FilmClick

What led you to make a film about the world of truck drivers? I think we were interested in what it is to like live inside of your car.  A lot of the open road is the loneliness that comes with it. Everything like that. When we really got into the truck with these people and actually traveled with them, we were there for the calls and we heard stories about their wives and their relationships and how it effected that.  And we became more attached to that side of it.  It definitely covers a lot of subjects all at once, I don’t know if there’s really one message that we’re trying to send out.   It’s a  commentary on the society that we’re living in currently.

Little America

Your film It’s Magic is what you call non-fiction fiction, tell me about that.
Jessie: We started writing in school we came up with this idea of non-fiction screenwriting.  Basically, we would just get together and tell each other stories and base our shorts off of that and that’s basically what we’re doing.  Brittany and I have a very fluid and organic way of communicating and we’re able to get a very individual vision.  We try to bring that into our films.  We share everything and are openly communicating.  We really love playing with that line of reality.  The difference between reality and entertainment.  How something happens, something happens to me and I tell it to Brittany and then she tells it back to me, and then we write about it, and we’re acting, and what happens to the actual story throughout all of those processes and all of those different ways of communicating.

Brittany:  We started as best friends first, so when we first started, we started with these exercises where she would first tell me something that happened to her and I would write about it.  Or, I would tell her something and she would write about it.  So that we would have that difference, but we were close enough to do that.  With “It’s Magic”, which is the latest thing we did, Jessie wrote it and I acted it as her, so that was kind of cool.

So, that was something that actually happened to you?
Jessie: Something like that, we take creative liberties very seriously.  I mean, we write what we know.  It’s pretty hard to fake it.  Anytime I’ve tried to not write what I know it sounds pretty shitty, so everything is pretty real.

What are your three favorite films?
Brittany: 8 1/2, Fellini films, the Weatherman, Batman, documentaries…Little America’s pretty good…

Little America

Have you placed your films online and do you think it’s a good outlet for young filmmakers to get exposure?
Brittany:  When we first started doing Little America, we were in college, so we had to make it seem like it was for a class, I was in a pop culture class and Jessie had this independent study, and for class whatever we did was to put it online.  I wasn’t really into it, I’m not really a computer person, so it was kind of a weird experience, but it was actually really cool because we got a lot of feedback, a lot of instant feedback right away, which was kind of a cool way of doing it.
Jessie:  I’m completely pro internet, I think it’s something great.  Especially with something like an art film, or Little America, it spans so many different themes, and cities, and it’s all about this big world, big country.  I mean these festivals are great, but the ajority of people are going to see it online.  I think it’s amazing.
Brittany:  That whole internet thing, I approve of it.

Do you hope to make money from your film?
Brittany:  I don’t really think we’re at the level where that matters.  Sure, we would love to make money off of our films, but right now, I mean we just made this movie for 200 bucks, but we both work full time to do it.
Jessie: We do it because we love it, and if we can put it online and people see it, then that’s pretty cool.

Jessie, you work in TV, what do you do?
Jessie: I work on the show Intervention, and I’m a PA minion.  I’m starting on a film next week, a feature working in the AD Department.  It’s a great opportunity.  I want to eventually write/direct and produce everything that we do so the more I can learn from the ground up the better.  I’m writing something right now, and I know I won’t pick it up until the movie wraps, which is February, but it’s what you have to do.

Did either of you go to film school?
Jessie: No.  There was absolutely no film department where we went.  We had to borrow and teach ourselves, it turned out better I think, because I learned how to be a lot more self sufficient, Just do it, instead of sitting in a classroom and talking about it.  I don’t think I would’ve had the idea to make Little America unless I was sitting in a sociology class learning about class and jobs and how identity is related to your work.  I don’t think that the idea of looking at truck drivers would’ve struck me; i wouldn’t have taken a class like that in film school.

What’s your motto?
Nec Metu

Any final words?
Brittany:  We the People sounds like a great festival, and we’re very excited to be part of it.  We’re excited to have people see the film besides our mothers.

“Little America” will be playing October 16 at We the People: A Documentary Film Festival at the Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, 2225 Colorado Blvd., Los Angeles, CA.

For more info on We the People, visit:
http://www.tradeandrow.org/wethepeople/index.html

To see more of Jessie Kahnweiler & Brittany Johnston’s films go to:
http://www.jbkpictures.com/jbk/
or
http://ca.youtube.com/user/jbkpictures1

images courtesy of jbkpictures.com