Opening

Fred G. Andrews
G. Thomas Poe, PhD

Rob Nilsson

Rob Nilsson

Chikara Motomura

Chikara Motomura

Chris Brechnitz

Rossana Jeran - Rossana Jeran
Luc Alvarez - Luke Johnson
Mary Gay Rogers - Florence Philips
Vicki Lynn - Vicki Hilson
Larry Peterson - Larry Johnson
Elisabeth Kirsch - Martha Brown
Douglas Drake - Doug Brown
Carl Helmstetter - Carl Houston
Lauren Helmstetter - Ivy Houston
Tarre Beach - Daria Christensen-Calvin
Robert W. Butler - Bob Calvin
Marcia Trayford - Masseuse
Jane Loutzenhlser - Jane Benton
Salley Bremenkamp - Sally Brenton
Jennifer Nichol - Jenna Brown
Lindsay Ferguson - Lindsay
Cathy Runyan-Svacina - Cathy Barnes
R.J. Barnes - R.J. Barnes
Travis Dow - Travis
William F. Swegle - Bill Jones
Zach Christman - TV reporter
Loren Harms - TV cameraman
Denny Dey - Denny the developer

Advisory: Language

Drama

Rob Nilsson shoots his films with the Direct Action Cinema philosophy, which he describes as:

In my Direct Action lab the story which occurs to me, coming from God knows where, is only a starting point, a road map, a pithy suggestion of a juicy outcome. If I were writing a novel, I’d write it, edit it, worry it to death, and it would come from inside me, onto the page, and into your minds through the medium of language.

But if it’s a film, I have many more tricks up my sleeve, many more arrows in my quiver to employ, a totally different set of possibilities to explore, wider and more fertile collaborations to manage. My idea is: the more open my process in the beginning, the more options I will have for form, structure, and content in the end.

Therefore, I don’t write scripts. Most of the time. SIGNAL 7 and HEAT AND SUNLIGHT didn’t have scripts. STROKE, HUSHED, SINGING, and SCHEME, the new 9@NIGHT features, don’t have scripts. They have what I call scenarios: descriptions of a film idea, scene order, character suggestions. Rehearsals consist of improvising the character’s back story at great length, taking as much time as possible to give actors on-location experience (as opposed to intellectualized ideas) of their characters. The ideal is to do all of this out in the world in front of cameras. Then one day the back story ends and the film begins. Nothing changes, but now we’re making the movie. I have set the actors, cameras, art directors and other creators free into their cinematic world. I am still a sort of puppeteer, yes, but a puppeteer who wants to set the puppets free.

Wants to, but never quite does.