{"id":34794,"date":"2021-03-16T14:44:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T18:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=34794"},"modified":"2021-03-17T15:54:05","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T19:54:05","slug":"interview-with-filmmaker-eve-edelson-women-in-horror-month-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/16\/interview-with-filmmaker-eve-edelson-women-in-horror-month-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Filmmaker Eve Edelson [Women in Horror Month 2021]"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo Credit: Hans Kellner<\/p><\/div>\n

Please introduce yourself.<\/strong>
\nI’m a writer and filmmaker living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I started out in theater, training at the Drama Studio London at Berkeley. At the time, new arrivals were required to either adopt a cat or play in a band. Since I play piano, guitar and bass, and was assembled from parts of previously used bass players, the choice was clear. Since then I’ve crewed on films and made 6 shorts. I run the Weird Film Festival, now in its 7th year. My play Scamoramaland, about people who prank email scammers, produced in San Francisco, was based on my website scamorama.com and my book of the same name published by The Disinformation Company.<\/p>\n

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What is it that attracts you to the horror genre for your chosen field of creative work?<\/strong>
\nThe horror genre lets us play with intriguing concepts. Vampire stories are about the passage of time, mastery of impulses, and really, really longterm relationships. Werewolves are metaphors for rebellion, and strength through change. Zombies are stand-ins for mob mentality, loss of self, slavery, and lifeboat survivalism. Universal themes can be taken to extremes of either logic or absurdity. (I especially like horror-comedy)<\/p>\n

As a kid, I loved science fiction. Science seems to have been both inspired by and outstripped fiction. I still read mags like Analog from time to time. And we can watch real rocket launches now! There are even apps to help you find them.<\/p>\n

Deep stuff aside, there\u2019s escapism. A vampire flick can be a welcome break from the sometimes literal horrors of everyday life.<\/p>\n

Who inspires you in your work and in life?<\/strong>
\nIn work: Ever-evolving list, with some permanent favorites. Terry Pratchett\u2019s fantasy-wrapped satire pops out at me ever more vibrantly. Ray Bradbury brings magic and heart into the ordinary, in \u2018plain\u2019 English. Both very very productive. And, sadly, dead.
\nMore recently I\u2019ve revisited Octavia Butler. Her tales are usually shelved with science fiction but are equal parts social commentary. Also dead. Ah me.<\/p>\n

Kelly Link is alive, though! A writer of fine fantasy stories. And Ursula Vernon, creator of the Digger graphic novels (featuring a tough lady wombat trapped in a strange world).<\/p>\n

I admire independence and persistence (John Sayles for one). There are many talented and dogged women operating in film, such as Jennifer Kent,<\/a> Jen Lynch, Axelle Carolyn,<\/a> and Ana Amirpour. I admire Mira Nair, Jane Campion and Debra Granik (Winter\u2019s Bone,<\/a> Leave No Trace). There are many others – I\u2019m always happy to discover more. Apart from inequality of opportunity, many women work in genres I don\u2019t follow as closely.<\/p>\n

Fine musical scores fire me with inspiration. Think of the escape scene in The Shawshank Redemption (Thomas Newman), and the ending of The Iron Giant<\/a> (Michael Kamen).<\/p>\n

In life: The courage of \u2018ordinary\u2019 people inspires. I\u2019ve known people who squeeze all the joy they can out of life despite terrible setbacks – who show such grace and endurance in the grinder that is the everyday. It puts a lot of problems in perspective.<\/p>\n

Women in horror have made great strides, but it’s clear that a lot of work is still needed to make it a most inclusive genre. To you, what is the importance of a movement like Women in Horror Month?<\/strong>
\nMovements like WIHM have two important effects, internal empowerment, and external visibility.<\/p>\n

Internal: Anything that encourages creative dreams is worthwhile, and the WIHM platform brings the encouragement, through its cheerfully relentless year-round promotion of womens\u2019 genre work. So do festivals such as Etheria, the Bluestocking Festival, Ax Wound, Lady Bug, etc. [I must salute Etheria, the powerhouse organizer of great events and community, connector of people around the world.] Such events, in person or remote, have always energized me.<\/p>\n

External: WIHM and similar projects put the word out that talented, competent, hard-working women are available for work above and below the line. Here I must also mention Women in Media, the wonderful, pragmatic project to get women *jobs*, and training, and did I mention *jobs* ?<\/p>\n

What would you tell an up-and-coming creative in the world of horror who sees that being a woman\/identifying as a women as something that makes it so much more difficult at times?<\/strong>
\nCertainly it can be infuriating and damaging to self-esteem to be passed over in favor of someone with a shorter track record. I hope and think that is changing. Meanwhile, I have a few thoughts about workplace survival. These may seem generic, but I\u2019ve worked in other, heavily male settings, and seen the same dynamics play out across all of them.
\n1. Preparation
\nI humbly suggest being really prepared in your niche. If you\u2019re directing, for instance, plan the heck out of the shoot, show up knowing what\u2019s needed to make the day, and make it. Competence feeds inner strength and attracts respect.
\n2. Pick brains
\nCertainly, learn from experienced women, but don\u2019t rule out the comradeship of men. There are men, especially older men (yes – I\u2019ve seen this time and again), who really want to pass on their knowledge. Take advantage. Pick brains. Braaaiins!
\n3. Keep records
\nIn any work setting, there can be disregard, hostility, theft of credit. A work diary is a sanity check – what you worked on, who you spoke with, deadlines you met. The resulting summary of your achievements is more than a defensive tool. It can be handy, for instance, when you\u2019re writing up a grant proposal and draw a blank (it happens!).<\/p>\n

What are your favorite bits of helpful advice that you have received about your work or your field?<\/strong>
\nI once worked with a cinematographer named Peggy Peralta. Peggy was encouraging and fearless and knew what she wanted – to be her own boss and to \u201cmake it beautiful\u201d. She clued me in to the importance of adequate coverage – a basic film tactic that can avoid and solve big editing problems. I met Peggy through Bay Area Women in Film & Media – the power of networking!<\/p>\n

In honor of celebrating Women in Horror Month, who do you believe viewers should keep an eye on in terms of the creative ladies in horror?<\/strong>
\nAxelle Carolyn<\/a> is someone to watch. Her film Soulmate, which I saw at the Etheria festival in Los Angeles, was really absorbing, offered a satisfying twist on the classic haunted house tale, and some scary camera work (even with a century of scary movies for comparison, and a sense of what was coming). I think she can create memorable work in any genre.<\/p>\n

What do you have coming soon that you can talk to us about?<\/strong>
\nCOVID turned 2020 into a year of perpetual pre-production on a few shorts, ending with the first online version of my screening series, The Weird Film Fest. [That\u2019s usually an in-person affair at PianoFight Theater in San Francisco, fueled by drink from their fabulous bar.] I\u2019m sticking to writing for now. I\u2019m expanding a short script to feature-length and I have other feature-length screenplays in various genres and a novel in progress. So I\u2019m pretty much hunched over a keyboard. (I could say more, but I\u2019d have to, you know\u2026 mwahaha).<\/p>\n

Pop them links to follow your work here:<\/strong>
\nvimeo.com\/eveedelson
\neveedelson.blogspot.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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