In an unprecedented turn of events, a film by Brown Motion Pictures received an 11-minute-long standing ovation at Thursday’s Fall premiere.
Angela Matthews, who has ruled BMP with an iron fist for the past three years, enthused “we’ve never had a standing ovation before, let alone one that lasted for 11 minutes. I’ve been bringing my stopwatch to every premiere just in case; thank God it finally paid off!”
We sat down with the film’s director, Jacob Robinson, to discuss the making of this record-breaking piece of cinema.
Picking black polish off his nails, Robinson said “It may only be a 10-minute-long film, but I wanted to tackle some big themes like love, loss, and also sexual assault on college campuses. It seemed like a cool and current thing to make a movie about. Rape culture is so pervasive in real life, but we never talk about it, so that’s why it doesn’t get mentioned in the film at all, but it’s just there in, like, all the scenes.”
Delving into his casting process, Robinson sighed “We had tons of people audition, but ultimately it made the most sense to cast my two closest friends and Lucy Barrymore, so that her parents watch it and kickstart my career. Oh, yeah, and then the one person of colour BMP made us cast”, Robinson finished with an eye roll.
“My favourite scene in the film”, Robinson began, unprompted, “is probably the opening. It really sets up who the main character is – a quirky white woman. She runs around College Hill in a long dress with non-copyright music playing in the background. She’s barefoot. It’s perfect.”
He continued, “If I may, the whole film kind of serves as a love letter to Providence and Brown. You’ve got two characters smoking and talking about the meaning of life in India Point Park. Lifelong friends sharing a meal at Meeting Street Café. Four girls experiencing womanhood together in a college dorm room as they talk about bikini waxes and the male protagonist. A group of 20 people pretending to dance in my friend Jake’s basement at 2pm on a Saturday for the ‘party scene’ because we promised them drinks and pizza.”
When asked who his biggest inspiration as a director was, Robinson immediately responded “Wes Anderson, 100%.” When pressed, he expanded: “Wes makes films for and about white people which really speaks to me. Not that I don’t think people of colour or minorities matter; their stories just aren’t part of the journey I’m on as an artist.”
At press time, Robinson was seen jetting off to Cannes with hopes of a similar audience reaction.
Image via.