Interview with Kevin Ford

Synopsis: “Concealed and confined, obscure and over defined. Violently gentle, anything but simple, and yet there is something insatiably primal to it.” Taking Ellar Coltrane’s poetry as a starting point, filmmaker Kevin Ford fashioned the experimental documentary EVERYTHING IS STOLEN—a personal essay, collage, and exploration of a young person discarding the past to become someone new. Along with Coltrane and a few close companions, Ford examines mental health, identity, and existence in a moving, cinematic meditation.IAG: What are three films or filmmakers that have strongly influenced your work?

IAG: It's not easy to make a film that is both slow and elegiac but also compelling to watch. One of the reasons you were able to pull it off is because of your subject. Tell me a little bit about Ellar Coltrane and how this film came about?

KF: Ellar and I met back in 2015 on the heels of shooting Boyhood with Richard Linklater. Rick said to us: “the two of you should make stuff together!” And he introduced us. It was an instant connection. Ellar and I took Rick’s advice and set out initially to make a really interesting experimental documentary, produced by Adrien Brody, called By The River. That film was a cross-country train trip where Ellar talked with people along the way about life, creativity, and personal growth. It was a very healing journey for both of us — we traveled, explored, met so many new people. And ultimately made something really unique. I’m very proud of that one. Later we made another film, Drowned, which is an indie-feature — the story is a romance gone wrong in downtown Los Angeles. Kind of like the opposite of Before Sunrise. I have to say, Ellar is a one-of-a-kind. A thinker. A poet. A true, true artist. Collaborating with Ellar, for me, is nearly effortless. As long as we have some equipment, a place to be, and other people to explore with, we tend to really enjoy creating film art together. Everything Is Stolen was our third project together, and in my opinion, the best one yet. I learn so much from Ellar. He's a very deep, loving soul.

IAG: Tell me a little bit about where this was shot. There’s something distinctly “American” about it, but in a sense that doesn’t often make it into movies. I feel like this is the kind of place that Mark Twain would write about if he were alive today.

KF: The fact that you mention Mark Twain means a lot to me. I’ll tell you why. I’m from a very remote county in Northern California, called Calaveras County. It’s between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, basically, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Mark Twain wrote a story about it called “The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” and it was our big claim to fame in that region. Growing up in a small, rural area shaped every bit of who I am. I began exploring movie-making as a child in my small town of 500 people. Even though I went on to live in Los Angeles, New York, Austin, and other places — which also shaped me and my artistry — to this day I cherish my small town roots. In Everything Is Stolen, we shot entirely in a small town in rural New Mexico. I love the topography of that state so much — it's magical. Ellar and I had filmed in New Mexico once before, in our other film By The River, so for me it was a really cool full circle. New Mexico has some very unique characteristics, including the waterways and expansive desert scapes. The architecture is also so unique — the use of pastels in the buildings is really exciting to me visually. The town itself reminded me a lot of my own hometown, and it was a joy to film there. I stayed in an Airstream trailer during the making of the film, and it was an incredible experience.

IAG: There is a distinct style to this film: minimalist, gentle, raw. I see traces of Terrence Malick in the cinematography approach—a lot of beautifully-framed static shots with a hand-held camera. How does this film compare, stylistically, to your previous work?

KF: In 2015, I released an experimental feature called Windows, which was a Stereoscopic 3D film. Some of the photography in Everything Is Stolen is a direct continuation of what I was playing with in that other project, though without utilizing 3D. You mentioned Terrence Malick, and clearly he’s a master. His movies have so much feeling, and he’s a huge inspiration to me. Over three decades of making films, ranging from documentaries to indie features to experimental films, I’ve always been obsessed visually with portraits of people and nature. People walking. People gazing. Trees. Running Water. Traffic in cities. Clouds. Sunlight. Moonlight. So this film really incorporates almost all of that. Honestly, it is the most profound example of me as a filmmaker training my camera and vision on what truly interests me the most. For me, that’s why I love it so much. Before making this film, I had spent several years working with underground filmmaker Robert Downey Sr., and he loved finding connections between scenes in the edit room that were not chronological. He looked for motion in one frame and would connect that to motion in another frame from an entirely different scene, for example. Working with him resulted in the feature documentary Sr. which I produced, shot, and edited, and his perspective really inspired me. Everything Is Stolen is the first full-length film that I made after my years working with Downey, and after he passed away, I missed his creative perspective so much. This film became a personal tribute to the lessons he taught me. That’s why the film is dedicated to him.

IAG: What’s your next project?

KF: I have several next projects, actually! One is a feature documentary about the legendary musician Sting. I’ve been making that with my partner Carter B. Smith. Back in the late 90s, we co-directed a feature documentary about Jane’s Addiction together. It was called Three Days. The new Sting film has been an incredible life experience. I have also teamed up with Ty McMahan and Brandon Kobs in Oklahoma City to make a new feature documentary, 67 Bombs To Enid which tells the story of survivors of nuclear weapons testing from the Marshall Islands, and their descendants, who relocated to Oklahoma. We are so honored to have Errol Morris on that film as an Executive Producer. The threat of nuclear weapons is greater than ever, in my opinion, and our film really puts a human face on the consequences of any use of nuclear weapons. What the Marshallese people have been through is unthinkable. It’s such an important story to tell. I also have a dream to make a new film with Ellar, possibly a fiction film this time, similar to when we teamed up to make Drowned. But this time I’d like to make something set in New Mexico that really has a large ensemble cast, maybe even folks that are not actors, but are just interesting on screen. They would be compelling people playing heightened versions of themselves. I’ve been reading John Steinbeck again, recently, and I really love the idea of a rich portrait of people’s lives in a small town. The idea is brewing — I’m still in the dreaming phase! But more work with Ellar would be wonderful.

IAG: Lastly, what are three films or filmmakers that have strongly influenced your work?

KF: Oh man, does it have to be only three? That’s torture! I can’t limit myself to three so I’ll just gush and you can edit it! I’m drawn to so many types of cinema. I’d say the films of John Cassavetes, for the fictional realism. Elaine May also. Pennebaker and the Maysles and Leacock for the true cinema verite documentary lessons. I love the work of David Lynch, not just visually, but what he does with sound and picture together. He’s just incredible. As a teenager, I was obsessed with Spike Lee’s films, and Woody Allen’s — and later Jim Jarmusch’s films also. All of those indie-feeling New York classics. I have also been greatly inspired by the French New Wave. I love the experimental films of Stan Brakhage, and so many others — the use of film as art. And interestingly — one of the main influences for Everything Is Stolen, which no one would probably see but me, is Ingmar Bergman’s The Passion of Ana from 1967. It was his first color film. And though it was a fictional feature, he did some really amazing things by interweaving documentary elements into it as well. It was ultimately a portrait of some people on a remote island, and Max Von Sydow was endlessly fixing up his house. Or at least that’s how I remember it! I first saw that film when I was 21, and it stuck with me. I’m 49 now. So it just shows you how much great cinema can make an impression on you. I love all of those filmmakers that I mentioned, and so many more! What an art form.