Life Through a Unique Lens: How Everyday Stories Become Breakthroughs in Documentary Film

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Welcome to 'Quantum Potential,' a podcast dedicated to curiosity, discovery and the bold new ideas shaping our future.
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I'm Cybele Raver, provost of Vanderbilt University.
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Today I'm thrilled to welcome someone who shows us how everyday life can become extraordinary through the lens of a camera.
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Mariah Kramer.
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Mariah is a documentary filmmaker.
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She's been trained at UNC-Greensboro.
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She's a senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies in Cinema and Media Arts here at Vanderbilt.
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She also co-founded and leads multiple film festivals, including our own Point of "view" or VU, student film festival.
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I cannot thank you enough, Mariah.
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Your work is so impressive—both on the way in which your own filmmaking focuses on ordinary lived experiences—family histories, neighborhoods, questions of belonging— and the ways in which you demonstrate for students that filmmaking can be a really exciting area of creative practice and potentially of research.
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I can't wait to talk to you about that.
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Um, really, when you're in the classroom, when you're in the editing room or at a film festival, you are helping students to ask, "What story do you want to tell?
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And why does it matter?" So really, welcome.
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Thank you.
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I'm so happy to be here.
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It's great.
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I think one of the first things I was really curious about is, do you come from a filmmaking family?
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How did you enter into the world of filmmaking and into the world of teaching film?
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Yeah, so my family got a video camera for Christmas one year.
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Oh.
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Um, and my brothers and sisters and I loved it and would just start filming everything that we could get our hands on.
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Um, so that's really where it sparked and started for me.
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I think a lot of filmmakers have that early childhood experience.
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And then I started kind of directing my cousins and my sister in short little home projects and things like that, but I didn't really ever take it seriously that it could be a career when I was younger. I just thought it was something fun.
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And when I went to college, I considered psychology and then just found this TV broadcasting program at my university that I was at and thought, "You know what?
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I'm gonna just try it." And so I dove into that, and I did TV broadcasting for a while and graduated with that.
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And then I had a light bulb moment after that.
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Later in life I was, um, living in Portland, Oregon, working at a nonprofit that taught, like, community filmmaking classes.
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And that's where I started teaching filmmaking.
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And it was this moment of like, "This is serious.
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This is real.
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I can do this for a career." And that's when I went back to grad school and pursued my MFA in filmmaking so that I could teach at the college level.
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So fascinating.
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Mm-hmm.
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So I don't know if you're aware, but we share so much in common in that regard, right?
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Being interested in and following filmmaking as an undergrad for me.
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Mm-hmm.
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...and then ending up in psychology,
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Yep.
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right?
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So that notion of telling a story, whether it's through data or through visual images and through sound.
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Really fascinating.
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Mm-hmm.
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And when you came to Nashville, did you find a vibrant filmmaking community?
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What's Nashville's film scene like, given that we think of it as a country music scene?
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Yeah, I, I did. I didn't know much before I moved here.
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I kind of took a leap of faith for the position here, and I was very excited about it. But I didn't know much about Nashville, and one of the first things I did was I volunteered at the Nashville Film Festival, which was happening that September.
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So I moved here in July of that year and then went to that festival right away.
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And I'm so glad that I went early, because I met the people that were running the festival.
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I met local filmmakers.
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I met people in the National Filmmakers Guild and found that there was a very vibrant community here that I could, I, personally, could be a part of, but I saw so much potential in how students could be connected with it.
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So I was really excited when I moved here for that.
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That is so great.
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And tell us a little bit about students who are in cinema studies.
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Do they automatically gravitate to making films? Or are they more interested in the meaning and the interpretation and the sort of read of films?
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Yeah.
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In our department, we have a curriculum that has them have a very even split between the production and the study side of it, with the idea that they inform one another.
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You can't have one without the other, essentially.
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So we have students that take classes in both, but by the time they get to their senior seminar and they're creating their capstone project of their career, I would say more of them gravitate towards production.
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And I think that's just from the joy that they get from seeing a final product that they can show at a senior showcase and things like that.
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It's so great.
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And you know, as with the scientists that have been on this, um, podcast, you know, this idea of working as a team...
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Mm-hmm.
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...um, obviously film production involves many, many hands and eyes and brains, um, as we all pull together to, to make the thing...
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Mm-hmm.
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...right?
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How has that been ... to lead that form of collaboration?
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That creative collaboration?
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Yeah, that's, I mean, honestly, that's my favorite part of filmmaking is the collaborative part of it.
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But it also can be the hardest and scariest part of it, and I think that that early mentorship and that early guidance in that collaborative form can be really instrumental in making someone's career.
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So I really enjoy that process myself, and I enjoy working with students and helping them get comfortable with that process, because it can become very difficult and challenging at times.
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So I really love that idea of I'm here for them when they're going through that challenge.
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And I think that psychology interest that I had early in life, it comes into play there.
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I, I did minor in psychology. And just that interpersonal relationships and building connections and really seeing people for who they are—so that you can trust them to collaborate with them—is a huge part of the process.
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And I don't think that I would have that excitement and joy in it if I didn't have that early interest in psychology and human nature.
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Yeah.
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It's such a fascinating moment, right?
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When a student has to, or a, you know, filmmaking individual, whether it's a student or not.
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Mm-hmm.
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When that person steps into a position of leadership and, and direction...
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Mm-hmm.
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...right?
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Giving direction, but also at some level being super open to the fact that it may not go the way it was originally planned.
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Mm-hmm.
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It must be just amazing and intense...
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Yeah.
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...to support students.
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And if you can let go of that, right?
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If you can let go of what you intended, something amazing can come from it.
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But you have to be brave enough to let go of your initial intentions.
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And it's fresh on my mind because I just came out of a class where they were showing their experimental work that they did at the end of semester, and we had this moment of reflection of, like, "Think of the student you were when you walked in at the beginning of the semester.
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And now look at the film that you just created." And some of them were very personal stories in our intro production class.
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So it's, like, just to see that transformation in a semester is what keeps me going.
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It gets me really excited to be a witness to that.
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You are clearly a witness to it, but you are also an incredible champion of it.
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This idea that you support students in beginning with something very small, right?
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I could imagine, just as with a painting or a drawing class, there's a sense of the blank canvas is pretty terrifying.
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How do you get students going with believing in the validity or the worth of those initial smaller ideas or details?
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Mm-hmm.
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Yeah.
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I think filmmaking is one of those art forms that very rarely do we talk about it in the sense of just doing it for the fun of it. Like painting, you'll do that because it's therapeutic and it feels good, and you might make a painting that you're never gonna show anybody.
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But when you go into filmmaking, there always tends to be this responsibility on your shoulders that you're making it for a reason and to show to an audience.
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So I talk in the beginning with them a lot about just, like, the joy of using the camera, the joy of recording sounds and what it sounds like through the microphone versus in nature.
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And I think those little baby steps and those little projects can get them excited about the process and forget about the end result, because that takes the pressure off.
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So interesting.
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I guess that's right.
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If you think about writing, I could be journaling just for my own purposes...
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...right?
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Mm-hmm.
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I'm not always considering that I'm writing for an audience.
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Mm-hmm.
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But it's tough to imagine the idea of making film just for my own viewership, right?
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Mm-hmm.
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That's great.
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And so this idea that you're helping them to attach meaning and significance
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Mm-hmm.
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...is what I hear you say.
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Mm-hmm.
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Very much so.
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And I think that idea of the method and what can become from that.
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Like they don't realize that when they're just doing it for the fun of it, that they'll go back and look at that footage, or they'll have filmed something in a certain way or used a certain lens in that playful moment that then informs something larger later.
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And so they're almost doing research in a way that they don't realize that they're doing research.
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They're just kind of becoming a part of the process.
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That's, I think, what is difficult to get across if you were to say,"That's what I'm gonna do for you"...
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Yeah.
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...right?
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Totally.
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But if you go through the process and say, "Trust me, try these few things," then they will reflect on upon it later and be like, "Oh, that's what I went through."
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Right.
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Instead of do, don't tell.
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Yeah.
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Yep.
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Yeah.
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Fascinating.
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And how do you help them to recognize that an everyday moment can hold a bigger story?
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Hmm.
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I think looking at a lot of work, and talking about where that inspiration came from for that filmmaker, and recognizing that their own stories have worth. I think that was something that I personally went through in my own creative work is that I felt like I had to be telling grand stories or stories that were, you know, someone else's story that I found fascinating.
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And it wasn't until I started to look internally at my own story and my own family and realize, you know, this is exciting and this is ... people will care about this.
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Also, the more specific you get, the more universal it actually becomes.
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And I had to go through that process to get to that point.
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So that's the thing with students, again, I can't tell them that, right?
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I have to demonstrate it, model it, give them chances to explore it and find that themselves.
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So I think looking at a lot of other filmmakers' work can really help with that.
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That's great.
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And I immediately think of your most recent film, 'Shirley,' which I wasn't able to see, but your additional film, um, 'This Is My Home Now,' which I really enjoyed immensely.
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Before we talk about your work, can you give us an example of a filmmaker's work that you really love that does that?
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Yeah, Sarah Polley is one that always sticks with me.
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I saw her film, "The Stories We Tell," years ago when she made it, and it just was one of those ones where it was, like, it was her family's story and it was a painful story, but she was willing to explore it and to dive in and to think about it and realize that if she told it, other people would relate to it.
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So I think I took a lot of inspiration from that.
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It took me years to get to the point to be brave enough to do it, too, but it never left me.
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When I saw it, it stuck with me.
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Um, and then even some of the fiction work that she does, too, but really her nonfiction work is what really kind of struck me the first time I saw it.
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Yeah.
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Jane Campion comes to mind.
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Yes.
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The same...
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Mm-hmm.
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...um, highly evocative...
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Mm-hmm.
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...very personal...
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Mm-hmm.
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...fictional narrative.
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Mm-hmm.
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That you think, whoa, I didn't imagine that telling a school girl story was gonna...
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Yep.
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...have this kind of impact.
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Yep.
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But, um, wonderful, you know, sort of figurative and more abstracted ways of telling that story.
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It's just great.
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Right now, political polarization and divisive anger between parties make some feel that our democracy is fracturing.
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Is our democracy at a breaking point?
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Or are we being challenged to find new ways to communicate and find common ground through political disagreement?
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Coming up in our next episode, get ready for a fascinating and timely conversation with a sharp thought leader on the power of civil discourse and debate—Professor Robert Talisse.
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It's an episode that'll definitely have you talking.
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But first, let's get back to my discussion with Mariah.
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In the film'This Is My Home Now,' your recent film about newcomers to the United States.
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Mm-hmm.
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The Montagnards, is that how you say it?
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Yeah, Montagnard.
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Yep.
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That group—a group of Indigenous communities from, uh, northern, uh, Vietnam, as I understand it.
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Mm-hmm.
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You tell this story not only through, you know, direct interview of some
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Mm-hmm.
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...but also by using a lot of archival footage.
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Mm-hmm.
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And I loved seeing that archival footage... Mariah: Mm-hmm.
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...for so many different reasons.
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One is that it just takes us back into a different time, right?
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Even just seeing the clothing styles or the cars in the background, you suddenly realize like, oh yeah, this is a story that, that spans from the sixties to today...
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Mm-hmm.
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...um, especially because I guess our American Special Forces were very involved with the effort to resettle this community into the states.
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But I thought I'd ask you about, um, when you use archival footage, what are you saying about memory?
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Mm-hmm.
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Or about method?
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Yeah, I mean that, that's such an interesting project to think about in that regard.
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Even for my lifetime, the Vietnam War is history, right?
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And it was before my lifetime, and I just thought of it from the perspective of what you read in the history books and things like that.
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But as soon as I started working on that project, it was people that were still being affected by that, and people that were younger than me that were directly affected by it—and it brought it into the present day more than anything ever had with that topic before for me.
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So when we went and we looked at the archival footage—and it tends to be black and white footage that covered the Vietnam War—and the notion of American troops coming in and working with tribal communities, that all felt so untouchable to me.
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It felt in the past, and I didn't have any kind of connection to it other than reading about it or hearing about it.
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So working with that archival footage was really neat because it was placed right next to modern day footage of youth in their teen years. That we're talking about how that footage, the things that happened in that footage, was still affecting them today.
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Hmm.
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So this idea of bringing the past to the present was what was really important to that project.
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And that does tie nicely into my other film, 'Shirley,' which, again, was that personal situation of looking at black and white footage and discovering this, this image of my grandmother that I had only seen black and white still photos of. And the moment I saw eight-millimeter footage of her and saw her movements and her body language, she became real to me.
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She wasn't just this person that my family had talked about.
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She was a person that had a life, and how that moving image can shape that and change that—and you can build a new relationship to it based on looking at that footage.
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So I didn't draw the, the connection between those projects until you brought it up in that way.
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But yeah, very much connected.
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So fascinating.
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And immediately I wonder, does it give you a very complementary and contrasting perspective to the perspective that an, an historian might...
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Mm-hmm.
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...um, take? Or do you share a lot in terms of method with somebody who's an historian who's looking at that same period?
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You know, I think a lot about how different disciplines at Vanderbilt do or don't talk to each other...
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Yeah.
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...um, and that sort of notion of, uh, the value of an artifact.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I think, I don't think I come from, like, a historian lens when I look at these things.
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I think I come from a very human lens, and I think my work is exploring a lot of human connection and what connects us and how all of that can really shape your identity.
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And again, I think that footage from'This Is My Home Now' and from the Vietnam War felt separate from me and felt separate from the youth that were speaking in my film.
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And as soon as that human connection came in, it changed the way that I looked at it.
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And I think that's the same thing with the footage from my project, is that this idea that it can be related to you and it can be connected to you.
00:15:46.110 --> 00:15:56.563
So I think I'm coming at it from, like, a humanist point of view, or even again, that psychology background of what's the emotional impact of looking at this footage, and how does that impact the audience that's watching it.
00:15:56.745 --> 00:15:57.164
Yeah.
00:15:57.225 --> 00:15:58.813
And the complexity, certainly, right?
00:15:58.813 --> 00:16:07.424
When you contrast that historical footage in, um, 'This Is My Home Now' with contemporary footage of the family members going to church, for example...
00:16:08.024 --> 00:16:08.115
Mm-hmm.
00:16:08.355 --> 00:16:08.375
...in Greensboro.
00:16:08.375 --> 00:16:08.384
Mm-hmm.
00:16:08.563 --> 00:16:18.690
You know, this idea that they're currently engaged in a very active, vibrant faith community here in the states, you know, I wouldn't necessarily have placed because of my lack of knowledge of that community.
00:16:18.690 --> 00:16:18.779
Mm-hmm.
00:16:18.779 --> 00:16:22.169
I wouldn't have placed that community in a, in a church here.
00:16:22.169 --> 00:16:22.259
Mm-hmm.
00:16:22.529 --> 00:16:25.139
So it's just great to provide that kind of complexity.
00:16:25.169 --> 00:16:25.379
Mm-hmm.
00:16:25.889 --> 00:16:32.294
And it calls into question, right, I mean, I think a lot of people that watch that film don't have a lot of knowledge about the Montagnard community.
00:16:32.294 --> 00:16:33.614
It's a small population.
00:16:33.974 --> 00:16:37.934
It happens to be the largest population outside of Vietnam in Greensboro, North Carolina.
00:16:38.264 --> 00:16:39.914
And they are very Christian-based.
00:16:39.914 --> 00:16:43.875
And that came from missionaries coming to Vietnam years before the ... the Vietnam War.
00:16:44.174 --> 00:16:46.994
But I don't think many people would know that, right?
00:16:46.994 --> 00:16:55.029
So it takes that idea of inquiry and curiosity and being honest when you don't know something and being, like, I would like to know more about it.
00:16:55.179 --> 00:17:08.108
And then with this story about your grandmother in terms of telling a story about her life. One of the things I love about filmmaking is that you are not as bound by an expectation or a commitment to truth...
00:17:08.108 --> 00:17:08.230
Mm-hmm.
00:17:08.500 --> 00:17:08.828
...right?
00:17:08.828 --> 00:17:10.085
That you get to tell the story.
00:17:11.055 --> 00:17:11.805
Knowing...
00:17:11.865 --> 00:17:11.953
Mm-hmm.
00:17:12.345 --> 00:17:18.674
...that you're essentially authoring this story in a very different way than if you were an anthropologist or a sociologist.
00:17:18.674 --> 00:17:21.494
I mean, I know those fields also understand... Mariah: Mm-hmm.
00:17:21.734 --> 00:17:24.884
...that there's not, you know, a claim of complete objectivity.
00:17:25.005 --> 00:17:30.194
But my sense is that as a filmmaker, you've loosened those expectations considerably.
00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:30.369
Yeah.
00:17:30.430 --> 00:17:33.255
How do you end up relating to that sense of telling the truth?
00:17:33.345 --> 00:17:43.575
Yeah, I think ... I primarily started out in documentary, so I do feel very attached to truth, and I feel very attached to the inspiration coming from real stories and real life stories.
00:17:43.994 --> 00:17:52.184
But this idea of this project—the second I thought of the, the project or the idea, I knew that it couldn't be nonfiction.
00:17:52.394 --> 00:17:55.575
I knew that it had to be fiction because there are so many unknowns.
00:17:55.784 --> 00:18:04.724
There's so many things that my mother and grand ... or aunts and uncles don't remember about my grandmother, that there's no way that I could pin down the, the truth, you know?
00:18:04.724 --> 00:18:11.654
There had to be some moments of me imagining what her life would've been like or what she would've thought, or how she would've felt in that moment.
00:18:12.075 --> 00:18:22.605
So it was freeing to say, you know,"This is gonna be a fiction film, not a nonfiction film," but also therapeutic in a way because it is kind of a passed- down trauma from my family to have
00:18:23.023 --> 00:18:25.069
Mm-hmm.
00:18:25.148 --> 00:18:26.744
...and leave, you know, young children behind.
00:18:27.194 --> 00:18:33.825
And just for, for, for the audience, basically a key piece of this film is that you tell about her, um, struggle with cancer.
00:18:33.944 --> 00:18:35.805
Uh, polycystic kidney disease.
00:18:35.835 --> 00:18:36.284
Oh, sorry, polycystic kidney disease.
00:18:36.464 --> 00:18:37.365
Yeah.
00:18:37.605 --> 00:18:40.305
She passed away of polycystic kidney disease at the age of 36...
00:18:40.365 --> 00:18:40.454
Wow.
00:18:40.934 --> 00:18:42.494
...um, and she had six young children.
00:18:42.940 --> 00:18:47.559
And so that's a, that's a part of our family history that's been passed down and knowledge that passed down.
00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:51.789
And when I was young, I thought, "Oh, that affected my mom and her siblings.
00:18:51.849 --> 00:19:02.289
That doesn't affect me." And as I grew older and had my own children and realized that that does affect me, there's some trauma there that, you know, still exists for my generation in the family.
00:19:02.289 --> 00:19:06.880
And so just this idea of imagining what she went through was therapeutic.
00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:20.865
It was me kind of taking the control that I could of the situation and thinking, you know, how could this have turned out in a way that she would've made her peace with what was happening or, maybe, you know, imagining that we were gonna be fine.
00:19:20.894 --> 00:19:22.753
Because it is ultimately a positive story.
00:19:22.753 --> 00:19:28.784
Like she did die at a young age, and she did leave young children behind— but they grew up, they had children...
00:19:28.904 --> 00:19:30.974
And one of them became a filmmaker.
00:19:29.894 --> 00:19:30.974
Mariah: Became a filmmaker.
00:19:30.974 --> 00:19:32.085
I have children, you know.
00:19:32.085 --> 00:19:35.714
So it's just, it is ultimately a positive story, really, if you think about it.
00:19:36.015 --> 00:19:39.825
Yeah, no, it's a great sort of arc of, you know, not only is
00:19:39.825 --> 00:19:44.174
Mm-hmm.
00:19:39.825 --> 00:19:49.964
Cybele: ...but also do you bend the narrative to tell something that's tragic, something that's hopeful, something that probably blends those things...
00:19:49.964 --> 00:19:50.055
Mm-hmm.
00:19:50.295 --> 00:19:50.414
...right?
00:19:50.474 --> 00:19:54.525
And I'm curious about how your students grapple with that issue of telling the truth.
00:19:54.555 --> 00:19:54.765
Mm-hmm.
00:19:55.005 --> 00:20:04.335
Um, does it stress them out? Or are they excited to sort of explore this idea of biasing a story versus telling a story in multiple different shades of...
00:20:04.339 --> 00:20:04.349
Mm-hmm.
00:20:04.929 --> 00:20:05.740
..uncertainty?
00:20:05.740 --> 00:20:06.128
Yeah.
00:20:06.429 --> 00:20:14.200
Whenever I teach a documentary production class, we get deep into conversations of truth and ethics and all of those things as they're creating their projects.
00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:17.919
And I think a lot of it comes from doing, right?
00:20:17.919 --> 00:20:27.579
It's different to look at a film and analyze it and think about what you would have done versus being in the situation of actually having to make those decisions and what feels like the truth for you.
00:20:27.909 --> 00:20:31.529
And we do a lot of conversations ...
00:20:28.980 --> 00:20:31.529
around perspective, right?
00:20:31.529 --> 00:20:39.119
This idea that there isn't an ultimate pure truth. There's a truth for you. There's a truth for them. And there's a truth for the other person in the experience.
00:20:39.450 --> 00:20:44.160
And how do you want to represent that truth—and how do you want to put your truth out into the world?
00:20:44.490 --> 00:20:45.075
That's great.
00:20:45.075 --> 00:20:50.069
...it's, it's a circular conversation that's continuing constantly as they're making their projects.
00:20:50.069 --> 00:20:55.944
I just love that because I think we think about Vanderbilt's commitment to viewpoint diversity and dialogue...
00:20:55.974 --> 00:20:56.065
Mm-hmm.
00:20:56.394 --> 00:20:58.134
...as one that's primarily verbal, right?
00:20:58.164 --> 00:20:58.255
Mm-hmm.
00:20:58.494 --> 00:21:00.085
That you make a strong argument...
00:21:00.085 --> 00:21:00.174
Mm-hmm.
00:21:00.414 --> 00:21:01.585
...in a political science course...
00:21:01.615 --> 00:21:01.704
Mm-hmm.
00:21:01.944 --> 00:21:02.484
...or in debate.
00:21:02.875 --> 00:21:12.454
I don't know that we have fully explored or captured the ways in which that diversity of viewpoint can be told narratively through visual media, right?
00:21:12.515 --> 00:21:12.605
Mm-hmm.
00:21:12.875 --> 00:21:17.944
And then, of course, I think about how much more sophisticated our students are just by virtue of social media.
00:21:18.065 --> 00:21:18.154
Mm-hmm.
00:21:18.454 --> 00:21:32.900
And one of the questions I had for you is, given how much students are framing how they present themselves, how they present the social moments that they're in, through the sort of constant stream of posting and social media— is film dead, right?
00:21:32.900 --> 00:21:32.990
Mm-hmm.
00:21:32.990 --> 00:21:35.000
Does anybody have the attention span...
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:35.089
Mm-hmm.
00:21:35.089 --> 00:21:38.000
...for a 90-minute or a two-hour film?
00:21:38.059 --> 00:21:38.480
Yeah.
00:21:38.509 --> 00:21:45.470
I mean, well, that's a really interesting conversation that we have in the festival management class because they're programming a festival.
00:21:45.470 --> 00:21:54.684
They're looking at a film festival and deciding,"What would an audience want to see?" And we have a lot of conversations about length and attention span and what entertains them.
00:21:54.744 --> 00:21:59.034
And it really, it really comes down to—is it engaging, right?
00:21:59.034 --> 00:22:02.424
If it's engaging, we forget how long something is that we're watching.
00:22:02.904 --> 00:22:08.934
And so we constantly are looking at the time because we're programming a festival, and we have to know, will it fit into this block?
00:22:09.294 --> 00:22:14.214
But will the audience even know that we just took up 30 minutes or 10 minutes or five minutes?
00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:20.859
Or can a five-minute film feel like it was a 30-minute film because I was so engaged with it and the amount of information that was coming across.
00:22:20.859 --> 00:22:25.750
So I think it really comes down to that experience with it and what it feels like when you're watching it.
00:22:25.779 --> 00:22:31.934
Because you'll remember how you felt when you're watching the film, not necessarily every detail of the plot of the film.
00:22:31.934 --> 00:22:31.994
Yeah.
00:22:31.994 --> 00:22:33.734
You more so remember how you felt.
00:22:34.005 --> 00:22:35.595
So I think, I don't think it's dead.
00:22:35.595 --> 00:22:39.494
I think it's still there, because I think it's a really powerful tool for engaging with audiences.
00:22:39.765 --> 00:22:40.484
That's great.
00:22:40.484 --> 00:22:43.184
And it makes me think about, sort of, lessons on editing, right?
00:22:43.214 --> 00:22:43.305
Mm-hmm.
00:22:44.234 --> 00:22:46.545
There is no excuse for things that drag.
00:22:46.605 --> 00:22:46.904
Yeah.
00:22:46.964 --> 00:22:48.714
Um, and that, that's true in text.
00:22:48.714 --> 00:22:51.654
That's true in speech, and that's certainly true for visual media.
00:23:00.265 --> 00:23:11.244
Tell me a little bit more about film festivals and how your role as a founder of film festivals and as a person who curates films for others viewing, how that works.
00:23:11.273 --> 00:23:11.605
Yeah.
00:23:11.934 --> 00:23:24.084
Um, so we started a film festival here on campus called The Point of VU Student Film Festival, like you had mentioned. We're going into our second year, so this February will be the second year of the festival.
00:23:19.314 --> 00:23:31.969
And I had started a film festival with a group of women in Wilmington, North Carolina, where I lived before here, that focuses on women filmmakers and really championing women's voices.
00:23:32.239 --> 00:23:38.029
Um, so I had experience founding a festival and working on it and all the logistics and all the work that goes into a festival.
00:23:38.179 --> 00:23:48.589
So then when I started here at Vanderbilt and I went to the National Film Festival, I saw this community of filmmakers and wanted students to have that same community or to be a part of that community.
00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:54.199
And I think one of the ways is championing them, submitting their films to festivals and getting into festivals.
00:23:54.500 --> 00:24:10.199
But another way is to create a festival here on campus—that they can be a part of the actual programming of it and the curation and understand that part of it, because it'll give them a better understanding of how other festivals are accepting their films if they know how to run a film festival.
00:24:10.589 --> 00:24:20.759
So we founded the festival, my colleague Jonathan Waters and I came up with the idea to focus on Middle Tennessee because of the plethora of schools here and programs here that have some sort of film or media program.
00:24:21.148 --> 00:24:21.419
Great.
00:24:21.479 --> 00:24:31.730
Um, so we accept submissions from all Middle Tennessee universities, and then students in my class in the fall get to program and watch those films and figure out what films will an audience enjoy.
00:24:31.730 --> 00:24:40.789
Not what films do they like, or what's good or bad in their perspective, but what would an audience enjoy and what is that experience like for the audience to sit and watch those films?
00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.990
It's so great, because I also think about the ways that you're contributing to Nashville culture.
00:24:45.049 --> 00:24:45.170
Mm-hmm.
00:24:45.470 --> 00:24:49.130
You know, we just had a literary festival, the Southern Festival of Books.
00:24:49.460 --> 00:24:54.410
We have a really active and vibrant creative writing program that brings authors in.
00:24:54.799 --> 00:24:57.859
We have, you know, obviously, lots going on in the arts.
00:24:57.859 --> 00:24:57.950
Mm-hmm.
00:24:58.284 --> 00:25:02.119
But this idea that film is this really great opportunity to bring people together...
00:25:02.148 --> 00:25:02.240
Mm-hmm.
00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:11.148
...as a complement to, you know, Blair's, uh, music performance, um, series and just that contribution, too, but also drawing together
00:25:11.148 --> 00:25:13.045
Mm-hmm.
00:25:13.128 --> 00:25:14.180
...is really exciting.
00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:14.628
Yeah.
00:25:14.809 --> 00:25:16.579
That sense of community is really important.
00:25:16.579 --> 00:25:20.595
That's what I was craving when I came. That's what I found at the Nashville Film Festival.
00:25:21.075 --> 00:25:26.025
But I wanted to create it for students here, but I didn't want it to be in a vacuum that it is just students.
00:25:26.025 --> 00:25:38.714
So we make sure that we are integrating and working with local organizations like the Belcourt Theatre, the Nashville Filmmakers Guild, um, the Nashville Film Festival, because I want students to have an experience that is a sense of community and tight-knit.
00:25:38.954 --> 00:25:51.359
But I want them to also realize that it goes beyond the campus, it goes beyond their career here at Vanderbilt. That they can find a sense of community in this city with other creatives and independent filmmakers that are working right alongside them here.
00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:52.079
That's great.
00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:57.509
And do they have trouble or do you have trouble with this idea of selection or curation?
00:25:57.750 --> 00:26:04.589
You know, I think the idea of curating could seem like you are essentially saying some, some films are worthy and others are not.
00:26:04.650 --> 00:26:04.740
Mm-hmm.
00:26:04.980 --> 00:26:12.299
Or alternately are saying I need to be able to limit the amount that I share because, um, we won't be able to show everything.
00:26:12.299 --> 00:26:12.359
Yeah.
00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:19.969
And therefore, I'm really trying to shape excitement and enthusiasm for all that's available by showing you less.
00:26:20.029 --> 00:26:20.449
Yeah.
00:26:20.659 --> 00:26:20.779
Yeah.
00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:23.059
We have to give ourselves some guidelines and some parameters.
00:26:23.059 --> 00:26:29.779
If we just said we're gonna accept films that we enjoy, or films that we deem worthy, that wouldn't be much guidance, right?
00:26:29.779 --> 00:26:38.148
So we started at the beginning of the semester learning what film festivals are, learning the history, the purpose of them, and then what is our festival's place in that circuit?
00:26:38.148 --> 00:26:40.519
Where do we fall amongst other festivals?
00:26:40.909 --> 00:26:54.529
And then once we understand our identity and what our festival is and what it can do and the purpose behind it, we then go into the process of developing a programming mission statement where the students really say, you know, this is the type of work that we wanna champion.
00:26:54.529 --> 00:26:57.259
These are the type of films that we want out there.
00:26:57.259 --> 00:27:01.549
These are the themes, the patterns that we think are important and that matter at this moment.
00:27:01.954 --> 00:27:04.519
And they have that as a guideline when they're looking at the film.
00:27:04.654 --> 00:27:08.944
So this year they had a very strong humanist approach that they were interested in.
00:27:08.944 --> 00:27:12.964
They really wanted films that really highlighted the human, um, condition.
00:27:13.085 --> 00:27:16.325
And so that was in the back of their minds when they were watching all of the films.
00:27:16.414 --> 00:27:17.255
So great.
00:27:17.285 --> 00:27:19.355
I mean, just the idea that they're really committed...
00:27:19.414 --> 00:27:19.505
Mmm-hmm.
00:27:19.744 --> 00:27:21.755
...to that theme, really impressive.
00:27:22.154 --> 00:27:35.474
As we think about the kind of wrap-up for this, Mariah, I was really interested in knowing what gives you hope for the future, in terms of the idea that you're really keeping the craft as well as the art of filmmaking...
00:27:35.505 --> 00:27:35.595
Mm-hmm.
00:27:35.924 --> 00:27:39.464
...very vibrantly alive here on campus and in the city.
00:27:39.585 --> 00:27:39.734
Mm-hmm.
00:27:39.974 --> 00:27:41.924
What gives you hope when we think about the future?
00:27:41.924 --> 00:27:41.984
Ah.
00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:50.259
Looking at my students' work. I mean, this is the end of the semester, so it's like that time where you're watching all of it, and you're reflecting on the work that they've done.
00:27:50.679 --> 00:28:02.304
And I get very excited about these things, and I have grand ideas. And I, you know, I could give you a five-year plan for the festival. But then I'll sit in class with the students. And yesterday I said, "Class is finished" and they didn't leave.
00:28:02.304 --> 00:28:06.324
They stayed. And they stayed for 15 minutes just talking about the festival.
00:28:06.324 --> 00:28:14.513
And it was in those moments where they were just, you know, talking with each other and being natural with each other that I heard all of these little ideas still popping up.
00:28:14.513 --> 00:28:27.454
And it's like, you know, as much as I want to do the things that I think are exciting about the festival, if I just listen, they have really exciting ideas about it, and they're really excited about the community here and leaving a legacy behind.
00:28:27.454 --> 00:28:30.365
A lot of them are seniors, and they feel like they're leaving their legacy behind.
00:28:30.545 --> 00:28:30.815
Wow.
00:28:30.845 --> 00:28:40.444
Um, so I think that's what gives me hope is just, you know, remembering to be quiet and to listen to the students in the room. Because they really do have a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of great ideas.
00:28:40.595 --> 00:28:41.494
Amazing.
00:28:41.795 --> 00:28:49.625
And if there's one thing that you wanted this audience, the 'Quantum Potential' audience, to leave with, is there anything, um, any last words that you'd like to leave us with?
00:28:50.490 --> 00:29:10.650
Kind of touching upon what we talked about at the beginning, where this idea that filmmaking tends to be an art form that we don't do for the fun of it? I would like, you know, people to just, whether you're a filmmaker, a creative, whatever field you're in, is to kind of sometimes just slow down and think about the process and think about the method behind it and why you started doing it in the beginning.
00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:17.849
And I think that can give you some inspiration and motivation to keep working at something, especially when something is getting challenging or difficult.
00:29:18.345 --> 00:29:21.734
I'm constantly trying to remind myself of that, of like,"Why did I choose to do this?
00:29:21.765 --> 00:29:26.115
Okay." And now I can enjoy the process rather than just trying to rush through the process.
00:29:26.295 --> 00:29:27.315
I love that.
00:29:27.315 --> 00:29:29.174
I love the message to slow down.
00:29:29.775 --> 00:29:31.394
I'm so grateful to you, Mariah.
00:29:31.394 --> 00:29:45.585
Thank you so much, and to everyone joining, thanks for joining us at 'Quantum Potential.' The 'Quantum Potential' podcast comes from Vanderbilt University.
00:29:46.200 --> 00:29:51.750
I'm your host, Cybele Raver, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs with Vanderbilt University.
00:29:52.500 --> 00:29:59.039
Thank you to our guest, Mariah Kramer, senior lecturer of Cinema and Media Arts in the College of Arts and Science.
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:03.990
This episode was edited and mixed by the team at Sound On Sound Off.
00:30:04.289 --> 00:30:08.220
You can learn more about their work at Sound on Sound off dot com.
00:30:09.059 --> 00:30:14.400
For more information about'Quantum Potential,' go to vanderbilt.edu/quantumpotential.
00:30:15.464 --> 00:30:18.494
Thank you for joining us today for the 'Quantum Potential' podcast.
00:30:19.214 --> 00:30:24.404
Stay tuned for more conversations with the thinkers and innovators reshaping our world.
00:30:25.095 --> 00:30:29.023
I'm Cybele Raver, and this has been 'Quantum Potential.'