Highlights of This Episode:
- What Mary considers the most important element of her choreography and films
- How Mary approaches both her choreography and her documentaries
- What Mary learned about storytelling from the process of making Lost in Living
- How she stuck with a seven-year film project – and how she knew it was time to end the story
- Why Mary typically does not put herself into her films
- What she likes about the business aspect of her film work
- How one of her latest projects incorporates both dance and film
“It’s not about outcome as much as it is about process.” –Mary Trunk (Click to share – thanks!)
About Mary Trunk:
Mary Trunk started as a painter, became a dancer and choreographer, and has been making films for more than 20 years. Her first feature-length film, The Watershed, was screened at more than 30 film festivals worldwide and won numerous Best Documentary Awards.
For her most recently completed documentary feature, Lost In Living, Mary spent seven years filming four women who are both mothers and artists. She recorded births, female friendships, aging, career success and failure, divorce, parenting mistakes and triumphs, resentful children, dirty dishes, and lots and lots of laundry — all centered around the tricky balance of family life and artistic expression.
Mary and her husband, Paul Sanchez, co-produced a short documentary called The Past is in the Present: At Home with Gunther Schuller, which is touring the festival circuit around the U.S. Mary’s newest hybrid documentary project will be a reflection on her past dance career and how that influenced everything she does. Mary is also working on an interactive website called This Woman’s Life, which will feature stories about the invisible women in our lives and what they can teach us about survival and living life to the fullest.
Mary teaches film and video at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.
Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- The Watershed
- Lost in Living
- The Past is in the Present: At Home with Gunther Schuller
- San Francisco Art Institute
- Marjorie Scholossman
- Slamdance Film Festival
Thanks for Listening!
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