A series of spatial limits are defined while a maker imbibes. Interdependence is inherited after a substance cannot be shook. An animal carefully guards an outlined space as a river runs backwards.

Interview with Director/Producer/Editor Josh Weissbach

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

While 601 REVIR DRIVE is a stand alone movie, it also exists as part of an on-going series entitled THE ADDRESSES. Because of this, it directly relates to two of the other films in the series and is a logical next step due to familial events that were occurring in my life.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

An audience member should watch this film because it connects directly to experiences that I believe every single human can relate to.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

At its most basic form, this movie is about familial dysfunction and substance abuse and the manner in which these two themes lead to the production and experience of trauma.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

601 REVIR DRIVE's conceptualization began with a collection of voicemails that have a very large role in the film. From there I began to bring together footage from film projects that had been previously abandoned. Finding other sources of audio to extend and to challenge the original material was the next important step in the movie's evolution.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

I mean, the feedback has been extremely positive. I think the best feedback I have received so far was from Slamdance Film Festival Programmer Randall Good, who has also seen previous movies in THE ADDRESSES, and he stated that 601 REVIR DRIVE was both a solidification and progression of my cinematic style. That felt pretty great and made me think that the conceptual and formal choices/ideas that I work with are functioning in maybe both a successful and unique manner.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

I do not think it has really done either. Because the ideas in this film are a progression of exploring a specific subject matter, I am pretty use to most of the surprises and the challenges that a viewer might confront me with. However, because this film is more of a deviation from my previous non-fiction films, the manner in which some of the viewers have responded to the role of metaphor in the movie and how some of the images of landscapes function was not completely what I anticipated.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

To expose my film to more people. My cinematic practice exists more or less within the experimental cinema niche, and while that still has an international audience, it is a pretty insular world.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

Sharing this film with more distributors, film festival directors, and journalists to extend the life of the movie would be great.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

601 REVIR DRIVE is a pretty visceral viewing experience. Considering what this movie is about and how substance dependency can impact familial relations both positively and negatively is something to consider.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

What is a revir?

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

I have two new short films that have been completed in the last year that are also showing at film festivals - FOR ALL AUDIENCES (2018) and TAKE A PICURE (2019). I am just starting work on a sci-fi film about H2O.

Interview: January 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

601 Revir Drive

Length: 8:40

Director: Josh Weissbach

About the writer, director and producer:

JOSH WEISSBACH is an experimental filmmaker. He lives in a house next to an abandoned village with his wife, two daughters, and three cats. His films and videos have been shown worldwide in such venues as Ann Arbor Film Festival, Slamdance Film Festival, Mono No Aware, Chicago Underground Film Festival, 25 FPS Festival, Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris, and Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival. He has won jury prizes at Videoex, ICDOCS, $100 Film Festival, Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, and Haverhill Experimental Film Festival. He is the recipient of the 2008 Cary Grant Film Award from the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, a 2013 Mary L. Nohl Fellowship for Emerging Artists from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and a 2015 LEF Fellowship from the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar.

Looking for: film festival directors, journalists, buyers, distributors

Facebook: Josh Weissbach

Twitter: @jfweissbach

Instagram: @jweissbach

Other: Vimeo

Funders: Self-funded, Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowship for Individual Artists

Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Slamdance / Park City, Utah - January 28th, 2019 / January, 31, 2019, The Mini Microcinema: 56th Ann Arbor Film Festival 16mm Film Tour / Cincinnati, OH / January, 31, 2019, Aurora Picture Show: 56th Ann Arbor Film Festival 16mm Film Tour / Houston, TX - March 1st, 2019