Short Of The Week - The Mink Catcher
Susan May Pratt and Anna Margaret Hollyman in The Mink Catcher.
Dallas, Texas, 1980: A gossip columnist hunts down Dallas’s new First Lady to unearth the truths underneath her legendary mink coat.
Interview with Producers Daniella Kahane, Marie Schlingmann and Director Samantha Buck
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
We have been developing a feature film about women navigating the changing times during the summer of 1980 in order to find and assert their own identities. It is a time and place that was in transition. The Presidential election, an enormous heat wave that was melting the façade and make up off of the women, as the city became the epicenter of all things pop culture with the “Who Shot JR?” craze.
The short film, The Mink Catcher, lives in the world of this feature, but more decidedly (and abstractly) examines the exhaustion and aftermath of that summer. It offered us the opportunity to explore the world of the visual language of the feature and the curious, broken and over-the-top female characters that inhabit it.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
It’s a glimpse into world that is both nostalgic and foreign and has something to say about today.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Politics is personal and emotions are politics. That’s what we worked off of. The more you get to know the women who navigate this world the more you understand how you should not underestimate their power, intelligence, and depth.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
We started with the feature first. The first spark was our curiosity about this specific time and place. Sam’s mom began her political career in Dallas in the late 70’s early 80’s, and her stories inspired to investigate different women’s experiences during that time. The summer of 1980 had a vital impact and defined many of them. We were specifically fascinated by how a place and time in transition impacts the identity of the people living there.
As we began to think about how the short would work, we were drawn to the aftermath of that summer, after the election, and it felt right to tell this story of a woman at the epicenter, who wants to get out, having the most intimate moment with a woman who desperately wants in.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
It has been overwhelmingly positive and very encouraging. People have had a visceral response to the film and the ending sits a bit differently with everyone. That is what we hoped for.
We had the best crew and such a talented cast so it is wonderful that most people have either commented on the technical aspect or the rich performances.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Just diving into this world and meeting the real women who lived it challenged whatever preconceived notions most people have of them. We set out to make a film that would start a conversation or allow the audience to have a different emotional response to it.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We feel like this is a timely piece and just want it to be seen by as many people as possible. There was a brutality and vulnerability that washed over the country and the women in the wake of the election of 1980. It feels very relevant to today.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
At this point we are just beginning to raise financing for the film so we are looking for traditional and non traditional film investors to help us bring this project to fruition. As this is a film about women, by women (with a female writing/directing team and a female producer), and for women, we plan to build a female base of support, financially, around the film. And yes, at some point we will be looking for the right sales agent for the film, buyers, distributors, etc.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
A positive one for women!
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Has Libby’s perspective on Pete changed at the end of the film and if so how?
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
We are developing the feature film that the short lives in called The Bid D.
Interview: November 2016
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. 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
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THE MINK CATCHER
Dallas, Texas, 1980: A gossip columnist hunts down Dallas’s new First Lady to unearth the truths underneath her legendary mink coat.
Length:
12 MIN
Director:
SAMANTHA BUCK
Producer:
DANIELLA KAHANE
MARIE SCHLINGMANN
Writer:
SAMANTHA BUCK
MARIE SCHLINGMANN
About the writer, director and producer:
Samantha Buck & Marie Schlingmann are a New York-based writing and
directing team. They have created two short films together, The Mink
Catcher and Canary, as well as several feature screenplays in which
they explore big genres, identities in crisis and reinvention, female
anti-heroes, and play with politics and dark fantasy. Other credits
include the Peabody Award winning documentary feature Best Kept
Secret. They are currently adapting and directing the feature film
version of Joelle Charbonneau’s YA novel Need for Covert Media. They
are represented by Lee Stobby Entertainment.
Daniella is an award-winning filmmaker, whose films have screened at
festivals across the country including Sundance, Telluride, SXSW,
Tribeca, and Palm Springs.. In addition to "The Big D," she is
currently producing "1296 Hits," a feature to be directed by Martha
Stephens ("Land Ho!"), written by Mark Poirier ("Smart People,"
"Hateship...Loveship") and Bill U’Ren, with producer Diana Ossana
("Brokeback Mountain"). She served as an executive producer on the
feature documentary "Girl Unbound," about a young Pakistani female
squash player which premiered at Toronto, and on Ira Sach’s film,
"Little Men," which Magnolia released this year after its Sundance
premiere, and the Peabody Award winning film "Best Kept Secret."
Daniella previously worked for Academy Award winning producer Wendy
Finerman (Forrest Gump, The Devil Wears Prada). Daniella graduated
summa cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University and with an
MFA from Columbia University. She is the recipient of HBO’s Young
Producer’s Award, and was first runner up for the Producers Guild of
America Award.
Key cast:
ANNA MARGARET HOLLYMAN
SUSAN MAY PRATT
KRISTIN SLAYSMAN
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
FINANCING PARTNERS
Made in association with:
Release date:
SEPTEMBER 2015 (TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL)
Where will it be screened in the next month?
ONLINE VIA SHORTOFTHEWEEK