Ben Callner Answers Pandemic Filmmaking Challenge With "Apartment 8 1/2"

Art imitates life--at least in part relative to inspiring Ben Callner, a commercial director whose wife is a doctor. As a New Yorker with a spouse on the frontlines of the pandemic, Callner observed that it’s been difficult to not allow news about the health crisis to take over. But one of the commercial production companies that represents him, Czar in Germany, gave the filmmaker a creative outlet, issuing a home video challenge to all its directors. The idea was to make a video (safely, of course) based on the Milton Berle quote, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”

“During the first few weeks of the lockdown, truthfully, I was having a hard time focusing on anything other than the virus, my wife, and making sure we had enough supplies--toilet paper included.  So, I pushed off the challenge indefinitely,” recalled Callner.

“But, when I started adjusting to this new routine, and with the help of my brother and producer (Adam Callner who lives in LA), I finally got around to making something.  And, it turned out to be incredibly therapeutic: not only exposing/chronicling my own feelings (albeit a bit dramatized but sadly surprisingly close at times) but also eye-opening to hear and see the reaction and how people are relating to it from cities big and small.”

An alum of SHOOT’s 2012 New Directors Showcase, Ben Callner stars as a creative filmmaker navigating life in quarantine, trying to prevent himself from going stir-crazy while also pitching an ad campaign for a small business looking to make a splash when it eventually reopens. Callner also wrote, directed, shot and edited this short film, titled Apartment 8 1/2.

Director Callner is repped not only by Czar in Germany but also Hungry Man in the U.S., Grand Bazar in France, and Filmmaster in Italy.