OUR TOP TEN - Crazy House
After the suicide of his best friend, a teenage boy is forced to deal with his guilt and sexuality in this surrealist psychodrama.
Interview with Director Aaron Mirkin
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thanks! Crazy House came about after a confluence of events. The first was a major breakup I was going through and the other was a good friend of mine coming out to me after breaking up with his longterm girlfriend.
He was in a relationship where he realized he couldn't love the other person and I was in the reverse situation, where the person I was in love with didn't know how to love me. This lead me to want to explore a character who was dealing with his inability to love someone who loved him, because he had yet to come to terms with his sexuality.
This theme is well encapsulated in a line from the Xiu Xiu song The Wig Master: "Loneliness isn't being alone, it's when someone loves you and you don't have it in you to love them back."
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I think we made a unique film. I think we made an intensely personal film that manages to balance genuine emotion with elements of genre and abstraction. Our inspirations came from all over the board, Gus Van Sant, David Lynch, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Derek Jarman, and Dario Argento, to name a few. This is a film that explores extreme emotions in a visceral way. Oh, and it has crazy lighting and a dance sequence.
Also the performances are outstanding. I can't overstate how lucky I was to work with this cast. Over the past year Connor Jessup has been lauded with well deserved praise for his performances in the second season of American Crime and the film Closet Monster, and his performance in Crazy House is just as good. Eric Osborne is someone to watch, he is the standout performer on Degrassi, and I believe he has all the potential in the world. Matt Landry is also super talented and I'm very happy that he's making his way onto bigger things.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
This film is the most personal work I've made to date. All of the emotions in the film are things I have dealt with, albeit amplified and abstracted. As a young man I struggled with my sexuality, and along with feeling heartbreak and having to cope with grief, I have also dealt with clinical depression since I was a teenager.
Writer Lonely Christopher has dealt with similar issues and there are aspects of this film that are incidentally biographical. The character of Nick Parks (played by Matt Landry) is named after a friend of Lonely's who committed suicide.
Sexuality, mental illness, heartbreak, and grief are things that most, if not all, people deal with at some point in their life. I believe that by channeling our personal experiences into a unique interpretation of the this story we've created something that is very resonant to some people.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
Back in my final year of film school I wrote a screenplay for a short film that explored similar themes to Crazy House but was never happy enough with it to make it. A year or so later when I broke up with the first man I was ever in love with, I began writing a piece about a young man who realizes that he was in love with his best friend after said friend kills himself. This script contained some surreal elements, but was more straight forward than Crazy House. I wasn't happy with the script, so I approached Lonely Christopher, who had written the short story my previous film, We Are Not Here, was based on.
Lonely was interested and brought forth the idea of using the idea of a haunted house as the setting for the film. After we sorted out how that would all work the script came pretty quickly and the rewrites were minor. Of course there were some changes made in the edit suite, as they always are, but they were mostly refinements.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
There are generally two camps that people fall into, those who get it and those who don't. For the people who don't really get it, we usually hear things like "cool lighting!" While those who get it, really get it. I've had strangers tell me that it's brought them to tears, which is humbling.
We've also garnered praise from some of my favourite filmmakers. Ira Sachs (Little Men) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) have been very positive on the film, which is surreal to me.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
My view point hasn't changed, but I've honestly been surprised by how much positive feedback we've had. Not because I think there is anything wrong with the film, but because I know it's a hard film and and a weird film.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I hope that it will bring Crazy House to the attention of more people who will find it meaningful.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
It's always great to screen at more festivals, and we're definitely open to talking with buyers. We'd also love to hear from other filmmakers and future collaborators.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I hope it provides catharsis for some and I hope it provokes strange feelings and questions for others. I just hope that something resonates with those who watch it.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
We never intended Crazy House to be an issue film, but there are issues that the core that I feel need to be discussed. Despite all the amazing strides that have been made in recent years towards acceptance and inclusion of sexual minorities, LGBTQ+ youth are still more than twice as likely to try to commit suicide as their heterosexual peers, according to the CDC.
Similarly, with all the strides we've made towards destigmatizing mental illness, I think we still have a long way to go. I think our society would be a lot healthier if we spoke more openly about our feelings and did not feel the need to repress them.
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I, Aaron Mirkin, am currently a resident at the Norman Jewison Canadian Film Centre, where I'm working on several short projects and developing my first feature. It is afilm about the family of a young man who is plagued by strange visions after his mysterious disappearance.
Lonely Christopher is working on his second novel, casually labouring over his poetics, and re-engaging with theatre both as a writer and actor. He is also involved with health services related to HIV/AIDS.
Miriam Levin-Gold is currently collaborating with Heart-On, a screening series that celebrates the work of emerging female filmmakers and artists in Toronto. She is set to produce a short film in the fall with Heart On creator, Elisia Mirabelli.
Connor Jessup is gearing up for another big acting gig and is also in pre-production on a short film that he is developing into a feature. He also just released his short film Boy, which I had the pleasure of sound designing, online for free. I urge you all to check it out.
Interview: August 2017
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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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Crazy House
After the suicide of his best friend, a teenage boy is forced to deal with his guilt and sexuality in this surrealist psychodrama.
Length: 18 minutes
Director: Aaron Mirkin
Producers: Miriam Levin-Gold & Aaron Mirkin
Writer: Lonely Christopher
About the writer, director and producer:
Aaron Mirkin is an award-winning queer filmmaker from Toronto. He has also directed music videos for the bands Xiu Xiu and Picastro.
Lonely Christopher is the Brooklyn based author of The Mechanics of Homosexual Intercourse, Death & Disaster Series, and THERE (forthcoming). He writes films as well.
Miriam Levin-Gold is the co-owner and producer of Toronto based production company Sempre Films Inc. Her work has screened at festivals including Cannes, Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival and Palm Springs International ShortFest.
Key cast: Connor Jessup, Eric Osborne, Matt Landry, Greg Gale, and Deborah Drakeford
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Anyone who is interested in the film or our future projects, feel free to get in contact.
Funders: The Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council, The Toronto Arts Council, and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto.
Release date: October 2015
Where can I watch it in the next month? At the HollyShorts film festival in LA, August 17th.