[caption id="attachment_1081" align="alignleft" width="436" caption="Photo by Daniel Bodner"][/caption]
We caught up with SMFA Alumna Cindy Kleine (BFA '82, FY '84) to talk about her current Kickstarter campaign, which ends on Saturday, August 25, and about her time at, and after, SMFA:
Tell us about your film and the Kickstarter project.
Over the past two years I raised money from private individuals and foundations to fund "Before and After Dinner," a film about memory, family, storytelling, mystery, truth, art, life, passion and marriage, as explored by visionary theatre director Andre Gregory, my husband. We did a benefit in the spring that was very successful but I still needed $75,000 to finish, so I turned to Kickstarter, which was the only option left. I have three days left (ends Saturday night at 10!) and have raised 86% of the total, but I need to raise the last $11,000 or will get nothing. It's a nail biter, but I'm PRAYING!!! There is a lot of information about the film on the kickstarter page, with links to press that has already been written, quotes, comments, a "plea video" and a little trailer cut by Lisa Crafts, who did the animation.
Tell us about your time at SMFA, and what was your focus while you were here?
I was at SMFA from 1979 to 1985—I never wanted to leave! I got my BFA from Tufts, and my 5th Year certificate in 1985. I came to SMFA wanting to do film animation, but focused at first on photography. In time I found I had a desire to make the still pictures move, so, inspired by a boyfriend who loaned me his camera, I dipped my toe in and haven't left the waters yet!
What was it like to return as a commencement speaker?
It was an incredibly moving experience for me. I felt so honored to be asked, and it was a real challenge to put myself back in time and try to remember what it was I might have needed to hear as I graduated, while also taking into account the huge changes in the world, the economy, and the types of pressures facing young artists today. As I stood up there and spoke, I was moved almost to tears looking out at all the young artists just beginning their lives; at how it seemed just yesterday that I sat where they are now, and at the same time, what a long lifetime ago it seemed. The mysteries of time always haunt me.
What has your work focused on since you left SMFA?
My work has focused on personal relationships including love and friendship, on artists and their particularly fascinating paths, ("Inside Out," "Holy Matter") on my family and the destructive affect secrets had on it ("Til Death Do Us Part," "Phyllis and Harold") and on the complex relationships between truth and memory, and how passing time alters them. The new film includes all of the above!
Tell us a bit about establishing yourself as an artist post-SMFA
Two significant and lucky things happened to me: Just when I finished Fifth Year, my friend Ken Brown was leaving his teaching job at Boston College to move to New York, and I got his job. So I began teaching film-making at 25, right out of school, and continued to teach for the next 17 years, at SMFA, at Harvard, at The Art Institute and at the New School when I moved to New York. Also, I stayed on at MIT, where I had done film classes as a SMFA student, as a Teaching Assistant, so was able to keep my equipment access and continue to make films for a few years after graduating. For a filmmaker, that's always key—especially at that time, when it wasn't easy to have your own editing set up. So, I was very blessed!
Read more about the film: http://www.beforeandafterdinner.com/index.html
Check out the Kickstarter page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1146626445/before-and-after-dinner-a-portrait-of-andre-gregor?ref=tiwwmh
