CINEWOMEN
March, 2006

Meet this month's CineGal Therese Shechter,
a female filmmaker not afraid of the "F" word.

By Kathleen Harty

How did you become a filmmaker - school, jobs, breaking out and doing your own thing?

I was working as a graphic designer at the Chicago Tribune and although I loved my job, I also knew I didn't want to do it for the rest of my life. I had always been a film geek, so I enrolled in a part-time film program at Columbia College. After three years, and much to my surprise, I got an internship in New York with Tribeca Productions.

Suddenly I was in the middle of a mind-blowing life change: a film job, a move to NY, my salary cut in half, my expenses doubled, and I went from being the boss to being a lowly producer's assistant. I didn't take well to the Hollywood career path - it's always good to know what you DON'T want to do - and during a volunteer gig at Sundance I saw some docs that blew me away. I hadn't done any doc work in school (at the time it seemed really dull and a sure route to poverty) so I enrolled in a documentary workshop in New York with filmmaker Macky Alston and then became his intern.

I got various jobs, paid and unpaid - researcher, grip, associate producer, rights clearer - while I developed my first film. It seems so obvious now - the marriage of my art and journalism experience - but in reality it was a long and winding path to figure out what I really wanted to do. And I still do freelance graphic design to pay the bills.

Did you have a mentor or mentors? What did they do for you and/or how did they influence you?

Macky Alston became a mentor when I took his class. Our term assignment was to create a film proposal, but it was purely academic; we weren't expected to actually make a film. Halfway through the course, he sat me down and said, "You have to make this film." I laughed in his face. He then handed me his video camera, showed me how to use it and sent me off on my first interview. He knew I'd get hooked if I got the push. The result was "I Was A Teenage Feminist."

Tell us about your films.

My films have a few things in common: humor, a personal voice and a fascination with the nature of female power.

In the feature "I Was A Teenage Feminist" I search for what became of the feminist movement and explore why young women are so reluctant to identify with the F Word. It took about four years to make and 90% of our funding came in the last 6 months. Up until then, a lot of people worked for free, for barter or for baked goods. We eventually got finishing funds from Canadian sources. I grew up in Canada and it was a real thrill for my family that it premiered on Canadian TV in 2005.

It has screened in the US, Canada and Europe at festivals and art houses, and we've had some really great screenings at colleges. People often come up to me after the film and say, 'I didn't think I'd like your film because it was about Feminism." and then go on to tell me how it's inspired them. I love that.

The doc short "How I Learned to Speak Turkish" (shown as part of The CWNY Screening Series at Pioneer last March) is about my obsession with Turkish male culture. It started out as a vacation diary chronicling the powerful effect my first trip to Turkey had on me. But the story kept getting weirder until I realized that I had a full-fledged story arc. I developed it through the FVA Artist Mentor program, which provided the kick in the ass I needed to get it finished.

It has screened here in the US as well as in Germany and Turkey and won a jury prize at the Atlanta Film Festival. I was really nervous about the Turkish screenings but got a largely positive response, most amusingly from men who wanted to be 'interviewed' for my next project.

One of my favorite projects is "Womanly Perfection," a little1-minute animated piece about beauty as seen through the lens of women's magazines. I did it on my laptop in After Effects and it took forever. I have a lot of respect for animators.

Where do you think you've gone the extra mile - such as your website - and how has it paid off for you?

The most time-consuming but essential things I've done are both outreach and publicity tools: building a great database and creating the Trixie Films website. It's a pretty extensive site where people can quickly link to information, trailers and press clippings, and get a quick feel for the tone of my work through the site's design. Best of all, you can order the film online which makes everyone's life easier. I'd love to do more with it, like a blog and message boards, but I need to sleep once in a while.

Any grant advice?

Grants. Ugh. I've only ever gotten one grant - but it was a big one from the Jerome Foundation and totally funded our first 2 months of editing. The grant was specifically for artists working on their first or second projects, so I wasn't competing with seasoned filmmakers for the same small pot. But I'll tell you - I think it's a lot easier if you know generous rich people.

What are your goals and how are you working to make them happen?

I just started work on a new feature doc about Sex Education in America. I've been putting it off because I now know how much work I have ahead of me (the first time out, ignorance really is bliss.) I'm working with a great producer, Lisa Esselstein, and having a partner in crime to both support and nag me makes it much easier.

Any advice for people starting out in the political doc world?

Bring experts on board right at the start. When I started I Was A Teenage Feminist, I knew very little about contemporary feminism. I didn't even know what I didn't know. My advisors kept me honest and made sure I didn't embarrass myself. Plus they introduced me to a lot of people I would not have otherwise had access to. I also learned a lot by interning for a filmmaker who did first-person docs. It was like going to grad school for free.

Any parting words of wisdom?

Making docs is fantastically rewarding but also a long and challenging trip. Sometimes it's hard to keep going because you hear 'no' so much. Take it one baby step at a time, but don't ever stop. And keep that database up to date.

[Copyright Cinewomen New York]