Everything You Wanted to Know About Sudden Birth* (*but were afraid to ask) is the amazing story of how the Berkeley police department, the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands, an Academy Award winner and Mr Spock from TV’s Star Trek are all connected by "Sudden Birth", one of the most unintentionally hilarious and disturbing educational films ever created.

In color.

Interview with Writer/Director Scott Calonico

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

Thank you! I made this film, in part, to answer the question - is that a real baby that is born in this film.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

We've all found ourselves in this situation - I'm with someone who's about to give birth to a child. What do I do? Now you know. Also, this film is about origin stories and what it means to be an American.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

I'm interested in the forgotten bits of history, I guess. Digging up some forgotten piece of footage or lost audio tape and bringing it to light is my jam.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

Hmm. I'll have to say this is more or less the fastest film that I've ever put together. I keep my old versions of the film as I work. Looking back on the first versions of this film to the final, I'll have to say there's not much difference. It pretty much put itself together.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

LOL. Well, the nice thing is that we got a lot of screener requests for the film. The bad thing is that we've been rejected by a lot of festivals who requested a screener. I started telling people who requested a screener exactly what type of documentary they're getting.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Sudden Birth* (*but were afraid to ask)

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

I guess I'm a little taken aback at some of the rejections. It always gets a great reaction from the crowd at the screenings I've been at. I had someone who was at one of the screenings at Sundance tell me how much he loved the film and wanted to screen it at his festival. Then I get a rejection from them. lol.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

In addition to trying to figure out the mystery of sudden birth, I made the film mostly to get back into production and the festival circuit. I've pulled together a great team and we're already at work on our next project.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

I think we need more film festival directors on board.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

I'd like to think it help changes the nature of what exactly constitutes a documentary. I was recently at a festival and on a panel and someone asked "Why aren't there more funny documentaries" and I think the answer is that "funny" documentaries aren't taken seriously. I understand from a programming point of view - it's hard to program our film, for example, after a documentary showing the horrors of the Syrian war.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

What constitutes a documentary?

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

As I mentioned earlier, we're currently developing our first feature documentary. It's about an East German double agent who defected to the West in 1979 and went on to become a Wall Street investment banker. And that's just the beginning of the story.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Sudden Birth* (*but were afraid to ask) poster

Interview: April 2019

We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela

Everything You Wanted to Know About Sudden Birth* (*but were afraid to ask)

In color.

Length: 11:00

Director: Scott Calonico

Producer: Jeffrey J. Radice

Writer: Scott Calonico

Key cast: Heinrich Beernink, MD (Officer Bob North)

Looking for: sales agents, journalists, film festival directors, producers

Twitter: @scottcalonico

Instagram: @scottcalonico

Hashtags used: #suddenbirth

Website: www.scottcalonico.com

Funders: Self-funded

Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Florida Film Festival 2019, USA (April); Chicago Critics Film Festival 2019, USA (May); Independent Film Festival of Boston 2019, USA (April); DOKfilm 2019, Norway (April) ; Montclair International Film Festival 2019, USA (May); Mountainfilm 2019, USA (May)