Brooklyn Filmmakers Take the Lead
Just months ago, Ryan Fleck, 29, and Anna Boden, 26, were writing the sort of scripts that filmmakers generally do not dream about: safe-sex shorts for the Centers for Disease Control. Today, with the New York premiere of their first narrative feature film, they have entered the elusive category of professional Filmmaker - and not without a tinge of apprehension.
"I hope we can keep doing this," Ms. Boden said over tea in Park Slope.
Their film, "Half Nelson," is the opening feature of the New Directors/New Films Festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center through April 2. In it, Ryan Gosling of "The Notebook" plays Dan Dunne, a young, idealistic teacher with a secret crack addiction. In a reversal of the typical intervention plot, the teacher befriends one of his students after she discovers his problem.
Filmed throughout Brooklyn, in East New York, Fort Greene, and Gowanus, "Half Nelson" captures sights of the city not usually seen in films. Some early viewers were so bewildered by the setting - low-rise buildings, industrial parks, and dusty neighborhoods - that they thought the film took place in a city in the South, Mr. Fleck said. There aren't identifying structures that tell the viewer which New York neighborhood they're seeing, which reinforces what Mr. Fleck calls "the gray space" of personalities and places.
"Half Nelson" has taken four years to come to fruition. Ms. Boden and Mr. Fleck wrote the script in 2002, then made a short film, "Gowanus, Brooklyn" to entice potential backers. That film tied for the Grand Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at Sundance in 2004, eventually prompting a private investor to provide funding for "Half Nelson." The title comes from a Miles Davis song about struggle.
But struggle is not part of the creative process for this pair - partners in work and life. They work as a genuine team, from script to finished product. Mr. Fleck directed the film. Ms. Boden produced and edited. Their official titles, however, conceal the fluid way they go about making films. They live together in a Park Slope apartment, which they also use as their office for their company Gowanus Productions.
"Everything is a mess around our house," Mr. Fleck said. "We do all our work here, but we try to get out once a day."
Spending so much time together gives them the chance to try out ideas on each other, they said. This cerebral pair is not quick to sell themselves - and as they walk down a chilly street, they don't stand out as some fabulous up-and-coming filmmakers covered in sunglasses and attitude. They're into their ideas and characters, not the awards they've won.
So the talk turns to their characters, such as Dan. In him, they wanted to create a person with grand ideals who lives a hypocritical life, someone pushed and pulled by an inspiration to educate and an inability to get away from drugs. "We wanted to make him as complicated as possible," Mr. Fleck said.
Dan doesn't come across as the missionary teacher, selflessly dedicated to his students. Instead, he takes a more confrontational role and attempts to get students to think about civil rights in a way that affects them . All the while, he makes it clear that his own position as a white teacher before a class of blacks and latinos is itself part of the system in which they are immersed.
Mr. Fleck and Ms. Boden met while still students, he at NYU and she at Columbia. After graduating, they had a number of part-time and writing jobs while developing film projects on the side. Mr. Fleck's first job out of college was answering telephones at a company that sold Backstreet Boys apparel - and on a few occasions, he admits, he pretended to a band member. (Most of his callers would let out an adolescent scream and hang up.)
Ms. Boden worked as a receptionist, but on weekends, they watched and wrote films. "Gowanus, Brooklyn" was filmed on video and shot entirely on weekends using friends as the production crew. The budget was $800. The jump to a feature with "Half Nelson" meant the costs increased to $1 million.
For a festival like New Directors/New Films, this duo is a textbook case of new talent rising to the top. The festival features 36 entries by filmmakers who are making their way in the industry. Though much of the sponsorship of the festival comes from foundation and corporate support, the talent-seeking HBO Films and HBO Documentary Films, also have contributed to the two-week event.
"It's very exciting to go from a short to the opening night film within a three year period," Mr. Fleck said.
The pair have more projects in the works, and they want to do everything they can to stay in the business. "It would be great to be able to make a living by making films," Ms. Boden said.
Until April 2, New Directors/New Films, Walter Reade Theater, 165 W. 65th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue; and the Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, 212-875-5050, $12.
