Brian Bieber is a Sioux Falls writer, director and filmmaker. He chatted with Sioux Falls Simplified about the upcoming movie premiere for his new short horror film, "The Events of That Night As Best I Can Remember," starring Minneapolis artist Dessa.
Let's start with a little bit of your background. How did you "get smart" about writing/directing/filmmaking?
Well, I suppose I started getting smart about writing in college, where I majored in creative nonfiction writing.
- While I’ve always loved film, I became much more interested in making it myself during my years working at an ad agency.
- Working on commercial projects I was able to collaborate with extremely talented filmmakers like Joe Hubers, Dalton Coffey, Doug Lee, and Wes Eisenhauer. I learned a lot just by watching them and pestering them with questions during shoots. Meanwhile, I was teaching myself to edit video as a hobby.
After a few years of making documentary projects, I decided I wanted to try my hand at narrative filmmaking. So was I actually prepared for the opportunity? Maybe less “prepared” than “naively ambitious.”
We're all about simplicity here. Can you summarize "The Events of That Night..." in 10 words or fewer? (and using the full title is a cop-out)
A non-linear, graduate-level UFO abduction story.
Sioux Fallsians might remember seeing your punk rock documentary, "I Really Get Into It" – I get the sense this new film is a pretty different tone. What inspired you to take on the horror genre?
After finishing a feature length documentary, I wanted to try my hand at narrative filmmaking, so I pitched an idea and a rough script to my friend and director of photography, Wes Eisenhauer, as a way for us both to try to exercise some new storytelling muscles.
- Wes pulled in his longtime collaborator Isaac Show to supervise sound and Dan Ludeman as our lighting director. As a first time director of a project like this, my goal was to make myself the weakest link on the production team, because that's always the best way for me to learn.
As for the story itself, I have always been interested in UFO experiencer stories, but am especially fascinated in the ones that deviate from the traditional “little gray men” narrative. My goal was to capture the strangeness of some of these stories that exist on the fringes of an already fringe subject.
- To help with that, I asked local textile artist Amy Jarding and sculptor Cameron Stahlheim to help me with costume and production design. Those two took my initial ideas and completely elevated them. Once again, I benefited from being the weak link.
What was it like to work with Dessa?
It was like old times, honestly.
- Dessa and I met in a college writing workshop many years ago. We then published a short-lived literary journal together in our twenties and have remained friends ever since. We’re rarely in the same city these days, so this project was a great excuse to hang out together for a few days.
A few years ago she read a feature length screenplay I wrote featuring the same main character as “The Events of That Night” and asked that she be considered for the role if I was able to get it made. The feature didn’t pan out, but when I wrote this short, she was the only person I had in mind for it.
Dessa has plenty of experience being in front of cameras, from broadcast performances to music videos, but I’m pretty sure this is her first time acting in a narrative film. Unsurprisingly, she absolutely knocked it out of the park.
Are there any locations folks will recognize in the setting of the film?
A very gracious friend who lives in the All Saints neighborhood offered up her home for a night of marathon filming. I don’t want to blow up her spot, but friends of the owner of the house will certainly recognize her living room in the party scenes. That was the first of two nights of shooting.
The second night was shot on location in and outside the Local Zip convenience store in Inwood, Iowa. The station’s owner, Andy Howes, gave us free reign after they closed for the night.
- Andy is a huge supporter of the arts and through FUEL, his music promotion company, is also one of the sponsors of our upcoming screening event at the State Theatre.
How can folks see the film?
On Saturday, Oct. 12, the State Theatre is hosting a screening of the short that is doubling as a fundraiser for The Transformation Project. After the film, Lori Walsh of SDPB will moderate a Q&A session with Dessa, Wes Eisenhauer, and me.
A lot of really talented people shared their talents to help me make this–admittedly strange–little film, so more than anything I want to use the event to celebrate that collaboration.
- And all of the ticket sales will support two organizations doing great things for our community: The State Theatre and The Transformation Project.
Is there anything else you want the good people of Sioux Falls to know about you, your work, this film, or what's next?
“The Events of That Night…” is starting its festival run this fall and sometime in the not-too-distant future it will be available to watch online somewhere. I’m currently starting work on my next feature documentary, about how the comedy podcasting industry grew out of the end of the monoculture, told through the lens of one podcasting pioneer’s career. But in the meantime you can now watch “I Really Get Into It” for free on YouTube.
