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Any Other Normal

Any Other Normal, written and directed by Brock Labrenz, is a film of prescribed encounters and private moments. This unconventional narrative focuses on two women, a traveling therapist and a theology professor, as they struggle through their respective lives.

  • Brock Labrenz
    Director
  • Brock Labrenz
    Writer
  • Natalie Thomas
    Producer
  • April Sweeney
    Producer
  • Brock Labrenz
    Producer
  • Natalie Thomas
    Key Cast
  • April Sweeney
    Key Cast
  • Ryan Billia
    Sound Editer
  • Brock Labrenz
    Director of Photography
  • Carsten Nicolai (as Alva Noto)
    Music Composed by
    The Revenant
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto (as Ryûichi Sakamoto)
    Music Composed by
    The Revenant
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    52 minutes 13 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 1, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Hamilton International Film Festival
    Hamilton, NY
    United States
Director Biography - Brock Labrenz

Brock von Drehle Labrenz, born 1980 in Catawba county, is a director who harnesses his extensive background in performance to create deliberate and sensual audio-visual experiences. His creative endeavors find him somewhere between the exactitude of modern cinema and the ephemeral transition of the body through space. Brock has persistently searched for ways to bring the audience closer to the experience of both the performers and characters they inhabit onscreen in an effort towards sharing the singularity of a given moment. His career has taken him across the globe and his work has been presented and performed at the Venice Biennale, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Theatre National De Chaillot, and Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Brock has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The Juilliard School (’03).

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Director Statement

Any Other Normal is a deeply personal project, born out of a desire to create content in a more organic and collaborative manner while working with intimate friends—my partner Natalie Thomas and her close friend April Sweeney. I encouraged all the characters to use their personal experiences as a jumping-off point. For instance, April’s current isolated existence in a small town and my partner Natalie’s pregnancy with our first child.
In the process of making the film, we experimented with breaking from tradition in three key ways: we made the film primarily with non-actors, we staffed the crew positions with the actors in the film, and we scripted the film largely onset, letting the narrative unfold from the energy (and personal experiences) in the room.
In terms of the finished film, my goal was to create material with which the audience must be actively engaged. Rather than a refusal to accept responsibility for constructing the audience experience, I see this as giving the power back to the audience. I believe that their subjective experience of the film is more meaningful and provocative than any construct that I can force-feed them.
What if we set the events up and then left the room, allowing the audience to interpret on their own? Could we create a new, more challenging type of normal in the film-going experience?