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Your new movie Distant
Memories - in a few words, what's it about?
Distant
Memories is a meditation on Alzheimer's Disease and
what that looks like from the perspective of the person afflicted with
it. Specifically, it follows Anna as we explore inside her mind as she
finds relics of her past that hold the key to herself before the
inevitable happens. We also learn about her life with family, friends, and
relationship with her husband through her home movies.
What inspired you to make a film about Alzheimer's
disease, and what can you tell us about your research on the subject?
I had two grandparents from both sides of my family who sadly passed due
to Alzheimer's. So, I used a lot of personal experience from being
a witness to that as both inspiration and research. Although I was young
when I lost my grandparents. I was in my late teens and early 20s,
which is fairly young to grasp what was happening and what it
meant. So, I went about refreshing myself on what someone with
Alzheimer's would experience, say or do. A lot of the members of the
cast and crew also have personally experienced seeing someone they know
or love with the disease. Their experiences also helped in writing or
directing the film. Other
sources of inspiration when writing Distant
Memories? Other than personal experience, I would say I was inspired by other
films that took on the subject such as Still Alice or Barney's
Version.
I appreciated how they approached it, but as a filmmaker, I'm always
interested in finding new ways to approach an idea. Similarly, when I
made a short film, Imposter, in 2018, I took the subject of anxiety and
tried to present it as a personified being that's always reminding you
of their presence. Here, I was inspired to not only show Alzhemier's but
to experience it as a viewer through the eyes of the character. When
writing it, I also was careful to not have a character mention the words
Alzheimer's or dementia as I wanted it to be presented visually by the
acting and the overall design of the set. You just have to talk about your main
set, Anna's room of memories, and how did you come up with its whole
concept and set design? Again, I was anxious to explore Alzheimer's differently. Rather than
showing it from the outside or how loved ones around the afflicted are
affected, I wanted to get inside the mind of the character and for the
audience to experience what it may feel like to have the disease. I'm
also fascinated by how the mind works and how many layers there are to
it to create a person. When I think of Alzheimer's, I think of how one
loses reality, time, self, and, of course, memories. I tried to present
the mind in that state as a black void where our memories are stored.
Almost as if one went into their attic or garage and suddenly came
across old relics. I also have a firm belief that events or moments of
our past are what shape us into who we are. Ultimately, I
wanted to show in the set design that her life is before her in these
memory banks which is the last thing she has left. Do talk about your directorial
approach to your story at hand! This was a tricky one to direct because I was anxious to make sure the disease
was presented in a real way, and this meant carefully working with
the actors. The hardest scenes to direct were scenes with Anna with her
daughter in the present day because I wanted their struggle to be real
and relatable, especially in the dialogue. As written, those scenes were
the only ones fully laid out. Everything else, such as the home movies,
was entirely improvised and had no written dialogue. Because the character of Anna was played by four different actors, it
was important to me for them to be in sync with each other in how Anna
was presented, her backstory, and the like. So, I had the four actors on
a call and we discussed who she was, her upbringing, when she first
learned she had Alzheimer's, etc. Ultimately, that became the basis for
directing. As far as the home movie scenes go, we shot those on super
8mm film, VHS, and Mini DV tape. I was adamant about not using digital
for those and adding an effect in post-production. I wanted those to
feel like an authentic home movie. This also meant that I didn't
want lighting or good camera work. So, we just handed the cameras to the
actors and they filmed it themselves while the rest of the crew and
I stood by and watched. It was amazing. I had them improvise with
me before we rolled so that they could work out the moment and then I
just let them go. I felt that writing dialogue for those scenes would
have been too staged and not authentic.
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What can you tell us
about Distant Memories'
cast, and why exactly these people?
The cast is filled with actors I've either worked with previously or met
on set of other projects. Sissy O'Hara who played Anna is someone I've
known for 14 years. I first met her on an independent short film on
which I was the director of photography. I may have been 21 or 22
at the time and still very green, but we became fast friends. She also
appeared in a small bit in my first short film and I also work with her
on other film sets. She's the consummate professional. She's
always prepared, takes direction well, always has an idea to add to her
character, and is always willing to help in other areas on set. Also
playing Anna in her younger years were Alyson Muzila, Chelsea
Hueter, and Gabriella Spinney. I've known Alyson and Chelsea for
several years after having worked with them on other projects, but
hadn't yet directed them. So, that was a great opportunity to finally
have them in a project. Gabriella was in a film I shot for
Gabrielle Rosson, She, Who Dared
[Gabrielle Rosson
interview - click here]. She has a lot of
personality at such a young age, so I knew she would do well
in the hopscotch scene. Christie Devine, who played Noelle, has been in several of my films.
She's always a joy to have on set and always super conscientious about
her performance. She also works as a social worker with veterans and has
seen a lot of them facing Alzheimer's. So, I knew she could bring
that knowledge to the role. Lily Ewald played Noelle in the birthday
party scene. I've known Lily since she was probably 10 or 11 years old
when her mother reached out to me asking me to produce a demo reel
for her. I shot several scenes for her and have since had Lily come to
table reads for scripts or to shoot small scenes for actors. She fit the
role perfectly and has a bright future in this business.
Lastly, Tim Connelly and Nick Wakely both played Anna's husband in the
home movie scenes. While the character doesn't play a big role in the
script, I wanted to make sure the character at least gave Anna something
to long for. Both Tim and Nick are actors I met working on other
projects where I was on camera. Nick was also in She, Who Dared, and we became quick friends. I quickly also recognized his
talents. Likewise, I met Tim on an independent feature and also had seen
him in other films. He's an equally very talented guy. A few words about
the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? This was a fun set. We had a great crew courtesy of
On Edge
Productions,
who also produced Imposter
with me. Lisa Wynn and Tom
Mariano were two of my producers and what's great about working with
them is that it's always collaborative. They're really good at making
suggestions to make a scene better or perhaps I have an idea that isn't
working and they tell me. I think what's always important in filmmaking
is allowing people to tell you no or ask you, "Are you sure?"
The director, especially if they're the writer also, is not always the
one with the answers or amazing ideas. A lot of the moments in the film
came from an idea they had and I decided to go with it. Had I said no, I
would have missed a possibility. The first day of shooting was tricky because it was November and we were
shooting both indoor and outdoor scenes. We had to be aware of the light
as well as we were quickly losing light through the windows of the
house. We ended up having to re-shoot the kitchen scene since we quickly
lost light as we shot it the first time. Those things are not unusual,
though. My favorite moments were shooting the scenes in Anna's mind and
also the home movies. We got to take our time and think of some
interesting angles and shots. The $64-question of course, where can Distant
Memories be seen? Right now, the film is beginning its festival run. As such, we'll
likely have our first festival screening in 2025. After it makes its
rounds, we'll be showing it on the internet. Anything you can tell us about
audience and critical reception of Distant
Memories? The reaction has been more emotional than I expected. I knew I was proud
of it, but was quite surprised when I heard people crying when it first
screened. I also was touched by the kind comments it received from
people who came up to me and said they had family members with
Alzheimer's and how much we nailed it. The same goes for the critical
reception. The critics have been very kind and also have noticed the
details we put into the film and also related to it. I'm especially
proud of the notices Sissy's performance is getting more than
anything else. Any future projects you'd like to
share? As of now, I've been working on finishing some feature film scripts and
looking to get one of them off the ground. I've also been communicating
with Kris Salvi [Kris
Salvi interview - click here], a brilliant actor, filmmaker and
writer, about
another project for me to direct.
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Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?
The film's website is
http://storiesmotion.com/distant-memories
I'm also on Facebook at Stories in Motion and Instagram at @chris_esper
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask?
I also wanted to give a shoutout and thank you one of the executive
producers of the film, Deborah Del Negro of Del Negro
Entertainment. She
believed in the vision from the beginning and was very instrumental in
getting the film made. Thanks for the interview!
Thank you, as always, for supporting independent filmmakers like myself!
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