Cannes Short Film Corner - A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.
A delicate Zen like passing of wisdom from an older man to a young boy when they meet by chance in the early morning hours at a roadside café in 1947.
Interview with Writer/Director Karen Allen
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I have spent my life working in films and in the theatre. (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Starman, Scrooged, The Glass Menagerie, Year By the Sea). The first 25 years, I was focused on working as an actor, but ten years ago I began to direct in the theatre and I found that I felt very at home directing actors and placing my focus on the larger picture of telling the story and working with the playwright and designers to create a collaborative vision. It was a natural progression for me to choose to direct a film. Thankfully, I had the encouragement of numerous colleagues but in particular a producer I had been working with in the theatre for several years. He became one of our film’s producers, Brian Long. For me, there was never a question that this story, “A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.” would be the first story I would want to tell on film as a director. It was a story I had known for 35 years and I felt compelled to tell it.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
If you are not familiar with Carson McCullers’ writing (“The Heart is A Lonely Hunter”, “Member of the Wedding”), that is reason enough to watch the film, but beyond that, it is a delicate, soulful tale of love and loss and the power we have to heal and change. The performances in the film are exceptional and the cinematography is breathtaking.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The theme of the story is both personal and universal. It takes the common thread of our experiences of love and loss and brings them into a new and unfamiliar territory . The main character discovers something about his own depth and power that he never could have imagined.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
When I first wrote the script, I was so familiar and attached to the story Carson McCullers had written that I was reluctant to change anything about it. In the first draft of the script I literally just converted the actions and dialogue from the pages of her short story and set them into a screenplay format.
During the year that we prepped for the shoot, and as I began to find our locations, our cast, and to think in more detail about how I wanted to shoot and tell the story, the script began to reflect my more visual focus and to develop a life of its own. I did two re-visions of the script a few months before we shot, and while the core of Carson McCullers’ story was always at the forefront, I developed the confidence to find my own way of telling the story and of keeping the essence of what was in her story.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The feedback has been very positive. Won we Best International Narrative Short in our first festival in Manchester, England in March and have received two other awards since and numerous festival acceptances. Friends who are celebrated filmmakers have given wonderful critiques of the film. On the opposite front, there have been film festivals that we would have loved to have been chosen for, that we did not get into and in the beginning every rejection was very hard to take. The pace of the film and the length (just shy of 30 minutes) are sometimes seen as challenging to festivals. No one speaks in the film for the first seven minutes. I knew that it might be challenging for a contemporary audience when I was editing the film, but I thought it was an essential aspect of the story I wanted to tell. I wanted to let the silence draw the audience towards the characters, and into a story that requires their full attention. It’s not necessarily a lap-top kind of film, but on the big screen, it’s magic.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The feedback we have gotten has been very encouraging. When the film was just finished, and we were getting great feedback from colleagues and from invited audiences at screenings, that buoyed us after a long period of work in relative isolation. It can be hard to judge the reliability of feedback at screenings because I find that the people who give you feedback, often do so because they have something positive to say to you. We showed the film to an audience of 1200 people in February on McCullers’ birthday in Columbus, GA, the town of her birth, and that was thrilling. At least on the big screen, my fears about the film’s pace have not proved to be an issue. It is often commented upon as a thing that people love about the film.
I have found it difficult to not receive any feedback from festivals that you are submitting to, especially when they are turning you down and you receive “that form letter” and you have no idea why they didn’t respond to your film or what their reasons are for feeling it doesn’t work for their festival.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
2017 is Carson McCullers’ centennial celebration. She died 50 years ago at the age of 50, but in 2017 her work and the influence she had on generations of writers, particularly women, is being looked at with fresh eyes. I’d love the film to get exposure for a number of reasons. One is to introduce McCullers to new generations of readers. Another has to do with the message of the story, which has stayed with me all these years in a quite profound way. The world we live in today can seem filled with division and hatred. There is a spark of genius in this story that suggests we have the power to not be trapped in our almost innate responses to fear, loss and grasping onto things that we think we need to be happy. To me that is the story’s message and I would like to share it with as large an audience as possible.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We would love to find a way to distribute our film to both the film world and to the educational world: video on demand, cable, television, theatres, high schools, colleges, universities, libraries, so that people who are reading McCullers work can have a 21st century interpretation of one her stories. I think a sales agent will be key for us both in Europe and in the Americas. I have been told that McCullers is much beloved in India, China and Japan and I would love to reach out to those markets as well. I am learning that the marketplace can be limited for a short film, but we would like to try and take the film as far as it can go. I have also had an interest in turning the story into a feature film, but that remains to be seen.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I want audiences to be moved and possibly changed by it; to be inspired to think differently.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Why did we shoot in Black & White is always a starting question. Another is what does this story mean to me and why? Why did I so passionately want to tell this story? How did I find this extraordinary Boy?
Would you like to add anything else?
This was a truly independent film. Everyone pulled together and shot the film for very little money. We had sponsorship from two arts organizations, one of which was the Carson McCullers Center. Most of our budget was raised one small contribution after another, from a community of artists, friends, family and neighbors who live near where we filmed in western, MA in the US. Many people volunteered their time and provided services for us for free. Without their help in never would have come together. We are still challenged financially as we come into the festival season as it is expensive to travel with the film to support it.
Karen Allen (writer/director) has a feature film that she has written and is looking for collaborators. She is also currently writing an original short film. As an actor, her most recent film, “Year By the Sea”, based on the NY Times bestselling memoir of Joan Anderson, is opening this summer in the US and she is traveling in between festivals to promote it. It also stars Michael Cristofer, Celia Imrie, Epatha Merkeson, and Yannick Besson.
Diane Pearlman – Diane is an independent film and visual effects producer. She's currently the Executive Producer of the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative, a non-profit organization that creates educational courses for the film and media industry and assists productions that want to shoot in western Massachusetts. She's also developing projects with visual effects pioneer/director, Douglas Trumbull as well as several projects for children's television.
Brian Long – (producer) He has several film and television projects he is producing as well as a play that will be in Scotland later this summer.
Jeffrey DeMunn – (the old man) He is on the television series, “Billions” and also on the HBO series “Divorce”. He is currently shooting a feature film in the US.
James McMenamin – (Leo) I believe that his television series, ‘Orange is the New Black” was just picked up for another season. I have a plan to work with him on a play in the next year. I have directed him twice in the theatre.
Jackson Smith – (Boy) He is going into 9th grade next year. He is a filmmaker himself, and a valuable member of his school’s baseball team (pitcher). He is also a musician. He would like to act in another film. He recently won Best Newcomer at the USA FF in Dallas, Texas.
Richard Sands –(Cinematographer) Works constantly as a cinematographer all over the world.
Kristi Zea – (Production Designer) Just directed her own documentary film about the artist Elizabeth Murray (“Everyone Knows Elizabeth Murray”). She works non-stop as a production designer in film and television.
Interview: May 2017
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A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.
A delicate Zen like passing of wisdom from an older man to a young boy when they meet by chance in the early morning hours at a roadside café in 1947.
Length : 29 minutes 30 seconds
Director: Karen Allen
Producers: Diane Pearlman, Brian Long, Karen Allen
Writer: Karen Allen (screenplay) based on the short story of Carson McCullers.
About the Writer/Director/ Producers:
Karen Allen – Is an award winning actor and theatre director who has starred in over 40 feature films both blockbusters and independent. She works as an actor and director in the NY theatre. This is her first film as a director.
Diane Pearlman – Is an independent film and visual effects producer. She is also the Executive Director of the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative.
Brian Long – Began as a manager in the music business. He left that world to produce plays Off-Broadway with Rattlestick Theatre in NYC. He has recently become a Artist’s Manager and Producer in film and television.
Carson McCullers – Is considered one of the top literary influences of the 20th Century. She wrote “The Heart is A Lonely Hunter” at the age of 22. It was made into an Academy Award nominated film in the 60s. She also wrote “Member of the Wedding”, “Ballad of a Sad Café “ and other novels, short stories and essays.
Key Cast: Jeffrey DeMunn, James McMenamin, Jackson Smith
Looking for: (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists)
Website: www.atreearockacloudthefilm.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/atreearockacloudfilm/
Twitter: @treerockfilm
Funders:
Major funding came from the Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians. The rest of the money was raised from private donations and foundations. IFP (Independent Filmmaker Project), a non-profit organization., is the fiscal sponsor of the film.
Where can I see it in the next month?
The film is being screened at the Berkshire International Film Festival (in Massachusetts) on June 3rd. It will be screened at both the Madrid Film Festival and WoodsHole Film Festival in July and at the Rhode Island Film and HollyShorts Festivals in August.