Behind the Wall

I am a writer/director who revels in discovery and creative exploration. My films toy with traditional narratives and push the boundaries of visual storytelling. I have been known to build special 3-D projection screens for my work, convert a theater into a giant, underbed world, choreograph dancers to partner with split-screen duplicates of themselves, and film animated photographs. I strive to experiment within the medium of cinema, and then, more importantly, apply these experimental techniques to stories that are emotionally accessible, that can be respected for their adroit writing and complex characters.

For Behind the Wall I wanted to juxtapose two worlds: one cold, lonely, and young and one warm, old and cluttered with all the accumulation of history. I also wanted to spend time focusing on older characters and their personal struggles with gentrification as they are forced out of neighborhoods they’ve called home for generations. This theme runs strong in my feature as well (And How She Tried).

I also love the seeing older dancers in an art form that is commonly known for youth and strength. There is so much potential there to inspire and invigorate our viewers.

In Behind the Wall, I created a film that was sound-driven. The dance is powered by the diegetic sounds of the space, and so the music for the dances must also emerge from the rhythmic banging of the steam hammer in the pipes, the creaking of the floor, the percussion of the dancers’ bodies, and any words or sounds that they make. Katrin’s final dance begins without music. Instead, we hear, in detail, the sounds she makes as she breathes, as she slides, as she steps forward with her heavy cast.

I am passionate about dance filmmaking, and have directed several short dance films. I have also directed videos capturing the dances of Paul Taylor Dance Company, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and more. I care deeply about liberating dance from the confines of the theater and re-imagining it in the world, setting it in a location that adds depth and subtext to the story told through the dance.

The challenge to tell a story where a character doesn’t speak has always inspired me, and this is the second short script that I have written with a silent protagonist. In Behind the Wall, the protagonist does not speak. I have been influenced by films such as The Triplets of Bellville or The Illusionist, which use minimal dialogue and yet convey so much information through visual storytelling alone. The challenge for this project is to tell Katrin’s story without her dialogue, and still maintain her character arc.