Director Jesse Moss’ The Overnighters won a Special Jury Prize for Intuitive Filmmaking at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The documentary was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
The Overnighters is an intimate portrait of job seekers desperately chasing the broken American Dream to the tiny oil boomtown of Williston, North Dakota. With the town lacking the infrastructure to house the overflow of migrants, a local pastor starts the controversial “overnighters” program, allowing down-and-out workers a place to sleep at the church. His well-meaning project immediately runs into resistance from his community, forcing the clergyman to make a decision, which leads to profound consequences that he never imagined.
Distributed by Drafthouse Films, The Overnighters began its theatrical run this month. The film builds further upon a far ranging lineup of documentaries shot, directed and produced by Moss, including Con Man, Speedo: A Demolition Love Story, and Full Battle Rattle.
Moss recently signed with production house Disorderly Conduct for commercials and branded content.
SHOOT: What’s the appeal of commercials and branded content for you? Have you directed any spots before and if so, what? Or is this your first foray into the ad arena?
Moss: It’s a dynamic place for storytelling–that interests me. I’m blown away by the infinite possibilities of short and long form content. This would be my first foray into this world, but I have seen some friends in non-fiction move into this space and do incredible work.
SHOOT: Why did you gravitate towards Disorderly Content as your spotmaking/branded content roost?
Moss: EP Ron Cicero’s enthusiasm and connection with my documentary work and storytelling interests convinced me that Disorderly Conduct was absolutely the right place to be. They have a relatively small roster of incredibly talented directors, so I knew I wouldn’t get lost in the roster. I know its important to have a company that believes in you, and will fight for you, and Disorderly is that place.
SHOOT: What was the biggest creative challenge that The Overnighters posed to you as a director?
Moss: The biggest challenge, but also the great opportunity, was following this story into surprising, unexpected and incredibly intimate places. It’s not the film I set out to make–I had to let go of some pre-suppositions about what a film about the North Dakota oilfield should be, and embrace the complexity of the story I discovered. At one point, I had a woman pull a gun on my subject while we were shooting, and I had to decide whether to stop filming and walk away or keep shooting the scene. I decided I had come too far, and risked too much to put the camera down. It’s an incredible scene, and a critical turning point in the film.
SHOOT: What were the most important lessons learned–as a filmmaker and an observer of the human condition–from your experience on The Overnighters documentary?
Moss: I’m not a religious person, but I really connected with my subject, a Lutheran pastor, who helps these desperate men who travel to the oil field in search of opportunity and redemption. I thought he was struggling with a pretty profound moral question: what does it truly mean to “Love Thy Neighbor”? That’s the documentary journey for me–letting the camera take you to unfamiliar places and discovering the universal truths that connect people. I really opened my heart (and my wallet!) to make this film, and it was a transformative emotional experience.
SHOOT: Provide some backstory on The Overnighters, the genesis of the project, how you became involved in it.
Moss: I was fascinated how Williston, North Dakota had become a 21st Century frontier boomtown–a modern-day Deadwood–and was curious to see what that looked like, and felt like. It was this mythic, age-old American story playing out, in front of us: the Dust Bowl-like migration of desperate Americans in search of work, and a town that was out of control. I connected with Pastor Jay after I read a clergy column he published in the local paper. We talked, and he told me there were men and women sleeping in his church and he invited me to visit. So I did. When I set foot in the church for the first time, it was electrifying, and I knew I had to start filming right away. I worked alone and really embedded myself in this story. In fact, I spent the first six months of production sleeping in the church with the men.
SHOOT: How did you get started out in the business? What path did you take to becoming a director?
Moss: At 26, I impulsively moved to New York City and found my way to the great, two-time Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple, who put me to work. That was my film school. Two years later, I sold my first film–about an Ivy League impostor–to HBO, and went to work for myself. I began to shoot as well, and made a film on my own at a racetrack on Long Island. That became Speedo: A Demolition Derby Love Story, which was a festival hit, won some awards, landed on PBS, and was optioned for remake by Warner Brothers Pictures. I’ve made three feature docs, some interesting television, and have an eye on scripted work. I just finished a feature script, inspired in part by The Overnighters–an intense, coming-of-age drama about young men trying to prove themselves by doing dangerous, but necessary, work.
