Interview with Kelly Reichardt, member of the Feature Jury

Kelly Reichardt - Member of the Feature Films jury © Stephane Cardinale / Getty Images

Fragile characters and minimalist staging meet in Wendy and Lucy, the second of her feature films to be showcased in Au Certain Regard in 2008: Kelly Reichardt always digs deep. This multi-talented script writer, director and film editor worked with Todd Haynes in 1991 on his film Poison. Now a member of the Feature Jury chaired by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, she discusses her vision in this interview.

You are a screenwriter, director and editor. Which of these roles takes priority over the others?
I edit my films but I've never written a screenplay for anyone else. Mostly I work with another writer. Filmmaking is about constructing and deconstructing, constructing and deconstructing, and all three processes work together. I started editing because we didn’t have money to hire an editor, but I enjoy the process very much. It makes me think of how I want to shoot a film. When I’m on set thinking about how I want to construct a scene, I think about the directing and the editing, they kind of go together. When I’m prepping the film and writing a script – with Jonathan Raymond my cowriter, who’s really the writer -, I have a while by myself to think of what I’m doing and then you’re collaborating with a lot of people while directing, then in the editing you get back to yourself again, you can get back to your own thoughts. Editing is a really nice part of the process.

As a member of the jury, how do you approaching watching the films?   
Because I was editing up until the day I came here, I’ve been looking at the cuts. But it’s easy to let that go when you’re watching someone else's film. So I’m not looking at all the pieces, I’m trying to see it as a whole. It’s an experience that is new to me and I don’t know where it’s going and it’s actually quite refreshing after editing for four months.

What project have you been editing?
It’s called First Cow. It’s a period piece we shot in Oregon, set in the 1820’s. And I finished the pictures cut two days before I flew to Cannes. I’m going back to do the sound mix and the color correction but I've finished the cutting.

Does it have a "nonconformist" streak, like your other movies? Do you think your movies are minimalist? 
I don’t necessarily think so but then when I’m at home in the States and I go see something new, when I sit through the previews, I think oh my god I can’t believe it: “where do my films fit in”? They don’t seem so minimalist to me in my mind until I’m seeing them in the world, next to other things. I guess I feel a natural sense of wanting to reduce the speed of everything, cutting down on the amount of images and sounds that are being thrust upon us, and I feel like so much of it is driven by a consumer kind of mentality. I don’t want that to seep into my filmmaking, I want to resist it and say it’s ok to give people time to see what’s in a movie and find things. It’s ok not to show the viewer everything. It’s like the difference between showing someone something and letting them find it and see it, letting them have a different experience. So I guess it is something I am drawn to. In the States maybe it’s not so common.  My shots are often considered to be 'slow' cinema. But we are talking about a shot that lasts 11 seconds, and people call it slow cinema. That’s how fast-paced things have become. 
 

“I feel a natural sense of wanting to reduce the speed of everything.”

Do you share this sensibility with other directors? 
Yes. With the filmmakers that I share my work with, like my friend Karim Aïnouz who is at Un Certain Regard this year with A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão (The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão), we’ve been discussing each other’s films for 20 years now. Our films are all quite different but I think we know how to look at each other’s work. That's the great thing about getting older: you have history with people, and that allows you to share your work along the way and get some perspective along with it.

Is it the same with Todd Haynes?
Yes, very much so. This time Todd was shooting at the same time as I was editing so our timing was a bit off. Usually we’re quite involved with what each other is doing. So I hope our timing is back on track so we can be there for each other. Sometimes I go location scouting, the location being such a big deal for my films, and Todd is going through folders with me, it’s very nice to share the process.

Who are your heroes?
I guess it’s not just America that loves heroes. The hero thing always seems like a myth to me anyway. It’s usually a male, it’s hard to think of a female hero. I like stories about working people who support themselves, building things that everyone uses: A road, a house, a roof. It’s more interesting to me. I don’t know if I believe in the hero myth of one person who accomplishes everything alone. Even in filmmaking, we work with a lot of different people, like the production assistants who really give it everything they've got. I’m less interested in who’s at the top of the pyramid.