BUFF Interview with Clickbait directors Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein
Green’s Party is proud to be covering the 2019 Boston Underground Film Festival, which is now in its 21st year and wrapped on Sunday!
The husband-wife team of Michael J. Epstein and Sophia Cacciola are almost like an indie creative empire: they direct and produce films, write and perform music, and are artists who have had residencies all over the world. From the mid-00s to the mid-10s, if you were in Boston, you likely saw one of their many groups such as The Motion Sick or Darling Pet Munkee. With their filmmaking, they are heavily involved in so many aspects such as the art department and sound department, in addition to directing, producing and writing. The horror film Ten screened at the 2014 Boston Underground Film Festival, the sci-fi Magnetic screened at 2015 BUFF and the 70s-inspired horror film Blood of Tribades was at the 2016 BUFF and actually won Best New England Film at that year’s fest. This year, they returned to BUFF with their new feature Clickbait a wicked take on a vlogger and the pressure of her online life. The film screened on the first night of BUFF. I caught up with Michael and Sophia at the 2019 BUFF.
In 2016, some of the local press wrote about how you both decided to move from Boston to L.A. With this film Clickbait, this was your first feature film you made since moving. What has been the biggest difference for you both between filmmaking in New England versus Los Angeles?
MJE: I think Los Angeles is a good place because its filled with all people that have dedicated themselves to the craft of filmmaking. I think New England is different. There’s’ some really talented people here, but its not even realistic to think you’re going to be a full-time filmmaker or actor. So in making this movie, we were able to get a full crew who were able to dedicate themselves to whatever their role was on this film. And we were able to get actors who were working really really hard at it and had set aside the time to commit themselves to it. That was helpful, because when we make our movies - its always been true - we shot this in ten days. So it was very tight. So you kinda rely on everyone doing a lot of prep, and it’s harder when people have other life affairs. So that changes the dynamic a little, because everyone is a little more career-driven in a way. It made it easier in getting locations too. We were able to approach someone about a location and they were like ‘Okay, here is the rate’, whereas here people are like ‘How does that work? Do I have to ask the town if that’s okay?’
SC: I think L.A. is going through what the music industry went through, which is that you kinda need to do it yourself now. So people are learning that they have to work outside the studio system. And we’re so used to that, so we were able to jump right in and say ‘Yes, you can make a feature on your own’. So we found a lot of like-minded people who are just going there to make indie films. I think maybe 10 years ago it wasn’t as easy, and cameras are so good now.
One of the things I’ve noticed the last few times I’ve been in L.A. is that, you see a lot of billboards for upcoming movies, but the last few times I was there I saw there were billboards for Youtube Channels. Was the whole blogging / social media aspect of this film influenced by your L.A. experience and what you were seeing more of?
SC: Definitely in our experience too, because we’re always trying to promote ourselves. We meet people all the time who just make a living promoting things on Instagram, and that’s there job.
MJE: It was on our mind in watching people navigate that and the really unhealthy things that go along with that. We know people who are like ‘ah, I hate social media, but yet I have to’. It’s true. Social media is both great and bad at the same time, I meant we’ve accomplished a ton of things we couldn’t have done without it. But one of the things we wanted to explore with the movie was how that fame culture imposes on people. That’s kinda the antagonist of the film, how it poses an imposition on people’s well-being.
The platform in the movie is a fictional one called Str33ker. What went into deciding to have a fictional platform as opposed to a real one that might be dated, like when you see a movie that has Myspace in it?
SC: That’s exactly why we did it. I mean even though this was set in reality, I like to create its own universe in every film we do. I do a lot of the art department work on a lot of our films, so creatively we wanted to control it too.
Without giving too much away, a Trump mask plays a significant role in this film. What has the reaction been when you’ve watched this in other parts of the U.S., like in red states?
SC: [laughs] So far, its been okay. We had that question in Virginia and I started to answer it and I was like ‘Am I safe?’, but so far people have gotten it. I mean, its not really a political film, so much as it is about the fact that he [Trump] was able to rise to power by using the internet, celebrity culture, reality TV, which contributed to his rise and now he has control over all of us. By corrupting that power.
MJE: Trump just made sense because its a manifestation of that culture.
This was the Boston Premiere. What’s next for the film?
SC: It has distribution, so it’ll be coming out later this year.
MJE: It looks like this is the end of the festival run. Its been in about 8 or 9, I lost count, but it premiered at GenreBlast last August. And we signed the distro deal with ITM, so that’ll be out whenever they decide.
What’s next for you in terms of your next project?
SC: We’re putting together Stepford Wives-type thriller.
MJE: We just finished producing a short that’s probably going to begin going out to festivals in a month.
Last question: You have a long-standing relationship with BUFF. Was it important to you following your move, to return here with this film?
SC: Yes. Before we ever got involved with BUFF directing films, we had a music video that played here around 2011, I want to say. But we came to every one and tried to get stuff into every one, music videos, shorts and features. They were just so generous to us. Just encouraging us to keep making stuff. Its one of the reasons we keep making films is because they inspired us in our early stages.
MJE: The Brattle and BUFF have been really integral to giving a platform to filmmakers. People don’t realize how much that matters to filmmakers to have that opportunity to show your film in theaters.
For info on Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein: http://launchover.com/launch/
For info on BUFF: https://bostonunderground.org/
