Queens World Film Festival / Julien Dubuque International Film Festival 2019 – Camp Wedding
Mia's wedding party is not too keen on transforming a dilapidated summer camp into the wedding venue of her dreams. When people begin disappearing, that doesn't help either...
Interview with Writer/Director/Editor Greg Emetaz
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I wanted to explore our fraying social fabric in a world of ubiquitous social media and text communication. It's a wedding comedy that stumbles into a summer camp horror movie and never quite realizes it since the two genres are communicating exclusively via text and social media so the tone doesn’t really get communicated.
What I love about genre movies is social commentary (especially anything that might seem like moral judgment) is an inherent aspect of the form. What might seem like a heavy-handed message in a drama, just feels like part of the game we love to play when seeing a horror movie. We expect them to punish their characters for sins and protect the pious. This often relies on dated definitions of sin, so I strove to create a more nuanced interpretation of the trope and force the characters to communicate honestly and openly in person...or die.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Do you like wedding movies? Horror movies? Murder mysteries? Gluten-free s'mores? Possessed 1980s toys? Bridezillas hiding dead bodies? Weaponized Operatic singing? Seances conducted with bachelorette party paraphernalia? Or just want to find out how all of this might find its way into one movie--you should see Camp Wedding.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The deeply personal is also universal. I firmly believe that when we are honest about what truly fascinates or haunts us, we inevitably will touch on something that resonates with others. I find myself constantly building up wild dramas in my head trying to interpret cryptic text messages only to have them totally dispelled in person. That is a theme I explored in two earlier short films and hoped to go even deeper within Camp Wedding. It also intersects with what is a core philosophy of mine, that most of the world's problems are caused by miscommunication and misunderstanding, not malevolence. Horror movies often have a pure evil that is terrorizing the characters, but I love what I guess is the classic definition of tragedy: a series of unfortunately interlocking events that could have been avoided if Romeo only knew Juliet's poison was temporary or that e-mail didn't go to spam.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I developed the script at this wonderful theater company in New York called The Shelter (www.theshelternyc.org). We meet every Sunday. We bring in ten pages and actors bring them to life. I brought in Camp Wedding piecemeal over about a year and got great feedback. Just hearing it read and everyone's theories about where it was going were invaluable. Morgan McGuire read Paulette in those early stages and I quickly began hearing her voice while writing the role. The Shelter even arranged for a separate reading of the full script that was both devastating and incredibly helpful. I completely changed the third act after that.
Before finalizing the edit we did several test screenings that were very helpful in honing in on where people were confused and what jokes weren't landing. I was showing an early cut to a friend and there's a scene where the bride unzips a garment bag to see her dress and her face goes white. He said aloud "Wrong dress..." and I wanted to die. I had written this much more complicated thing about the alterations being off, but no one believed she could tell that from just seeing the dress on a hanger and obviously getting the wrong dress was way more dramatic. So through some ADR and new VO, we were able to make that change and it now feels like it was always intended to be like that.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We just had our premiere at the fantastic Nevermore Festival in Durham, NC (www.carolinatheatre.org/films/festivals/nevermore) and the response was wonderful. People seemed to really connect with the way social media is so integrated into the film in a way they said they had not seen before. I was asked how many alcoholic beverages were consumed in the writing of the script. Answer: none! Plenty of coffee though...
It seems to be received as more of a comedy than a horror film, but there are still moments when people jump, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of an audience a compound genre film like this ultimately finds.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
It's still early in our festival run, but even the three screenings at Nevermore were all so different. People laughed at things I'd never heard anyone laugh at and were also dead silent at what had been a huge laugh in another screening.
Probably the most surprising feedback I received was that it felt like the entire cast was one ensemble and there were no leads. In fact, there is a dramatically different screen time from one character to the next, but I'm happy that it feels like everyone is equally present.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I really just want this movie to reach as many people as possible. I'm so proud of all the work the whole team put into it and want to do my best to share it far and wide.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
All of the above.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I'm a big advocate for 'popcorn movies'. Whenever I hear that a film is 'important' I get very concerned. I think there should be a Hippocratic oath of cinema: first, to entertain. So I really hope that people just have fun watching Camp Wedding and if they get something out of the social commentary, the more the better.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What's the craziest thing you would do solely based on text messages from a friend?
Would you like to add anything else?
Just that if you want the latest updates on the film, please like us on Facebook.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I'm developing another feature that goes behind the scenes of a suburban ballet company’s annual production of The Nutcracker, where a brutal power struggle between teen dancers, their parents, and the tyrannical dominion of its artistic director erupts into a rebellion threatening to extinguish the magical production all their extended families are forced to endure.
Interview: March 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
Camp Wedding
Mia's wedding party is not too keen on transforming a dilapidated summer camp into the wedding venue of her dreams. When people begin disappearing, that doesn't help either...
Length: 1:37:00
Director: Greg Emetaz
Producer: Josh Folan
Writer: Greg Emetaz
About the writer, director and producer:
GREG EMETAZ is the writer-director of short films Spell Claire, Get the F K Outta Paris!, Bowes Academy, Death by Omelette (SNCF Prix Du Polar Finalist & Hong Kong Mobile Film Awards Silver Medalist) and co-director with Amanda DeSimone of music videos Eating 4 Two and Butt Drunk (Friar’s Club Film festival special Jury Award, iTVfest Best Director Award)
JOSH FOLAN's Filmmaking highlights since founding NYEH Entertainment in 2008 include 2018 Hamptons/Woodstock/Napa selection Ask For Jane, 2017 SXSW audience award winner The Light of the Moon, 2017 Tribeca best actor award winner Nobody’s Watching, 2015 Slamdance selection Body, 2015 Raindance selection The Lives of Hamilton Fish, 2016 SOHO Int’l selection and 2017 Queens World best screenplay nominee Catch 22: based on the unwritten story by Seanie Sugrue.
Key cast: Kelley Gates (Mia), Wendy Jung (Eileen), Morgan McGuire (Paulette), Cadden Jones (Flynn), Sean Hankinson (Gore), David Pegram (Dalvero), Melissa Roth (Aexis), Adam Santos-Coy (Trask) Cliff Mliller (Jack), John Patryn (Michael)
Looking for: sales agents, distributors, journalists, film festival directors, buyers
Facebook: Camp Wedding
Twitter: @MINORapoc
Instagram: @minorapoc
Hashtags used: #CampWeddingMovie #MiaCampWedding #CampWedding #DestinationWedding #HauntedSummerCamp
Website: minorapocalypse.com
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: MINORapocalypse
Funders: Self-funded
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Queens World Film Festival / New York City - March 22nd; Julien Dubuque International Film Festival/Dubuque, IA - April 25-26