I met Joel Soisson and his partner Claudia before the screening of his film BIRD BOY at the New York International Children's Film Festival. The film is about a young man who is being shuttled between family members and whi is becoming closed off and a bit hostile as a result. Things look up when he finds an ostrich egg and decides to hatch it. It’s a lovely film that will make you feel good for all the right reasons, namely you will care about the people on the screen.
Joel and I spoke briefly before the film and I hoped to grab him after the film to do a short interview. We missed each other, the theater was packed, but connected soon after via email. I asked him if he would do an interview. He said yes, but because he was down with the flu he asked could we do it via email because his voice was less than it should be. Over the next ten days or so we went back and forth talking about the film and his thoughts in general
From my brief interaction with Joel at the festival and doing this interview I have come away feeling that he is a very funny man with a wicked sense of humor. He is a guy you would want to sit down with in diner and talk movies for several hours (more so if you love horror films, he's directed a number of those). I can’t wait to cross paths with him again in the near future.
I want to thank Joel for taking the time to answer my questions and for making a wonderful film.
STEVE: How does a filmmaker from the west coast of the United States end up making a feature film in South Africa?
JOEL: I know this shoots holes in whatever artistic cred I'm struggling to project here, but about halfway through my career, I decided to prioritize making films in countries on my bucket list. Gets me out of the tourist bubble and into the reality of life there. Being a writer, I can set a story wherever I want (as long as the production costs are low). In the case of BIRD BOY, I took an incident that happened in China (the big ostrich escape) and transposed it to South Africa because I'd already been to China.
STEVE: Do you base the films you do on where you can go? If that is the case where do you want to go next?
JOEL: Let's just say that location has moved up the ladder of priorities for me as I've gotten older. There was a time when the sheer joy of being on a film set would override most other concerns, creative and financial. I still find movie work pretty thrilling, but the story matters most to me now. That said, if somebody said, "I want you to make a film about banana slugs in Zanzibar," I'd be on it in a heartbeat.
STEVE: How did you end up with an ostrich as a key plot point?
JOEL: I came across this video of ostriches stampeding through a city in China and from there I just kind of reverse-engineered the story. (The story is here)
STEVE: You said that Claudia (Joel's wife, who plays a reporter in the film) was vital to the making of BIRD BOY. How important was she behind the scenes?
JOEL: When you have a life partner who is the first to see and comment on your work, her influence is incalculable. Only a studio exec has a greater power to crush your dreams. Claudia is slightly more compassionate.
STEVE: Tea Leoni is credited as both a producer and star, so I have to ask at what point did she come into the project?
JOEL: I had written a draft or two of the screenplays and we managed to get it to Tea, knowing she's been very involved with UNICEF and a big fighter for human rights. She's the real deal -- super smart, film savvy and a huge creative influence in front of and behind the camera. She also swears like a pirate, which I'm sure added some color to our young star's vocabulary.
STEVE: The cast of the film is one of the main reasons that the film works as well as it does. How did you assemble such a perfect group of actors?
JOEL: Casting Litlhonolofatso in the lead role was pretty much a no-brainer. I simply googled "the best male child actor in South Africa" and this guy popped up. The rest of the S.A. cast required a great casting team and a lot of auditions. One of my favorite tasks is casting talented young actors who have never been in a movie before. The sheer joy and commitment they bring to the set is infectious. By the way, Litlhonolofatso just won best actor in S.A.... again! So far it hasn't gone to his head.
STEVE: Did the project change radically over the course of coming up with the idea until the finished project?
JOEL: I would not say that the project changed radically but my original concept was considerably darker and edgier, less child friendly. August was much more of an outcast, on the autism spectrum, and extremely wary around people. He fought with everyone and made his adoptive parents' lives a living hell. The only one he communicated with was the bird. They were both kindred spirits, mocked for their "stupidity" but possessing big hearts and totally loyal to each other. Getting to the point where Tea says "I love you as my son" was a much steeper climb. Wiser (perhaps) heads than mine urged me to soften the edges and make August more likeable from the getgo. And not do anything to traumatize our younger audience. I yielded somewhat, against my natural instinct to inflict misery on all my characters. We did agree that nobody should get ripped apart by hyenas.
STEVE: Do you prefer darker or lighter subjects for films?
JOEL: I like light films with dark elements. I spent most of my career making relentlessly bleak horror movies and really respond now to movies that make me feel good at the end. But the good feeling has to be earned, with some kind of suffering along the way. Which is why my natural instinct was to make Bird Boy darker than it ended up being.
STEVE: I know the film has played in festivals aimed at families, but the film is actually something that shouldn't be pigeonholed as just for kids, outside of reviews championing it as something greater, do you have plans to push it to a wider audience?
JOEL: We've played a combination of youth festivals and regular festivals and I'm happy to say we've done well in both, receiving six "Best Pictures" and some "Best Actor" nods along with getting to play a number of opening and closing nights.
STEVE: How do you feel about the battle between family festivals/ films and regular films and festivals.? How do you approach getting not stuck as "family" friendly when the film transcends labels?
JOEL: I hate that films get pigeon-holed. But everybody wants to know "who's your demographic?" and I've gotten tired of saying "Um, people?" So, if programmers want to call BIRD BOY a family film or a children's film or whatever, I just go with it. As for festivals, generally the adult festivals come with a bit more prestige whereas the youth festivals are just plain joyful.
STEVE: You've done a dozen film festivals with the film. What are your plans for the release of the film?
JOEL: We got picked up for a one-year streaming deal with Angel Studios which we're very excited about (the dog will get fed after all!) and the film is also available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV with more to come. And after that, we're set up for an airline release for those who only watch movies when held hostage. So, yeah, we tilt a bit toward the youth market, but the film is being mainly pushed in the "family" or "comedy/adventure" spheres. Whatever those are.
STEVE: What films (films and types) do you like to watch?
JOEL: Maybe it's because these times feel so dark right now (to me at least), I'm drawn to comedies. Anything that makes me laugh, even if it's in relatively bad taste. Both Claudia and I have also taken to watching a lot more old, classic movies going way back to the beginning. It's nice to be reminded that we don't need CGI or AI to tell a great story (and deliver awesome effects!).
STEVE: What were the films you loved when you were a kid?
JOEL: Big, sweeping epics like Lawrence of Arabia, Ben Hur and The Long Ships (a neglected popcorn masterpiece!). Anything with masses of people running around fighting. Later on, everything Kubrick.
STEVE: What films/ filmmakers should young people (and even adults) explore if you were to point them in a direction to be filmmakers?
JOEL: Kubrick for staging a scene. Woody Allen for dialogue. The Three Stooges for everything else.
STEVE: How did your tastes change over time?
JOEL: Just like a kid who wouldn't eat his vegetables, I've become omnivorous as an adult. I'll sit through anything with a compelling story. Unfortunately, I fell in love with arthouse films just about the time that arthouses were disappearing from the American landscape.
STEVE: What is coming up next for you?
JOEL: I just finished a script for a friend who runs a studio in Romania where I've made quite a few films. It takes place in and around the modern art scene of Paris and New York in the 1920's, vaguely reminiscent of "Midnight in Paris." It's one of my favorite projects in years. Fingers crossed that it goes, you never know. I'm also negotiating for a series of children's books that I don't want to announce until the deal is closed. More crossed fingers. And, of course, I'm waiting for that phone call from somebody wanting to make a film in Zanzibar. Preferably with financing!
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