Revere La Noue & Elisabeth Haviland James
June Filmmakers of the Month
FILMMAKER BIOS
Husband and wife team Revere La Noue and Elisabeth Haviland James set off to make Overland as a response to an ever-modernizing world that leaves little room for the wild.
Elisabeth Haviland James -Director/Producer/Editor – a passionate documentary storyteller, James is a Peabody and Emmy winning filmmaker (The Loving Story, Althea, In So Many Words) whose work has screened theatrically, on television and in museums; her work includes historical, cinema verite, environmental and experimental films. Overland is the second documentary feature film she has directed and produced. From the jungles of Central Africa to dusty basement archives, she loves the challenge of capturing the heart of a story. She approached the stories in Overland with the belief that broadening our understanding of each other cultivates peace, and was hooked by the opportunity to tell a “pangaeaic” story about relationships – to each other, to animals and to our planet.
James was recently commissioned by the Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina to write and curate a full-dome production about the American South, which premiered in October 2019. James was named one of two film fellows in the state by the North Carolina Arts Council in 2015. She is currently producing and editing a feature documentary about 19th century photographer Eadweard Muybridge, and in development on several international projects. James has taught documentary filmmaking at Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies and as an artist in residence at the Oklahoma Arts Institute; she has also served as a guest lecturer for the State Department in Central Asia. She is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the MA program in Documentary Film at Stanford University. She is an active member of the Documentary Producer’s Alliance.
Revere La Noue -Director/Producer/Editor – is an artist and filmmaker working on a wide array of projects all over the world. Over the past two decades he has had the privilege of working on feature and short format documentaries ranging in topic from woodpeckers to opera to college football. For his first feature documentary Revere and his partner Elisabeth Haviland James navigated 4 continents, 3 languages, and a myriad of creatures and wildernesses to create Overland. As a visual artist, Revere has been collaborating and innovating on diverse multi-media projects including a large canvas print of wild horses that wrapped a city block, an experimental photography exhibit at the Ford Presidential Museum, and a number of solo exhibitions of abstract paintings and other mixed-media works with themes including modern dance, architecture, and military history. He believes in the interconnectedness of all forms of art and that his experiences as a collegiate athlete helps him in the team sport of filmmaking. He discovered his love for birds of prey as a teenager volunteering at a raptor rehabilitation facility at an urban wilderness park in Baltimore City. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and received a Masters in Documentary Film from Stanford University.
To learn more or follow their careers check out the links below.
www.OverlandMovie.com | Facebook | Instagram |www.reverelanoue.com
Filmmaker Interview
1. Tell us your backstory. How and why did you get into filmmaking?
Elisabeth: I’ve always been a filmmaker at heart. When I was in the 4th Grade, my Dad bought a VHS Video camcorder for the family – it basically became my appendage. I could often be found doing man on the street interviews outside the grocery store, or setting up elaborate stories that I forced my brother to enact alongside my dolls. That said, I decided to study international affairs at university, feeling a need to deepen my understanding of the world. Both Revere and I went to the documentary film program at Stanford for graduate school, and since then I’ve never really looked back.
Revere: During long family road trips, starting around the time I was 10, I would listen to my walkman and look out the car window. The world racing by in a glass rectangle with U2 or UB40 scoring the show was a magical experience. If I saw an overpass coming I would close my eyes to edit it out as we went through. When the landscape was really interesting, particularly in new cities, I would open and close my eyes to the rhythm of the music to create a montage. Those were my early films; disappearing as soon as they were made. I majored in International Relations and Film at the University of Notre Dame and then received a masters degree in the Documentary film program at Stanford University. Starting out, I took any gig I could find from surgical instruction videos for medevac units to animated children’s series to a show on early inventors. It took 20 years before I could direct my first feature documentary. I think the kid with the walkman would be pretty impressed by our octocopter drone shooting in 6k over the massive sand dunes of the Liwa Oasis halfway around the world.
2. What are the specific qualities that, in your opinion, make a film great?
Elisabeth: Story trumps all. Followed by craftsmanship. When I go to a movie I want to be transported into its world – from the cinematography to the sound design – and anything that takes me out of that world can really ruin it for me. I like to watch films that make me consider broader questions about the human condition and our connections to one another. Films that spark big debates at the dinner table are my favorites – I love it when filmmakers take risks, and surprise us with their storytelling.
Revere: I like films with disciplined, intentional cinematography and attention to color. I always appreciate cohesive, evolving scores that use uncommon instruments. Nothing beats awesome costumes!
3. What films have been the most inspiring or influential to you and why?
Elisabeth: On the documentary front – of course the early work by DA Pennybaker and the Maysles brothers is important to me. They were really going rogue back then, and I think they found ways to capture the truth of a moment, despite massive technical hurdles. Docs that have inspired me in the last year include Elizabeth Lo’s STRAY, Lance Oppenheim’s SOME KIND OF HEAVEN, and Garret Bradley’s TIME. On the fiction front my inspiration comes from so many wells – I am a big fan of the earlier films of Terrence Malick, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jean Luc Goddard, Paul Thomas Anderson and David Fincher. Also, I thought NOMADLAND was a masterful film, and I aspire to it on many levels.
Revere: A few films come to mind that were influential in the making of OVERLAND. Barracka shot and directed by Ron Fricke has such patient and measured cinematography that turns landscape into metaphor. Summer Pasture, directed by Lynn True and Nelson Walker III, was an eye opener in terms of verite shooting of foreign cultures with authentic curiosity. Interstellar directed by Christopher Nolan had an exquisite and emotive score by Hans Zimmer which we used as temp deep into the edit. Etre at Avoir, directed by Nicolas Philibert managed to animate the natural world with unforgettable sound design.
4. What’s harder? Getting started or being able to keep going? And what drives you to continue making films?
ELISABETH: Definitely keeping going! Being a documentary filmmaker is not for the faint of heart. There are challenges on every level. But, I love making movies. I love researching. I love scouting. Most of all, I love filming. The dream of being on location with a trusted team, working hand in hand to fulfill the vision of the project, and then sharing it with the world is worth the struggle.
Revere: Getting started is easy because you don’t even know you are doing it. You could be a kid looking out a car window or designing a puppet show or drawing comic books. The challenge is raising enough money to fuel your vision. As your vision grows, so does your need for collaborators of all kinds. Working with talented, driven people to create something beautiful, timeless, and poignant is the ultimate pursuit for me. There is a gentle flutter in the stomach and warm wash over your brain when you get your craft right that says “stop, you are there!” The journey to there is what keeps me going.
5. How do you know when your story’s finished, when to walk away?
Elisabeth: My cheeky answer is when you run out of money! For our last film, OVERLAND, Revere and I were so deep into the story, and into the collaborative effort of putting the very best film that we could make forward, that we had to agree that every decision had to be not just liked, but loved, by each of us. It took a long time to get there, and it was an exercise in both humility and perseverance, but we are enormously proud of the results.
Revere: While shooting OVERLAND, each of our characters had “moments of closure” that felt like natural places to wrap up the story. Figuring out how to interweave the three stories was the bigger challenge and it took us a full year in the editing room to conjure up a completely unique structure. Ironically, those “moments of closure” ended up right in the middle of the movie. The shooting can stop when you feel like you have a beginning, middle and end, but the story isn’t finished until the movie works…and people want to clap or cry at the end.
6. How many films have you completed? What is your favorite project you have worked on and why?
ELISABETH: I work in several different roles as a filmmaker. I’ve Directed/Produced/Edited two feature documentaries, OVERLAND and IN SO MANY WORDS. I’m just finished editing and producing a new feature doc called EXPOSING MUYBRIDGE, and am mid-way through cutting an episode of a documentary series that is for a major streaming service. I’ve been the Producer/Editor another two feature docs, THE LOVING STORY and ALTHEA. And early in my career I produced two feature docs, THE GOOD FIGHT and THE LORD GOD BIRD.
Revere: OVERLAND was my first feature and will always have special place in my heart. My other favorite was my first ever student film named “transit-ion” which was shot almost entirely out of a car window.
7. Where do you get your inspiration from?
ELISABETH: Lots of places. During the pandemic I realized how much eavesdropping I do in my daily life – picking up snippets of conversations in coffee shops, at the store, at the bar – and how much that can tip my work in a certain direction. Being outdoors is a big inspiration for me. Listening to music, looking at great art, watching movies, going to the ballet, hearing a great news story or podcast, reading a great novel. I really can’t imagine the world without artists, and their creations, alongside mother natures, nurture my soul.
REVERE: I am deeply inspired by hearing anyone who is a master of their craft talk about their process.
8. What is your favorite aspect of film production?
ELISABETH: Being on location, especially someplace interesting! The creative collaboration with the team is something that I sorely miss when I’m glued to the cutting room. Also, finding characters and determining how to best tell their stories, and being nimble about it.
REVERE: There is nothing better than a day of shooting in a foreign place, with a tight crew, chasing the light. We’ve all got a ring of dirt around our necks and aching feet as we sit down for a late dinner of local food and it tastes the best when I know, as a director, I have enabled everyone to excel at their job that day.
9. Why did you choose to submit to the Breckenridge Film Festival? What do you look for in a festival where you hope to show your film?
ELISABETH: The festival came highly recommended to us by a colleague, and we are so glad we were able to participate in the 2020 edition, even if it had to be online. It was such an honor to win the Best Documentary award, and to engage with your virtual audience! Festival strategy is a part of the business that I’m still learning, but we have discovered with OVERLAND that looking for festivals that are likely destinations for your target audience is of course the first-best step.
REVERE: Of course, it is a very well respected festival and I suppose we felt that our movie might play well in beautiful places with thoughtful audiences who had a sense of adventure and wonder. We were rewarded for trusting our gut!
10. You are a collaborator. Did you make any connections at the Breckenridge Film Festival that have led to collaborations with other filmmakers?
ELISABETH: Being a virtual festival, it was really hard to make the kind of connections that an in-person event yields. So, not yet!
REVERE: It’s been an odd year so much of that is to be determined but during the dark lonely days of covid, I was inspired and cheered up by the Breckinridge Film Festival virtual events. I am looking forward to the flesh and blood reunion
11. Can you describe the business behind independent filmmaking and how you are trying to get your film seen?
Our sales agent, Cargo Films and Releasing, is just now taking OVERLAND “to market.” We made the movie to be seen on a big screen, so it is our goal to have a theatrical run in 2021. And then, who knows! We are about to return to the in-person film festival circuit, starting in early June in Ferrara, Italy, which is really exciting for us. To watch a film in community, and to really feel it, is the way we hope most people can first experience OVERLAND.
12. What are the hurdles you have had to overcome in order to recoup the costs of producing the film? (If you feel comfortable discussing exact financials, you are welcome to do so.)
We would prefer to keep this private information!
13. What are the next project or projects you are beginning work on?
ELISABETH: I just finished cutting a documentary that will debut later this year called EXPOSING MUYBRIDGE. I’m cutting an episode of a docu series for a major streaming service, and I have my first narrative feature in early development, alongside a few documentary ideas that I’m starting to pursue.
REVERE: I have just finished a 9 piece mixed-media series fusing abstract painting and old world design for permanent public display at the University of Notre Dame. I am currently working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on a podcast about patriotism and leadership in the war on COVID. After that, I am planning to write and direct my first narrative feature about a stranger than fiction family saga.