Cucalorus 2019 – Pooling
A breakdancer breaks...literally.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Dawn Westlake
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I conceived of Pooling in 2015, as a vehicle to collaborate with my godson, Markitus (Marc Carrizo Villaroig), an international breakdance champion and member of the prestigious Barcelona-based (but globe-trotting) urban dance troupe, Brodas Bros. I also wanted to work with his older brother, Pol Carrizo Vilarroig, a DP/Editor with Imatge Barcelona. Due to scheduling conflicts, the three of us were not able to make the film until 2018. (I did make three different films with Pol in Chicago, Los Angeles and Barcelona in 2015, 2016 and 2017, in the meantime.)
To be very honest, I first conceived of the film about a human being who literally takes a leap, endures a hard fall, breaks and puts himself back together as a symbolic reflection of a bad break-up in the marriage of very close friends who’d met in the world of competitive swimming in Barcelona in the 1980s. One partner changed so radically that I doubted I ever knew him, and a few years later, the other partner died very young of lung cancer. However, despite that break-up and early death, complete with “flying parts”, I did see that some very solid things came out of a hard situation. Frankly, my collaborators are most likely having such triumphant career success at such early ages because they were forced to be serious, innovative and self-reliant as teenagers. Yes, Marc & Pol are the incredibly talented, compassionate and very “put-together” offspring of my best friends who broke up. That was my original idea behind the film for 2015.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Hopefully, it will enlighten, entertain and evoke positive emotions from you.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
As I mentioned, I first conceived of Pooling in 2015 but was not able to make it until 2018. Making the film as an American in 2018, I was inspired for brand new reasons. My country seems to be enduring a soft coup by a foreign adversary that installed a puppet to “govern” us. This foreign power didn’t have to fire a shot. Too many of my fellow citizens were very easily fooled and/or brainwashed into distrusting our institutions. Too many had become apathetic about voting. Too many hadn’t had access to solid public education, so they didn’t understand or respect our Constitution. Too many were so overwhelmed by economic, medical and social challenges that they became addicted to prescription opioids and street drugs which made them incapable of basic reasoning. Like our protagonist, they came to ‘the pool’ of participation in American civic, political and cultural society with a background that wasn’t fully formed, and it made them weak and colorless. They trusted that they could take a strange leap away from the heights of the American platform and that the water below would support them…but their lack of understanding of the properties in the environment around them made their fall fast, hard, and seemingly irreparable. And yet…
As the creator of Pooling, I refuse to let this still-unfolding story about the attack on America Democracy end in pieces. So, my Fallen Man has his colors restored immediately…upon impact…and although it takes great effort, he finds his scattered parts… and he puts himself back together. Realizing that he can make everything work in concert once again, he gratefully celebrates to the point of becoming pure energy and light. This is my hope for all democracies currently under attack by destabilizing forces from without, or within, their own pool.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Extremely positive! We've won the Art Award at RATMA Film Festival in the UK and a People's Choice Award at the Xsection Film Festival of Science and Dance in Massachusetts. We've been presented in some amazing locations as well...NYC's Lincoln Center, Dansmuseet in Stockholm, Sweden (the only museum dedicated to dance and movement in the world), The Klimt Villa in Vienna, Austria, Fundacio Miro in Mallorca...and Pooling has opened up new territories for my work...We played at a fest in Havana, Cuba and another in Snaefellsnes, Iceland!
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I've just been delighted with the response.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I would love to direct more dance films. I'd be particularly interested in using dance filmmaking in advertising campaigns for products and/or progressive-inclusive messaging I believe in.
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'd like it to encourage people to make more films that stretch boundaries and meld different types of media in filmmaking.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How do you handle adversity? Do you whine? Give up? Or, do you work hard to put yourself back together and then celebrate your renaissance with gratitude?
Would you like to add anything else?
I'd just like to add how grateful I am to be able to collaborate with such remarkably talented people: Dismas & GrissyG Lizarraga did our fabulous opening and closing animation out of their GrisDismation studio; Joan Armand Forero of Praxiz did our amazing score, incorporating old nat-sound tapes I had of Maasai and Samburu dancers/singers in Kenya; Pol Carrizo Vilarroig and his production partner Andrea Perez Maldonado of Imatge Barcelona brilliantly shot the piece, and Pol edited and did all the extraordinary visual effects. Last, but certainly not least, Marc Carrizo Vilarroig choreographed and danced...tirelessly throwing himself wholly into our collaboration...and ALWAYS with a smile on his face.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I've just started marketing my brand new film, Terroir. It's a feminist musical film about how sometimes our relationships with our mothers cloud our perceptions of very capable female leaders in all sectors of society. We just finished it on September 9th, 2019, and it's already been accepted to festivals in India, Colombia, and the USA.
Interview: October 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
Pooling
A breakdancer breaks...literally.
Length: 4:05
Director: Dawn Westlake
Producer: Dawn Westlake
Writer: Dawn Westlake
About the writer, director and producer:
DAWN WESTLAKE is president of Ron de Cana Prods., Inc. in Los Angeles. She has made 21 films since the year 2000 which have won 70 awards, including honors from JVC-Tokyo and Canon USA, Inc. Dawn is also an actress/writer/producer and has judged film festivals in the USA, France, Italy and Portugal.
Key cast: Marc Carrizo Vilarroig (Dancer)
Looking for: distributors, journalists, film festival directors, buyers, sales agents
Facebook: Dawn Westlake
Instagram: @dawnwestlake
Hashtags used: #breakdance #animation #vfx #hiphop #drone #djimavicpro #Canon6D
Website: dawnwestlake.com/rondecana/films/pooling/index
Other: Vimeo
Made in association with: Ron de Cana Prods, Inc., Imatge Barcelona, GrisDismation
Funders: Ron de Cana Productions, Inc.
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Festival de Videodanza de Palma/Fundació Miró, Palma de Mallorca, Spain - October 25-26, 2019; 12th Northern Wave Film Festival/Snaefellsnes, Iceland - October 25-27, 2019; Festival de Cinema de Tres Passos/Tres Passos, Brazil - November 7-9, 2019; Silver Wave Film Festival/Fredericton, NB, Canada - November 7-10, 2019; Cucalorus Film Festival/Wilmington, NC, USA - November 13-17, 2019; Festival de Cinemistica/Granada, Spain - November 16, 2019; Athens Video Dance Project/Athens, Greece - January 24-26, 2020