As usual, the cinetrix is a little late to the party, but she was delighted to read in The Reeler earlier this week that Jason Kohn's kickass documentary Manda Bala has landed distribution* and is slated for a summer release.
If you're stuck at work on this Friday before a holiday weekend, you really should do yourself a favor and squander some time reading this off-the-chain pre-Sundance interview with Kohn.
A taste:
So what inspired you to cut loose from something relatively secure with such a legend and take this on?
I worked for Errol because he was my favorite filmmaker; I worked my ass off interning through college to get into his office. A lot of the kids you usually takes are Harvard people, and I worked hard just to get in his office. And once I was there, it was awesome just being around and listening to him. Literally -- when I say "listening to him," I mean sitting at my desk and listening to every single thing the guy ever said. Because he's unbelievably brilliant. And I learned a lot, but it's not making your own movies. And if you want to make your own movies -- even if you work for your favorite filmmaker -- it's not the same. No matter how high you get on the ladder or how many years you work there, you're still only helping someone make his movies. That was never a goal of mine.
But Errol was so fundamental in making Manda Bala, because I was looking for a movie to make -- for years. I went down to Brazil, and my dad, who lives down there, had told me about this frog farm. I went there with a camcorder and it was beautiful -- it was crazy. The guy there was very, very nice, but obviously a little bit involved in something that he wasn't quite clear about. I came back and cut together a little thing and showed it to Errol; he thought it was awesome. It was with Errol's blessing that I left the office, and if he hadn't been supportive at that moment it probably wouldn't have happened. Since that moment -- I decided to shoot it on film. For Errol, that was also a big deal because a lot of people go out to make "Errol-style" documentaries, just to catch "kooky" characters. But that's not an "Errol-style" movie; an "Errol-style" movie is based in the production level -- he literally, physically makes movies differently than other people. Part of the decision to shoot it on film in CinemaScope was kind of embracing the way that Errol makes movies physically, which are demanding and expensive. It's one of the things he really appreciated in the project early on and one of the reasons he's been so supportive since the beginning.
You --
Did that answer your question at all? That was a shitty answer, wasn't it?
Yeah, Jesus Christ. Let's start over.
You've seen The Fog of War, right?
Yes.
You know where MacNamara says, "Never answer the questions that you're asked; only answer the ones you wish you had been asked"? The fact is that I don't know what I want to be asked. I'm new to this.
And it keeps going. Just don't get caught laughing at your desk.
*"Fuck Sheila Nevins!"
