[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 9:00 pm — Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City] There is a scene toward the end of Enemies of the People where two of our main characters, Suon and Khoun, admit to eating human body parts during the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge. I had been aware of this from when I first started filming with them in June 2007. My problem was this: This was vital information that an audience should know since our film is an up-close and personal account of a terrifyingly brutal episode in recent history. There could be no […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2010PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 9:00 pm — Temple Theatre, Park City] I think the hardest part of any film is figuring out when to let go of your original conception and let it become something else. If you release the ideal film that’s playing in your head too soon, you risk finding yourself lost in the wilderness. If you hang on too long, you might be ignoring the inevitably more interesting reality that the world has dropped in front of you. So that and figuring out new ways to shoot in bathrooms (there are four of them that made […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2010[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 8:00 pm — Racquet Club, Park City] For the last eight years I’ve taught directing at Columbia University’s Film Program — in my opinion, the best, most comprehensive film school anywhere. More than 25 of my students, past and present, were all working on 3 Backyards in a variety of positions ranging from production designer, co-producer, editor and script supervisor to key p.a. and craft services. One student in particular, Russ Harbaugh, decided he wanted to be part of the entire process, and so he signed on as my assistant. One day during preproduction I […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2010[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 9:00 pm — Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City] I recast our lead guy three days into shooting. It was terrifying, but it was something I had to do. He wasn’t having fun, we weren’t having fun, and I’m sorry, but when you’re making a film for no money, just for the love of the project, you better be having fun doing it! And in the end, we did. Those last 11 days were incredible!
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2010[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 5:15 pm — Racquet Club, Park City] For me, the hardest decision to make is of course the most important: the “telling the universe” moment, when you finally just decide on a shooting date, regardless of time, resources or common sense and start barreling toward it, telling your friends, your co-workers, yourself and thereby the universe that indeed, you are gonna make another movie. At first, it seems ridiculous and you usually have to push it back, but then serendipity takes over and the universe starts to drop things in your lap. You start the […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2010[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 5:30 pm — Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] The thought of making The Taqwacores into a motion picture happened right after I finished the book. It took weeks for me to voice the thought to others, and weeks more to actually act upon it. Was I ready to take on such a subject? Was I the right guy? Were my intentions right? Would people get the point? Would it be more misunderstood then understood? These were the questions swirling in my head. The idea of physically making the film at such a low budget wasn’t […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2010[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 5:30 pm — Temple Theatre, Park City] My film, Gasland, is about the largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in American history, now occupying 34 states. I was approached to lease my family’s land in the Delaware River Basin right on the border of New York and Pennsylvania. It’s not a big place by any means, but the drilling boom is everywhere, and we were approached. The hardest decision I had to make was to include not only my personal story in the film but to narrate it and appear in it. The film is […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2010[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 2:15 pm — Racquet Club, Park City] The hardest decision for me was getting well with the fact that the entire film goes up against everything I was ever taught. To not question the leader of the church of my birth. To not point a critical view in the direction of the religion I was always taught to be the ONLY true religion on the planet and the ONLY way to attain the highest level of Heaven. We are the product of our cultures, and shedding the fear that was ingrained in my psyche was […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2010[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 11:30 am — Prospector Square Theatre, Park City] My film takes place in the basketball arena of the early-to-mid 1990s. I listened to hundreds of hip-hop songs and fell in love with a few. But I always felt Reggie Miller was a performance artist, and Madison Square Garden/New York City was his Carnegie Hall. Therefore I decided that operatic music could carry the drama in a different and hopefully funny way. So I chose Puccini over Puff Daddy.
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2010[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, Jan. 24, 12:00 pm — Temple Theatre, Park City] 12th & Delaware takes place over one year on a single street corner in coastal Florida. On one side of the street stands an abortion clinic. On the other a pro-life operation whose single objective is to persuade women who are considering abortion to continue with the pregnancy. We discovered these pro-life organizations (known as crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs) while filming Jesus Camp, and to our knowledge no filmmaker had unveiled the goings-on of any of the 4,000 such places in the United States. CPCs represent the […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 24, 2010