Hot Docs - Exit Music
Exit Music is a rare invitation into the world of a young artist dying of cystic fibrosis as he and his father navigate the ominous, sacred, and unmapped journey at the end of life.
Interview with Director Cameron Mullenneaux
Why did you make your film?
As strange as it sounds, I’ve always been interested in the topic of end of life. Before going to film school, I studied death and dying, volunteered with hospice, and read a lot about how we as a society avoid conversations about death and often do little to prepare for it. I wanted to make a film that explored the unpredictable, emotional journey of a family as they experienced the dying process to help all of us reflect on our relationship to mortality. For me, the process of watching this film moves me to reflect on their own life, my relationship to loss, and gives me a surge of appreciation for the life that I have now.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
This family has given us an incredible gift, which is letting us into the most intimate and heartbreaking moment in life. Plus the entire soundtrack of the film was composed using Ethan’s original music and animations which are quirky and sure to be memorable.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
There is no more universal theme than death and yet each death is unique and different and has something different to teach us. In a culture that often looks away from death, this film demystifies the dying process, which is a universal cornerstone of the human experience.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I initially was researching a film about the “right to die” movement particularly in Vermont when they first legalized physician aid in dying in 2013. But I met Ethan who who lived in NY and was not interested in physician aid in dying. We had an incredible connection right away and I decided to focus on his story. He was prolonging his life through medical therapies like 24/7 oxygen treatment and medications, and ultimately had a choice of when to withdraw medical treatment and allow death to happen which proved to be an incredibly difficult and emotional journey for him and his family. Also, the discovery of the family’s home movies and Ethan’s music and animation allowed me to look at structuring the film from a more personal and artistic place instead of from the perspective of the disease or end of life advocacy.
At some point death touches the whole family,
What type of feedback have you received so far?
People bring their own experiences to it. People who have recently experienced death watch this film in a different way than someone who hasn’t. They can see themselves in the characters which is a special discovery we’re made. Also people say they loved Ethan’s unusual and inventive musical style.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I was surprised that because Ethan was so young (28), it moved younger audience members to reflect on their relationship to life and death.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I’d love to connect with funders and partners for developing an outreach plan.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Journalists, press, sales agents, buyers, distributors.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I want it to start a conversation about end of life issues that isn’t serious and moody but instead from a place that is genuine, casual, and curious.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How do you feel about dying?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I’m researching a documentary on a female celebrity in media who appeals to a wide cross section of America - people of all ages, races, socio-economic statuses, and has an unexpected personal story that not many people know about.
I’m writing a screenplay, a dark comedy about an 18 year girl who leaves her immigrant father’s restaurant and their codependent relationship to live on a new age spiritual commune in Northern California where things get dark.
Interview: April 2018
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, scifi, 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
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Exit Music
Exit Music is a rare invitation into the world of a young artist dying of cystic fibrosis as he and his father navigate the ominous, sacred, and unmapped journey at the end of life.
Length: 71 minutes
Director: Cameron Mullenneaux
Producer: Linda Davis Garkow
About the writer, director and producer:
Cameron Mullenneaux is an independent filmmaker based in San Francisco. Her directorial debut, Exit Music (formerly How Do You Feel About Dying) is a co-production with ITVS and received additional support from LEF Foundation, The Visual Storytelling Consortium, Independent Filmmakers Project, and the San Francisco Film Society. She directed and produced the short film Angelique for Conde Nast’s digital Glamour brand. She has an MFA in documen-tary film production from Wake Forest University and a self-designed major in death and dying from Warren Wilson College.
Linda Davis Garkow is a San Francisco-based Emmy-nominated filmmaker who produced The Force, an inside look at the troubled Oakland police department, which won the Directing Award at Sundance in 2017. She also produced The Kill Team, about a soldier in Afghanistan who attempted to report war crimes committed by his platoon, which won Best Documentary Feature at Tribeca in 2013 and was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Journalism. Before that she produced The Waiting Room, a verité portrait of a day in the life at a public hospital in Oakland,
California, which was released theatrically in 2012 to critical acclaim and won numerous awards including the Truer Than Fiction Inde-pendent Spirit award.
Nels Bangerter is the editor of CAMERAPERSON, VERY SEMI-SERIOUS, LET THE FIRE BURN, and other award-winning documentary films. He has been nominated for two Emmys, won best editing awards from the Cinema Eye Honors, Tribeca Film Festival, and the IDA, and was selected as a Sundance Labs creative advisor. Nels has two terrific kids and lives in Oakland, CA.
Amy Foote is a documentary editor based in Brooklyn, NY. Her editing credits include The Work (Grand Jury Prize SXSW 2017, nominated for a Gotham Award and Cinema Eye Audience Award); Peabody award winning Mavis! (HBO); 1964 (PBS American Experience) the Emmy- nominated and James Beard Award winning film, A Matter of Taste: Serving Up Paul Liebrandt (HBO, BBC); For Once In My Life, (PBS Independent Lens, SXSW Audience Award 2010, IDA Best Music Documentary). and the Emmy-nominated film, Finishing Heaven (HBO). She was also was the Consulting Editor on Chef Flynn (Sundance and Berlin 2018), and was an Addi- tional Editor on Long Strange Trip (Oscar Short list 2018, Amazon) and Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (PBS American Masters).
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): All of the above.
Social media handles: www.exitmusicfilm.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exitmusicmovie/?ref=bookmarks
Instagram: @rapturequeen
Other:
Funders: ITVS, LEF FOUNATION
Made in association with: ITVS
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Screening dates TBD