I think it first came up in one of my online writers workshops when Kate Weiman asked if I could share a bit about how the film came into being...where and how it all began, what I wrote first, what we shot first. I was happy to explain that after volunteering on the John Kerry Presidential Campaign and coming face to face with truly criminal tactics on the ground in Florida in the days leading up to the election, I was despairing.
When I told my then producing partner Chris Arruda of my absolute fear that the country I loved (the chosen home of my immigrant parents) was in danger of turning toward darkly undemocratic impulses, he answered the way the best collaborator would.
Why don't you write about it? See what comes up.
So, I did. And I have to say it certainly made the writing a lot easier knowing that Chris was waiting eagerly at his computer for that incoming email with first script attached. I am not ashamed to admit the slog of a first draft is always made easier knowing there's a hungry reader waiting to lap it all up the very first moment I decide to share it. That's why we owe it to ourselves to cultivate long-lasting relationships with collaborators who respond to what we put down on the page. No one can sustain writing in a vacuum for very long. Trust me.
The first couple pieces I wrote were short and focused on the flash of betrayal that almost flies by unnoticed at that moment when against a backdrop of political upheaval, one person sees a hint of a chasm forming between themselves and a person they've long considered to be something akin to family. It's an offhand remark made lightly in passing, half whispered and if we wanted to we might be able to pretend we hadn't seen or heard it. Evidence that what had once been clearly a "we" had drifted to the realm of "us" and "them."
Chris and his partner Brad's enthusiasm for both scenes led to a plan. We'd pick a weekend in February of 2005 to shoot them both on a shoestring budget, spending no more than $3,000. We managed to secure one location to serve as two -- the Stamford campus of UConn. Subtraction & Division (Ohio) set in the cramped office of a craven Secretary of State and Building Consensus (Texas) set in the women's locker room of an upscale Houston area gym. Although eventually the project would expand to take cast and crew to several location shoots, we began with Stamford Connecticut standing in for Columbus and Houston.
There are threads running through this tapestry film which clearly run right through the past four years and possibly threaten to continue on sewing dissent and chaos in this great experiment in democracy. The turbulence and uncertainty of these past few years seems to be want us to look more closely at ourselves and our neighbors. What for? I suppose, at bottom, we hunt for clues as to where these malignant strains in the culture may have come from. And how on Earth we might wrestle our democratic culture from the clutches of tribalism and paranoid delusions.
Taking the renewed interest as a sign, I've decided to schedule one screening. I hope you'll join us.
With a running time of just about 110 minutes, we'll have time for a 15-min. Q&A with some of the film's actors and producers and Yours Truly.
In keeping with my current obsession with the noise and life breath of audience, I'll encourage any of you who arrive with headphones plugged into your laptops to UNMUTE so that we can hear each other breathe as we take it all in, the way audiences ought to.
(photo: Ian Blackman in If a Cow Was a Pie (Oklahoma) from We Pedal Uphill: Stories from the States)
