Director Katrin Bowen speaks with editor, Joshua Williams, on her new film, “Amazon Falls” now playing at the “Bite Me” Body Image Film Festival in Toronto.
JW: Katrin, we’re excited to feature you and your film “Amazon Falls” on See.7. “Amazon Falls” is essentially the story of a B-movie actress struggling to stay relevant in a fast changing society, not to mention Hollywood expectations. What attracted you to this story?
KB: The B-movie industry is part of my past and my personal experience. I stayed in touch with it. I would go to LA for directing meetings and I would see some of my old friends and they would still be flogging it away in a really rough industry. B movies especially, they really care what you look like. It’s really all about that. It’s not really about the acting at all. At least with acting, looks come in, but if you’re a talented actor, sometimes you can move beyond that. I was surprised that they were still battling it out in this very tough industry that you really have to keep your looks up. A lot of the roles are very athletic. And when you hit 40 it gets harder.
And why do you think these women continue to try? Obviously, it’s getting harder and harder, especially as women get older, to take on these roles.
I know, that’s a very good question, and that’s what the film explores…why. I call it the “burden of a dream.” I think it’s kind of like being obsessed with the lotto. Acting is like the lotto. You think, any time now I can make or break it. If I just go to that one more audition that might be the one. If you’ve been at it for twenty years, you kind of think, “I kind of put twenty years in for nothing,” and it almost becomes even more intense where they have to keep pursuing come hell or high water. And it just becomes even tougher and tougher.
What’s the ultimate goal then? Is it to go beyond the B-movie, or to become an icon within the B-movie sphere? What is that they women are working for?
I think it changes. At first it starts out wanting to be legitimate actors. B movies are kind of a fun way to start when you’re 18. But I think after awhile the dream becomes something that’s an intangible thing. It’s almost like the boyfriend you could never have; you want it more
There was a recent episode on Freakonomics that explored the idea of when it’s good to just give up. So is there a right time to give up for these women?
That’s interesting. That’s kind of what the movie explores too. I don’t want to discourage people from having dreams! But I think at a certain point, you just need to maybe reevaluate what you’re doing.
Your lead, April Telek, has had quite a lot of experience in the beauty pageant and modeling industry. Was this experience invaluable to the role?
Yes, I believe it really was. She contributed a lot of thoughts about it. She is so stunning and beautiful and she knows the amount of work it takes to show that. And she was very brave in the film. She shows the effort it takes to look the way she does. It’s brave, because you’d never guess that looking at her, because she’s so beautiful. You think, “that looks effortless.” It’s not!
Do you find there was a lot of conversation between the two of you? Obviously you come from a very interesting background, growing up in a Mennonite family to become a B-movie actress yourself. Was it a mix of experiences that ultimately affected the role?
Yes, we really worked closely. Even thought it was a close shooting schedule, we rehearsed very strongly for about two weeks and we discussed all of these things in great depth. You know, I think having come from that too, I have a lot of empathy. I don’t want to speak for her, but I have a sense that perhaps because I’ve been through it to, she could share with me, quite openly, her own experiences because she had an emphatic ear. A lot of chance was taken and a lot of honesty was shown.
See.7 magazine, is primarily a fashion magazine…how do you see the roles of Hollywood and fashion, actresses and models?
I think it’s all part of the same thing. It’s interesting, in acting as well as modeling, you have to be this thin creature. And I think there are definitely parallels there in terms of your look.
I used to model as well and it was crazy! I was 110 pounds and 6 feet. I was super thin! I just happened to be super skinny because I grew so quickly and they were telling me to lose weight and even at a young age I thought, you’re crazy. It’s just bizarre.
There’s a great documentary called “The Famine Within” about why women want to be slim. It’s almost like this desire to make themselves feel vulnerable in society. I talked to some young models recently and they say things have been changing because a few models have actually died from being too thin and it’s been quite publicized. And now they’re kind of lightening up on the whole thing. Where it began, I don’t know and the psychology behind it is probably a huge discussion.
On one hand, men expect these curvaceous, buxomly women in Hollywood and yet in the fashion magazines, the norm is small chested, skinny girls. What are your thoughts?
I don’t know, it’s pretty fascinating. I think again it’s the image of a non-threatening young girl. And if you think about fashion magazines, it’s girls that read them; it’s not really the guys. Whereas the voluptuous Maxims, guys read those and they cater to the more curvy girls. Interestingly enough, it’s young girls who want to be these thin models.
The “Bite Me” film festival is rather a unique venue in which to show your film. What was your reaction to the invitation?
I was super thrilled, because when you set out to make a film, you don’t think about necessarily where it’s going to go. The fact that it got invited to the festival is fantastic, because I could speak to it [body image issues], because of my own personal background being an ex-model and actor, I could really speak to that personally.
I had a chance to talk to some young girls, ages 10-17 about body image and the first thing they said to me was “you’re so tall, you’re 6 feet!” And I said, “yeah I was 6 feet when I was 13 and I got teased like crazy when I was in high school.” And they responded, “we get teased too.” And I said, “you know what, stick it out, this is the worst part, the hardest part of life as a teenager…but stick it out, it will get better, trust me.”
I went to my high school reunion and I saw the bully that used to chew up sunflower seeds every day and spit them on my desk. Nightmare, right? I was so upset and I saw him and he didn’t remember. And for me, it was such a huge part of my remembrances of high school. And so, it was kind of nice to see that this film could open up these kinds of dialogues with young women.
It’s kind of cool, it’s a whole other trajectory for the film which makes me happy. If this film starts a discussion, excellent. We need to have these kinds of discussions. We need these kind of festivals where young girls can come up and say, “you know what, I need to talk about this.” When I was young, there was nowhere to go to discuss how I was feeling about how I looked. And to have this kind of festival where you can open it up and appreciate yourself for who you are when you’re young, it’s wonderful!
I look back at pictures of myself when I was 13-20 and I think I was so sweet. I was so hard on myself. And if only you could have that kind of knowledge when you’re teenager to know that everything is going to be OK. You can actually maybe enjoy your teenage-hood.
Was this this conversation about body image part of your original concept when developing “Amazon Falls?”
No, basically we wrote the script in two weeks and shot in 12 days. From concept to first day of product was like three weeks. Maybe subconsciously, I hoped it would expand, but my main concern was to get the film made. That was my modus operandi. And all through post it was about getting the film posted and made for no money. How can I get people to keep volunteering? The obsession for me was always the next step. It’s only now when folks are reaching out, when academics want to talk about the film that I think, “Wow, cool.” But, it certainly wasn’t anything that I consciously set out to explore.
So in a sense, your art has become essentially bigger than yourself.
Exactly! Yes, it has a life of it’s own. So that’s an inspiration for anyone creating anything. Make it, and you’ll be amazed at what happens.
What’s next for the film? Has this experience changed how you are approaching the film?
We’re working on wider distribution and in our conversations I am now saying, besides the usual avenues, let’s focus on education and this whole other angle. Why not, it just gives the film extra legs and it’s exciting to see that it might become a good conversation piece or a start-off for people to discuss certain issues.
“Amazon Falls” has a theatrical release in Canada. More information about international distribution not yet available. Visit the film’s official website for more info.