Two distinctly different documentaries share a common bond: dual identities. One involves a filmmaker diagnosed with terminal cancer who decides to make a documentary about her struggle for survival–juxtaposed with a parallel narrative within the same film about her fictional, more easygoing, optimistic counterpart who confronts the same medical diagnosis.
The other documentary centers on a famed comedian and performer who reevaluates his life, resulting in a new chapter of social activism which represents a dramatic departure from his pop celebrity persona.
Both these documentaries made their debut at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival which wrapped last week in Austin, Texas. SHOOT connected with the directors behind the films A Woman Like Me and Brand: A Second Coming.
A Woman Like Me
Known for such films as If These Walls Could Talk 2, Amnesia and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-nominated drama All Over Me, director Alex Sichel faced a life crisis by making A Woman Like Me–part documentary about her coping with terminal cancer, and part fictional narrative centering on the character of Anna Seashell (played by Lili Taylor) who manages to find the glass more than half full when faced with the same medical diagnosis. This touching, moving film follows Sichel as she uses the two stories to examine what is foremost on her mind: her young daughter, marriage, faith, life and the all-too-imminent prospect of death.
Sichel, who was also the film’s writer, brought in her close friend, producer Elizabeth Giamatti to produce and co-direct A Woman Like Me. It was left to Giamatti to complete the film upon Sichel’s passing in June 2014.
“Alex and I had never really worked together before,” related Giamatti. “We had tried to develop a TV show but it never went anywhere. She emailed me at one point about six months after she was diagnosed with cancer. She said, ‘I have this movie playing in my head. It involves a woman a lot like me with a diagnosis like mine but she’s dealing with it better than I am.’
“Alex asked me to help her develop the project. I said yes but at first we were all over the map–were we doing a fictional movie, some sort of documentary or video diary? But we just kept talking. Time was of the essence. So we just picked up the camera and started before we fully knew what the movie was going to be. As it turned out, the act of filming stuff helped us clarify what the movie was–a movie about the making of a movie with a mix of documentary and fiction as the spine of it.”
While she felt “a sacred trust” to finish the film, Giamatti didn’t feel the responsibility was onerous. “I didn’t feel any burden because Alex and I had worked on it together for a full two-plus years, and very intensely before she died. I felt so imbued by our collective vision for what the movie should be.”
Asked what the selection of the film for screening at SXSW would have meant to Sichel, Giamatti affirmed, “She would have been thrilled. In a funny way, my missing Alex is starting to kick in now. She’s been so present for me as a collaborator in the process of making the movie. And now the thought that the movie is going out into the world in such a fantastic way at South By Southwest without her being there is much more difficult and daunting for me.”
Sichel would also have been gratified to learn that for A Woman Like Me the SXSW documentary jury awarded a special recognition for directing honor upon her and Giamatti.
A Woman Like Me marked the first turn for seasoned producer (All Is Bright, Cold Souls, Pretty Bird) Giamatti in the director’s chair. It also was Giamatti’s first documentary. “I found that I loved the documentary process so much. I hope I get to make another one someday.” Giamatti also embraced directing, particularly for a film with such “a profound subject matter. It’s not for me to say the movie is profound. I’ll leave that to the audience. But at the very least, we explored some really deep thoughts–and I think showed what made Alex such a beautiful person. This movie had a real sense of purpose.”
A Woman Like Me was one of 10 documentaries selected from 1,018 submissions for the SXSW Documentary Competition. Sichel died just a month or so shy of her 51st birthday.
Re-Branding
Brand: A Second Coming follows comedian/author Russell Brand’s evolution from addict and Hollywood celeb to unexpected social activist, political disrupter, and advocate for the disenfranchised and marginalized. Directed by Ondi Timoner, the documentary played as part of the Headliners program at SXSW.
Timoner is no stranger to SXSW, The accomplished filmmaker financed her early work through music videos and electronic press kits, first coming to SXSW some 20 years ago. She went there on varied assignments, including shooting bands for Capitol Records, spending much of her time on the music festival end of SXSW. In 2004 she brought her music documentary DIG! to the SXSW Film Festival after it won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Five years later, Timoner came to SXSW with another Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, We Live in Public, the documentary on dot-com pioneer Josh Harris.
In 2011, the short film Library of Dust–directed by Timoner and Robert James–made its way to SXSW.
Library of Dust takes us to Oregon State Hospital where hundreds of corroded copper urns containing cremated patients were discovered. These remains were of people shelved away in life and forgotten in death. In 2012, Timoner served on the SXSW short film jury. Two years later she premiered at SXSW the short Obey the Artist which shed light on breakthrough artist Shepard Fairey. Obey the Artist was nominated for the SXSW Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Short.
As for her latest film at SXSW, Timoner said she was approached by Brand to direct the documentary.
“He had been trying to make this film for some time, showing the emptiness he felt as a Hollywood star and then his transformation to a more substantive life as an agent for positive social change. I didn’t know much about him. I thought he was Katy Perry’s ex-boyfriend, I had never seen his work as a comedian. I received a rough cut of his film and from that I didn’t think I was the right person for the project. Then I took a meeting with Russell and was blown away. His intelligence is mind boggling, his charisma is off the charts. None of that person was in the rough cut he sent me–it didn’t get the essence and magic of him. I saw his stand-up show, his sense of humor, his awakened social conscience and ultimately came away with the belief that I had to tell his story. He has grown by leaps and bounds and is sickened by certain aspects of our society. I agreed to do this film if he would give me creative control. He agreed. The movie, which includes footage from his original film, changes from what you think it’s going to be to an intense dramatic unfolding story.”
The documentary delves into Brand on varied fronts, including the backstory behind his Messiah Complex show, a mix of philosophy, history and humor that he took on world tour. The show and his book–which challenges and empowers people to become part of a nonviolent revolution–sprung out of Brand’s journey of self-discovery which had him meet with a wide range of people, including U.S. Marines, orphans in Kenya, inmates on death row, Mike Tyson, Pink, Oliver Stone and 50 Cent.
Interest in the documentary was piqued somewhat when Brand, scheduled to attend the premiere of the film and to deliver a keynote talk at SXSW–which was to include a discussion of his YouTube show “Trews”– cancelled his appearance. On his blog, Brand explained his decision not to appear at the festival, noting that he gave Timoner creative control “to make a documentary about me and my transition from a relatively conventional celebrity to whatever the hell it is I am now.”
Brand’s blog continued, “Ondi is a very beautiful person and a director of peerless integrity, I suppose what I didn’t consider was that in letting go of the film, I was agreeing to be the subject of a biography.
Posthumously this is a great honor but while you’re alive, oddly intrusive and melancholy.
“You’d think a narcissist would like nothing more than talking about themselves and their ‘rags to riches,’ ‘hard luck’ story but actually, it felt like, to me, my life was hard enough the first time round and going through it again was painful and sad.
“I know Ondi is an artist and I’m told the film is good but for me watching it was very uncomfortable. I apologize sincerely to the organizers of SXSW for my non-attendance.”
The documentary was well received by the SXSW audience as well as critics.
