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Interview with Daneeta Loretta Saft

A while ago I was browsing through the testimonials at the London Film School’s website and I read the one posted by Daneeta. She sounded very passionate about the school and had very good things to say about it. I wrote an email to her asking her more about her time at LFS. She was generous enough to share her experiences with me in detail and provided me with some valuable advice about film schools.

Over a few exchanged emails, I had the chance to view Patrick’s and Daneeta’s beautiful experimental documentary ‘Liza’ and read two of Daneeta’s best articles from The Guardian: ‘Blood is thicker than Floodwater’ and ‘Coming home’. She was also kind enough to take some time out to do this interview.

Daneeta, you’ve spent a lot of time in various parts of the world ranging from Tokyo to London to New Orleans. How was your experience living amongst such diverse cultures?

Living in and traveling to various parts of the world has really affected me. I’m basically a small town girl, but I lived in 5 different small towns in Southern Louisiana before the age of 13. I think that gave me roaming roots. Because I had to make friends fast as a child, I don’t have a problem with just settling in quickly to a place. Nor do I have a problem with leaving a place when it’s time to leave. But I do take a lot of stuff with me…emotional stuff. Like when I came to the UK from Tokyo, I found myself saying: “Well, that’s not how we do it in Japan” a lot. And, like a good Japanese lady, I take my shoes off whenever I enter someone’s house, which is sometimes the source of amusement for people.

The one big thing about living in diverse cultures is that I’m having a bit of an identity crisis at the moment. Like, who am I? I guess we are the sum of our experiences and our creations. But that doesn’t help me when I’m trying to tell a story that will appeal to a mass audience. My stories are very specific, and I worry sometimes that they will turn people off for being too quirky.

Tell us more about your upcoming film ‘Tokyo Cowboys’. How much has living in the world’s most densely populated city influenced you in this project?

The Tokyo Cowboys are lost in translation for real. I made this feature-documentary with my partner Patrick Jackson. The film explores the western male experience on the post-modern urban frontier. The seeds of the idea came from my time living in Tokyo. I hung out with a lot of western guys, and I found myself quite envious of their experience. Years later, when I was filming them, I realized that, of course, the grass is always greener. The Tokyo Cowboys pay a price for this kind of lifestyle.

It’s interesting that you ask about the densely populated city. In the film we wanted to re-create the feeling of being in that city. We wanted the audience to leave the film as if they were waking from a dream about Tokyo. I think we achieved that with all of the Tokyo shots…neon and noise, people everywhere…oppressive and exhilarating at the same time.

Patrick and I didn’t mean to make this film. It found us, and we were compelled to make it. Sometimes we felt caught up in a lot of excitement, and sometimes we felt trapped by our commitment to finish it.

What exactly is ‘The Elektrik Zoo’? Tell us more about your work under that banner.

The Elektrik Zoo is a creative partnership that is wholly independent. All of the films made by the two of us together fall under the banner of The Elektrik Zoo including the six shorts, Tokyo Cowboys and this script that we’re working on now. We’ve talked endlessly about formaIizing the arrangement into a company, but neither of us can be bothered with the day-to-day of running a company. We just want to make films. Patrick and I are looking for a producer that we can work with long-term who is interested in helping us to develop as storytellers and who is also turned on by the business side of things. We’ve worked with several producers hoping that this one might be the one, but it never works out in the end. I’m beginning to wonder if we are more difficult to work with than we think.

What sort of background do you come from? How did you first discover cinema?

I come from a very working class, hippy background. My grandmother had two acres of land, and she used to trade her vegetables, eggs and meat for whatever else she needed. My mom tried to better herself. She trained as a beautitian and married, had me and divorced before she was 20. After that, it was a bit of a struggle, but my mom would say to me about 20 times a day: “You will go to university,” so, that’s what I did.

My first experience of cinema was in the August heat of Southern Louisiana, in my pajamas, on the roof of my mom’s car with a homemade bag of pop corn. It was at the drive in, and the film was “The Exorcist.” I was seven, and I probably shouldn’t have been watching that because it sort of got me hooked on that particular brand of horror. But, my mom had a date, and she couldn’t find a babysitter…

“The Exorcist” aside, the cinema screened mostly crap in these small swampy towns. And this was all before video. I did have a rich friend who had a laser disc player, and I remember watching “The Graduate” on it thinking wow! In high school I took a film appreciation class, and that’s when I came to Bergman and 70s Coppola and Howard Hawks. Funnily enough, though, it took me a long time to accept film as a valid art form. I always gave it second seat to literature, which I studied at university. I also never thought that someone like me could ever make films. I saw myself writing, and I did become a writer, but I never thought about writing screenplays until the late 90s. I think when video cameras came out, it sort of demystified filmmaking for me. But I still have a long way to go.

The works of which filmmakers has an influence on you and your work?

Jim Jarmusch and Paul Thomas Anderson for their independent spirits and quirkiness. David Lynch for his surreal storytelling. Terrence Malick for the sublime poetry in his voice over writing and his stunning visuals. I like Richard Linklater. Is it too cheesy to say that I love Kurosawa, especially “Kagemusha”? Yasujiro Ozu’s “Tokyo Story,” is so beautiful. Shinji Aoyama’s “Yurika,” The voice over writing in Jun Ichikawa’s “Toni Takitani” is quite exquisite.

How was your time at the London Film School? What is your take on the timeless debate on film school vs learning by doing?

I’m a big fan of the London Film School. I was there at the exact right time for me. It was a very specific and individual experience. It’s not the kind of school that’s for everyone, but if you don’t know the answer to the debate of film school vs. learning by doing, then the LFS might be the right place for you. You just basically make films…all the time. I worked on over 30 films while at the school. I needed a structured environment, though. So the LFS gave me that with the opportunity to make films. I also have an international network of filmmakers through the people I worked with while I was at the school and the 50 years of alumni.

The school has changed a lot since I was there. For the better, I think. They’ve been validated as a Master’s program, they’ve got a bit of funding from Skillset, and they’ve really revamped their curriculum thanks to the director Ben Gibson. They also provide a low student to teacher ratio and lots of personal attention. They also run a great Masterclass program in the evening which is becoming the place to network in Central London.

Apart from your filmmaking career you’re also an accomplished writer, with the honour of being published in The Guardian. And it all started with your uncle giving you a diary?

That and a 4th grade Language Arts Class with Mrs. Peoples at Mimosa Park Elementary School in Paradis, Louisiana.

Do you find a common ground between writing and making films? How much of a filmmaker is a writer?

Maybe the question is how much of the film is the writer? I mean, it all starts with the story. It all starts with a blank page that you put words on. But, having come to filmmaking through writing sometimes gets in the way for me. Filmmaking is a visual storytelling medium. I find it very easy to paint pictures inside of people’s heads when I write, but a lot of times, those pictures cannot be transferred to the screen…or I can’t figure out a way to transfer them. So, I have to flip a switch when I’m writing for film. That’s why it’s so good to collaborate with Patrick. He’s a very visual story teller. I’m more wordy. We compliment each other and also rein each other in.

What is next in line for you? What can we expect from you in the near future?

Patrick and I are working on a feature script set in New Orleans about three generations of women devastated by hurricane Katrina. It’s based on that article I wrote for the Guardian which details my own family’s experience. So, we’re looking around for funding for that. We’ve got about 5 story ideas at the moment that are in different stages of development. I think it’s best to go that way.

I’m also working on a book of short stories.

I spend far too much time blogging. It would be nice to get paid for that.

What is the one piece of advise that you would offer to anyone who aspires to tread the waters of filmmaking?

Don’t give up.

Thank you Daneeta for your invaluable comments. It has been a pleasure speaking with a filmmaker of your caliber. I wish you all the best for your upcoming endeavours.

You can see more of Daneeta’s work with her partner Patrick at The Elektrik Zoo or you can catch her blogging at Story Truths, Tokyo Cowboys, Down in the Parish and London Metblogs.

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