The extreme and intensely wonderful DIY case for making your narrative film is embodied by Zachary Oberzan and his incredible "Flooding With Love for the Kid."
On the documentary end of the spectrum, I’d like to introduce you to Alexia Anastasio. Don’t let that image on her home page fool you. Alexia is as animated (no pun intended) and upbeat as could be and devoted to making art. She considers acting and film just two of her mediums.
While a freshman at SUNY Purchase, Alexia cleverly maneuvered herself into the film world by volunteering at industry events like the IFP Market (when there was still such a thing), the New York Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and many others. Beyond achieving ready access to free alcohol as an underage college student, she was rubbing shoulders with professionals in every aspect of filmmaking and learning plenty of life lessons along the way.
About 10 years ago, as a volunteer at the Golden Trailer Awards, Alexia briefly met Bill Plympton. Once aware of who he was and what he looked like, she began noticing Bill at nearly every film party and film event she attended. (Oh Bill, you party animal.) Then in 2008, at one of his very popular master classes in animation at the venerable Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, N.Y., Alexia and Bill made a real connection.
The event was sold out and Bill was under siege by an army of fans seeking DVDs, drawings, autographs and the like; Alexia jumped in to help. She’d been making short films and other art by then and had gained a ton of experience working booths at fan conventions selling her own wares. She impressed Bill with her adept handling of the multitude and financial transactions. As thanks, Bill agreed to draw a custom portrait of Alexia, which she picked up at his home studio in Manhattan a week or so later.
Over cherries and mango juice on the roof of Bill’s apartment house, Alexia announced that she wanted to make a doc about the artist’s life and work. Bill was receptive but asked for a formal proposal. Two months later at Comic-con in San Diego, where they were both working the crowd, Alexia handed over her proposal for the film and Bill agreed to participate. In December they met for a strategy session and filming began a month later, in January 2009.
The film is 30 to 60 days from completion and Alexia is frantically trying to complete a cut in time for Toronto’s June 4 submission deadline. (I’ve told her absolutely not to stress about Toronto. It’s the rusty old meat grinder that filmmakers have been putting themselves through forever. It’s never been a bigger waste of time, money and energy to rush to meet any festival’s deadline than it is today.)
The film includes interviews with Keith Carradine, Ed Begley Jr., Terry Gilliam, "Ice Age" director Chris Wedge, actress Martha Plimpton (distant cousin), Moby, "The Simpsons" director David Silverman and a host of others.
