

And that's how we all are.

You know, how do we remember history?

How do we tell our collective story?

Everyone has a very different viewpoint sometimes.

[film reel clicking] It starts with an idea and the idea can come from anywhere.

And so, then you... Then I... Let me tap my mic.

Then I start typing and try to come up with an idea and multiple drafts of a script.

I mean, some scripts, even the short films get three, four, five different drafts.

And, then even on the day of shooting, some words are changed or some action, instead of being in a hallway, it's now in the kitchen, or instead of being in this place, it's this place.

So, things even change on the set.

But, yeah, pre-production is maybe sometimes the hardest part of a shoot.

[film reel clicking] Well, maybe the happiest is when you're watching your film in front of an audience and hearing the reaction.

And it is the reaction that you hoped it would be.

That's not always the case.

But when you you have the reaction, the audience enjoys it, and is either happy or sad or scared or whatever at the right moments that you hoped it would be when you were writing it, that's pretty happy.

For me, I like to...

I don't like to, but I worry a lot.

And so, getting up to the moment when we get on set, for me, I am just worried about everything.

It's like launching a ship.

Once you launch the ship and you've got the crew around you, and the crew and the actors, everyone's got their role, things are much easier and better.

So, when you've got a large crew, putting that crew together is a little nerve-wracking.

Making sure everyone can be there and hiring people, and making sure you've got the money to pay 'em, and the food they like to eat.

So, really pre-production is the most nerve-wracking for me.

[film reel clicking] Really, I got to serve on the board of Indie Memphis for about six years.

And it was kind of a long six years.

I really like Indie Memphis, I support Indie Memphis.

It's a great film festival, and obviously it has grown just in the last eight years, six years.

Every year it's gotten bigger.

We've had great leadership for Indie Memphis.

I have sponsored some of their grants.

Very happy to do that and help get other filmmakers the opportunity to make movies.

I have rotated off the board of Indie Memphis.

It was time, I mean, it was six years.

But I'm very happy.

I hope they will accept my newest film.

We'll see.

And I think it's a good relationship.

[film reel clicking] A lot of my short films, it turns out, are kinda like the old bottle episode when they are on one location, and the vast majority of "Jesus Is Lord" is set in one location, in one room.

And then, what is not set in there is literally one room over.

There's some interviews scenes, and those are in the same location.

So, in a lot of my short films, "Henry", "Deaths in a Small Town", are very contained movies and they're, like I said, almost all bottle episodes, if you will.

And that's the way...

The last movie I did just a couple weeks ago was not.

And it's a good film, but it was a lot of traveling.

It worked out fine, but I kind of missed that one set idea.

I may go back to that.

♪ Love could have been the cure ♪ ♪ But your love was a disease ♪ ♪ And the way you hurt me showed me how to love ♪ ♪ The way you hurt me showed me how to love ♪ [upbeat electronic rock music] - So, Buffalo Nichols is an amazing Blues artist that's part of Fat Possum records.

And Fat Possum asked me to drive down to Taylor, Mississippi, outside of Oxford and record some sort of off-the-cuff, kind of one-take music videos with him.

And the goal there was, how can I make these beautiful, but also lived-in and authentic and genuine?

And so, hopefully that came through.

[film reel clicking] I was asked by Fat Possum to drive down to Taylor, Mississippi, right outside of Oxford, and record some live music videos of Buffalo Nichols performing at a recording studio that's set up in sort of a cabin down there.

Clay Jones mixed the audio for the videos, and he's a legend in his own right.

And it was just a blast to go down there, film over the course of an afternoon with Buffalo Nichols and Clay and the folks from Fat Possum and put together what was, in essence, some marketing material for them as they prepared to release Buffalo Nichols' record, but what turned into some really cool kind of live music videos of Buffalo down there in Taylor, performing his awesome Blues music.

- (male announcer) Every day in the Mid-South, videographers, writers and artists of all kinds are hard at work, and each Fall, the Indie Memphis Film Festival brings them together, along with films from around the world.

In this hour-long program, we'll show you some of our favorite hometowner short films from recent Indie Memphis screenings and introduce you to their creators.

This is your VIP pass to Indie TV, local short films from Indie Memphis on WKNO.

[film reel clicking]