<\/a><\/p>\nHow do you stay focused on a project over six years?<\/b><\/p>\n
Well it wasn\u2019t just the movie the whole time: over those six years I did a lot of other stuff. I wrote a book of short stories, I toured with that around the world, and I made a performance, which eventually evolved into the movie. Then while I was turning it into a movie I did a couple of big art projects too, so it’s not quite as disciplined as it sounds.<\/p>\n
So not a solid six years locked in a room with a word processor?<\/b><\/p>\n
Not at all. For better or worse, I’m not that kind of filmmaker.<\/p>\n
Your protagonists in the movie disconnect from the internet. Is this something you’ve tried yourself?<\/b><\/p>\n
Not for 30 days but I do it every day when I write. It was a very handy way to externalise an internal crisis. We all know that panicky feeling when you lose your phone or your internet isn\u2019t working. I think that feeling predates the internet, it’s the feeling of having too much time, of not enough distraction, of being faced with the void of whatever’s uncomfortable, of what you’re trying to dodge.<\/p>\n
That being said, do you think our always-on culture is a good or a bad thing?<\/b><\/p>\n
It’s both, right? It’s certainly not helpful at all with regards to making ideas out of nothing, which is what a lot of book writing is. New ideas often come from that unknown, empty place, where you’re not sure that something will come and you have to sit with it. The fact is that we don’t really sit with it anymore. I don’t think younger people even know that it\u2019s a virtue. Or maybe it’s not – maybe that’s just an old fashioned way of thinking. But for me it’s not a good thing, because I already have the way I work and it depends on that space.<\/p>\n
Having said that, you’re pretty active online, your website\/blog is a virtual public journal.<\/b><\/p>\n
I don’t usually blog but right now I have to blog twice a week for the movie. This is part of the job but it’s a problem as I have a lot to do. For a movie that doesn’t have a huge marketing budget, I’m all there is; it\u2019s a big part of what generates publicity. I get it, and I’m not unhappy about it, but it’s a lot of work.<\/p>\n
Things have changed a lot since you had to mail out compilation VHS tapes to a select few.<\/b><\/p>\n
I know. That’s why I think I’m open to working with it. The internet does feel very DIY; it’s great that I don’t have to go through anyone. I may have imagined back then that to have such a big audience I would have to have sold out somehow. Back then, you would have probably been looking for a major studio to reach an audience.<\/p>\n
Does that make it harder or easier to get yourself noticed now?<\/b><\/p>\n
I think it’s the same thing: if there’s a gap, or you’re fulfilling a need, then it works, only now it works a lot quicker. But there aren\u2019t as many gaps. The chance that you are going to be the only girl filmmaker trying to start a community is small. Maybe it forces people to up their game.<\/p>\n
Are you surprised at the kind of success you\u2019ve had?<\/b><\/p>\n
I’m not totally surprised. The lack of surprise comes from not leaving yourself any other options mentally.<\/p>\n
You mean never having a Plan B?<\/b><\/p>\n
Right. I didn’t know that then but nothing else I could imagine seemed real. I could never even entertain the thought that there might be some other option.<\/p>\n
After your success, is there a danger of going mainstream?<\/b><\/p>\n
No… that all happened after the first movie and I didn’t do it. There is an aspect to it I would love \u2013 I would have loved some money because it’s never quite enough to make the movies \u2013 but I was nervous about messing up my way of working. They offer you things like \u201cfirst look\u201d, basically where you’re being paid to write, which is great, but they’d probably want some amount of control. That felt like a move backwards, I’d been free making things since I was 16. Why would I give that up now?<\/p>\n
What would you advise people that may find you an inspiration?<\/b><\/p>\n
I think it’s the same thing. The way my friends and I thought was \u201cyes, you’re making your own work, but you’re also trying to create a community.\u201d So when you have an event, you need all those other people playing, because just your friends is never going to be enough. The people who you think of as your competitors are the people you need the most, and they create a world that’s more fun. Start your revolution together.<\/p>\n
Words: Tony Horkins<\/em> \nPhotographer: Brigitte Sire<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before reading Kirsten Dunst’s and Lena Dunham’s emails for her newest art project\u00a0We Think Alone, we sat down with Miranda July to discuss her film The Future, as well as her own destiny.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3632],"tags":[4667,3714,4666,391],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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