HOLIDAY SPECIAL, 91min., USA
Directed by Harry Roseman
Community, Celebration, Conversation, Chores; these are the key themes of this experimental documentary. Four days of shopping for Thanksgiving dinner as well as the meal itself are
the ostensible subject of this film. Community is reflected in the interaction with people while shopping as well as the camaraderie of the dinner quests. The quotidian nature of these tasks is subverted by the abstract camerawork and narrative structure, offering the viewer a new perspective on both. The vertical orientation of the film reaffirms looking ahead as we follow the trajectory and shape of the shopping cart moving down the narrow aisles, as well as following the gaze of the filmmaker as he walks forward.

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

I had reviously done a series of films that have to do with errands and buying food. Some of these are Buying Cat Food, Buying Cat Food 11, Checking out 1,2 and 3, and Grocery Shopping (which also won an award and was screened on Wildsound). These were all films that I thought asked a lot of the audience, so I was very pleased with the responses from your audience. All that is to say that this was a natural next step in this series of films.

This is the first one where you actually saw the people I interacted with, while doing these errands. This film is the longest and is closest to what one might think of as a narrative. These films are a way to make everyday chores into, I hope, an experience that beings introspection to others about the everyday, the people we interact with and the idea that the mundane, while being mundane is also not mundane and can be a rich context for community and personal interactions. That it is also a place of great visual interest. So this film reflects all of that. It is also a way for me to make some of the smaller aspects of my life into my work, into art. And whatever it does to affect the audience, making this and these films enriches my life.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you
to make this film?

As inferred from the last answer the idea for this film has been germinating in a number of the last films I have made, so I would say from idea to making this film was about 20 years. This particular iteration of these films
about three months from start to finish. The film took about four days and the editing took about a week. But like (sorry for the grandiose comparison) a Chinese Calligrapher decades and a moment.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?

Patience required.

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

Staying alive.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking
about your film in the feedback video?

I was quite pleased with the thoughtfulness of the replies. I even appreciated the woman who seemed taken by it while admitting this wasn't her cup of tea.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

Over the decades I produced and exhibited sculptures, drawings, collages, and photographs.

A few years ago, I "unearthed' the first film I had made in 1967. Even though I had a keen interest in animation and team taught a computer animation course for about12 years. Intermittently from about 2013 I made some films, in about 2016 I started to make films on an ongoing basis.

Some of these were animations based on my photographs, others were live action. The films I make often utilize ideas I worked with in my sculptures and collages.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other
festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking
career?

I. love this festival. Not just because I have been in it twice, but because of the various stages it produces, The audience feedback, the podcast interview and the availability of the films online.

I wish there were more festivals with Live Screenings. I am not sure that the idea of what most people think of as, career, pertains to my films. But having the films seen is certainly important to me.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your
experiences been working on the festival platform site?

Excellent in general. Some of the festivals, like Wildsound, are substantial. Others just feel like a way for the organizers to gather cash.

10. What is your favorite meal?

I take it you mean food. Custard and Pasta.

11. What is next for you? A new film?

I am getting close to finishing a 1/2 hour animated film called, Behind the Picture. I have been working (with help) On this film for over a year. It is the 14th film in a series based on a trip I took to China in 1987.