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Behind The Film: Traces of Home with Colette Ghunim · Indie Film Weekly

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Indie Film Weekly behind the film where we talk with the filmmakers behind independent movies coming to theaters.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Glenn Reynolds.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm Jason Connell.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_03: Today we're joined by filmmaker Colette Ganim.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_03: Her new documentary, Traces of Home, follows Colette as she takes her Mexican mother and Palestine father back to the homes they were forced to leave as children.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_03: What begins as a search of those places becomes a much more personal look at what displacement has carried through the family.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: You're still having dinner together, and Colette has to be one to put herself through the same thing she's asking of them.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's a lot to take on for your first feature.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a really interesting film, well worth going to check out.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: Trace's Home begins its theatrical rollout with an early access screening September 16 at the Angelica Film Center in New York, followed by Los Angeles at the Limley Theaters on September 25th through Watermelon Pictures.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: So let's meet Colette Ganem and go behind Traces of Home.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: Colette, welcome.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: Really happy to have you on the podcast.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: I really enjoyed the film.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: Just watched a couple days ago.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people listening won't have seen the film, so we'll try not to reveal anything too much so people can enjoy it for the first time, but certainly want to dive in on some things.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: Nine years is a long time to live with one movie, especially when the people in it are your family.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I know we're gonna have a lot to talk about.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: But let's start with the question I'd like to ask everybody.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I kind of know partly the answer from seeing the movie, but let's love to hear what your answer is.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Every film starts somewhere.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: Where did Traces of Home start for you?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you both for having me.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very excited to be in conversation together.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yes, this film titled Traces of Home is a very deeply personal healing journey of being able to unpack intergenerational trauma in my family.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it did not start that way.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: It started up at the surface level of just trying to figure out my own cultural heritage.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: That was gonna be it.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was me wanting to return to both Mexico and Palestine.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: My mom is Mexican and my dad is Palestinian, and just feeling like this disconnect from both places and wanting to just explore my own roots.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then in 2017, the first round of the administration started the refugee ban and then the family separations at the border.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I just felt so compelled to share my own parents' stories of their forced migrations at that time.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then the film took a much deeper dive into wait, I'm not just trying to find home by going to these places, but I'm trying to find home within myself.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'll pause it there.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the beginning.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's great.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: How did your parents react when you first sprung this on them?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I think they didn't really think it was real.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, yeah, yeah, sure, to it.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, sure we'll go to Mexico.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: Whatever.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: They're like just not even, you know, it was just like a fully far out idea for us to all go back to these places that they never went back to as children.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that they were very, you know, just not really believing that it would actually come to fruition until we made the trailer, and then things started to come through with getting interviews and getting our first funding.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then they're like, oh goodness, this is real.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And my mom was more open to going back to visit her homeland, that she felt like she had more closure around what happened with her family.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: She was a survivor of domestic violence and was forced to leave her home when she was eight years old due to her mom being severely abused, my grandmother.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so she felt like there was more closure on that end.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: She knew that her father had passed away, that there was nothing really there.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, for my dad going back to Palestine, knowing that the occupation was still very much happening and that it would be very difficult to enter back in and to see this place that has just been completely ethnically cleansed of his own people, that he was very hesitant to go back because there is ongoing trauma there.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so it took a bit more convincing for him to realize that it wasn't just for him, but it was for everyone as Palestinians to be able to return and to use his privilege to do that.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you find out in the film that your father always carried a camera and he was constantly shooting you guys in film.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: How do you think that somehow influenced you a little bit to be a filmmaker in some way?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: Or did that do something to you, do you think, or is it kind of separate for you?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it was totally like in my subconscious programming from having to be a filmmaker for sure.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: That I wasn't actually thinking of it as a career for a long time.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I was interested in media and entertainment, but just didn't think of it as a sustainable thing.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was thinking more about like mental health, psychology.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: That was something I was really interested in always.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, my dad was a wedding videographer, so I was always around cameras and editing and filming things for him and helping him with his business.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think when it really clicked was when I was asked to volunteer at my first film festival while I was studying abroad in Egypt.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And there I was just absolutely so moved by the power of specifically documentary, that it went so deep into people's stories that you could immerse yourself into what somebody was really going through and learn about social issues from that intimate lens, and was just so compelled to say, like, okay, how could I get into the documentary film industry myself?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, that's how it all began.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's a great story.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Colette, having made documentaries myself, I know when I was embarking on a new one, I would be inspired by other docs.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: And then this is a doc that you went from just filming that you're in it all of a sudden and you're a subject matter.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: So did you have docs that you kind of looked at as influential, or you just were like, oh, I'm in, I don't even know what I'm doing.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: Or how did you figure that out?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: Because that's a tough transition.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Totally, totally.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I think something that for all the filmmakers that are out there are spying filmmakers is that having community was essential.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm from Chicago, and when I went back to Chicago after studying abroad and graduating, I made sure, because I wanted to learn about the world of documentary, to immerse myself in that community.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I actually joined a mentorship program through Cartempoint Films, which is a renowned documentary film production company based in Chicago.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And while I was there, that is how I learned the ins and outs of how to make a film, meeting other filmmakers who did personal docs and just being so inspired and being able to actually talk with them about the journey.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So having that mentorship was essential at the beginning stages and until now, actually.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's true.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, we need our teachers.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: Your film kind of reminded me of Minding the Gap a little bit because in that film the filmmaker turns the camera on himself eventually.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm also interested, though, I think you are in this film interested in the camera being somewhere to hide and also something to bring people together.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you can be right there with your family and still be the person behind the camera, right?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: Did filming let you ask your parents things you couldn't have asked as their daughter?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: There is no way I would have had the conversations that I had without the camera being there.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like we went so deep in the yeah.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Cool talks about family trauma and art dysfunction just at our dinner table in our day.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like going through the motions.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so this really the film became a tool for us to finally break through to be able to talk about the hard things.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And at the beginning, I thought it was a shield that I was like hiding behind the camera, and yet now I see it was really a device for our collective healing as a family.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, for that I'm very grateful to be.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's the same thing with your father too.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think in the film you talk about at one point, you thought of the camera as being something that kept him away from being intimate, right?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: But in a weird way, it's also the way he was trying to be intimate, right?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, you know, I am so grateful that my father recorded this treasure trove of VHS footage over a hundred hours of footage.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Unbelievable, from like 1970 something up until 2010 around there.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm realizing that that was such an act of love.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, even if he wasn't able to be there emotionally, that was his way of being able to show love for the moments that he wanted to document.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, I'm like so grateful for that, and also see that yeah, he needed that as his own device to be able to be with the family too.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: Every family should be doing a documentary then.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_03: It seems like it's make it a tighter unit.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I totally agree.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's super hard.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's the hardest thing I'll ever do.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'd like after this film, I can do anything.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's all easy now.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_03: This is the tough one.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: Someone sailing premiere, totally.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: Did you watch some of those videos, the hundreds of hours growing up?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: Is it something you guys did as a family?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, we did.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: We would pull out the VHS tapes every, you know, maybe once a year just to look back, and it was always so lovely.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: But I had never taken the deep dive into the footage.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like I did for the film, I took eight months just to log all of it and to index all of the tags and everything was so we can easily go back.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so glad that somebody told me to do that, or else I don't know how we would have been able to identify the key moments that we needed to start to build out that narrative arc.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, seeing footage up close and with a magnifying glass, that's when I could really see, oh, this is how that pattern started happening.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, this is where this toxic behaviors came through, even though my dad was only filming the good moments, the celebrations.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: It still came through at points.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, being in that documentary editing bay, I remember it vividly.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: You're building the story there.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: So when you first got in there, your story was probably very different in your head, and then it started to kind of unfold.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: Is that what happened?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: You started looking at footage and like, oh no, let's shift this, let's move this, that's the narrative.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe speak to that process that you went through.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: So in the beginning, as again, this is my first future-length documentary.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone kept telling me, oh, Colette, don't do a talking head film.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: It needs to have verity, it needs to be verity.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let the story tell itself.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, what kind of verity am I gonna capture?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's just me and my parents at the dinner table all the time.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: There is no, there's nothing there.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, what am I going to do to share our dynamics on screen?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when I started to realize, like, I was like, okay, we're gonna need to have narration.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way I'm just gonna be able to let it share itself.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so we piled on narration in the beginning, and I just journaled exhaustively to be able to get into those deeper reflections and then started to pull back and started to actually use the VHS footage as our expose of what our family dysfunction was growing up.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm very glad again, the film would not be possible without my father's treasure trove of and while it starts with all this personal stuff, eventually there's a bit of a political tinge to it too.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: Not maybe that wasn't the intention starting out, but I mean, I guess your father's circumstances are tinged with political things that happened, and then there's obviously the finding of the second home in his homeland now is owned by you know Jewish family, and there's some real tension there.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you could speak to how maybe your own political sense of all this wraps into like what happened while filming.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, thank you.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I really it's been a journey of learning and unlearning of like how this level of an occupation and ethnic cleansing can happen.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And as I started to learn about the topic of trauma and realizing that these cycles of violence are often rooted in unhealed trauma, that it feels so clear that even on from a family level, there's this dysfunction.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: But then on a collective level, there is this dysfunction when we don't face our pain of whatever emotional wounds are there.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, what happened to Jewish people in Europe and like with the Holocaust and all of it, that total ethnic cleansing is absolutely devastating.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, because that trauma was never healed and they just escaped it and that was it, the exact same cycle happened on a whole other people's, which are the Palestinians.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so feeling like if we are able to zoom out and really see what's happening in the whole world, it's like everyone who has not been able to actually face their own inner pain and the trauma that's in their own families, their upbringings through colonization that it just repeats over and over again until we finally break the cycle within ourselves first.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's like the personal is political and the political is personal.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's all intertwined.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's fascinating.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: As the project went on and your parents became more comfortable being in it.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm assuming it got easier to talk to them.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: Were they also involved in the editing process?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_03: Or like, hey, you know, were they kind of like your co-producers at that point?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: So to be honest, I didn't want to show them anything until it was like way more solid.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, well, this is gonna be this is gonna be sort of rough.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: If I show them something that feels half baked and then maybe it feels too heavy on the blaming or the, you know, I was flooding it all out.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta pull it back.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would say that after rough cut, fine cut is when we had a a screening with them, when it was like almost near completion, okay, was when they were able to see it and give any feedback that they had.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: I did tell them when it did start to shift into the trauma space and this starting to like unpack what was happening with our family, that I did have a conversation with my parents to tell them how the narrative arc was shifting from just us going to Mexico and Palestine to find the houses into our family.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so my mom was definitely very nervous and was like, Clint, we're like trusting you.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: We hope that you're doing this for the right reasons.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: So just believe me.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, thankfully, by the end, they were happy with the outcome.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I was gonna ask, where how is everybody today?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody or is are we all in a good place now?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Truly, this film has been like, of course, it was like an emotional catharsis, and it was a like a huge explosion of just letting everything out.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, after all of that settled and the storms and all of the real big confrontations that had to happen, I feel so grateful that the entire dynamic between my family has shifted night and day, like 180 degrees.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: That now we are able to be open.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, I can set boundaries.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: They see me as an adult now, that there's just so much that was unpacked.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so I am just amazed that the power of film can be this like really healing ball in ways I could have never dreamt of for my family.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, we still have our issues, we're still figuring out the patterns, and yet I can say that there is like a for sure.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_03: We'll tackle that in the sequel.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh god.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think everybody's gonna relate to this.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: But don't be no sequel.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think everybody's gonna relate to this though, because even though a big part of your film is about what happened with your parents and going back to their homeland and whatnot, but everybody goes through this to a certain degree with their parents in terms of them not understanding them and you not understanding your parents.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: And then you eventually, when you have kids, when you have kids, or if you have kids, you go through the same thing with them because he there's different issues and different things that they don't understand about what you're doing, and you don't get TikTok or whatever, like whatever it is.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: So I think a lot of people, I love the movie, and I think a lot of people are gonna, when it's released, it's gonna do really well.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is why I'm so you know, I'm grateful for it because it feels like even though yes, I'm Mexican and Palestinian, but it is universal because all of us have our issues with family.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is able, again, to tie the personal to the political, that it's not political, we're all going through it in some way with our families and our upbringings and undoing what maybe has kept us as a shell of ourselves or not allowing us to be in our full purpose or power.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, that coming back home to self is something we all must do on this human path that we have that we are on.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_03: As we transition away from the production and get into distribution, I had one other question about the production because I thought it was so beautiful was the animation sequences.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: So if you could speak to that a little, I know there's like the there's two different types of animation going on, but please, I'm fascinated.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, for sure.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have my parents' escape stories animated because just using the archival or like stock footage just felt like it would be too impersonal.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it almost felt like I'd be able to document their own legacy by actually putting some custom images and animation to their memories of what they had.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so I decided to work with a Lebanese animator and then a Mexican animator for both sides, and to be able to have that level of authenticity for them knowing the landscapes of where they my parents came from.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I decided for the artistic style to be very specific to Mexico and then to Palestine as well, that it was more like the neutrals, greens, and browns for the natural land and the mountains, and then for Mexico being very vibrant, bold colors in the 50s, just like that.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: That very vibrant look.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was really amazing to get to see how they came together and like intertwining the two in some way to have it overlap as well.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a great choice, and just it is a nice element rather than just yeah, footage and footage, bringing that in, weaving that in there.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: So great, great choice on that front.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: So, what was it like when you finally, you know, you live with this for nine years or your whole life really?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: What's it like when you finally start showing it to strangers in the cinema?
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, what are they telling you and what's the feedback been like?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we've been on the festival circuit for the past eight months, and the response has been absolutely profound that I was not even expecting that people are coming out with their full emotional release, not realizing why they were the way they were, why their parents were the way they were, and just like all of a sudden connecting the dots in the theater real time and realizing all of these traumas that shaped who they were too.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so we talk about like addiction and abuse and how all of these things are interconnected in the avoidance of actually being able to face our shadows.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so it really feels like it's a therapy session for everyone that's in the theater.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And again, then I felt like I was just doing this for me and my family, to be honest.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: But then seeing that all of us are going through the same exact thing, it's almost like textbook experiences that children of immigrants are facing, but then also just those in the diaspora in general.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so it feels really amazing to get to see how much it's resonating with audiences at like a soul level, too.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm sure those QA's were fascinating.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah, it goes very deep.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it's like a therapy session, bro.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_03: Hand the tissues out, please.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, right.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's a lot, it's a lot, and then you had your world premiere that you also won the grand jury prize at Doc, New York City, which what an honor.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_03: That's incredible.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, also a huge shock.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: We were just like, this underdog film, this tiny family film that yeah, I guess it just really connected with people's hearts.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm very grateful.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: And is that when you connected with watermelon?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: I think they're the distributor, right?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: Watermelon pictures.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Correct, yes.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we were in talks with them before Doc NYC, that we were already connected to some of the folks that are working there from Chicago and then from the Gotham Lab that I did in New York a while back.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so we were just in talks until after the festival release, we decided to go fully in to work together and uh yeah, have them as our distributor.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: And when did uh notice in the credits that Melissa Barrera and John Luigi Guzamo are on the film as executive producers or producers?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: And how did that come about?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: So again, I think this is for the people who are also in the film industry, filmmakers aspiring, that people would say, like, oh, you have to first make the product before people come to it.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: But it's and I was like, Oh, I'm don't know if anyone's ever gonna come.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: But it's true that they came in maybe at a few months before our festival release, after the film was completely done, after we had really got to Picture Lock, was when we were able to actually show it and it allowed for them to feel inspired to join the project.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that came through our other executive producers and producers that already had connections to them, and then introduced them to the film, had them watch a screener, and then yeah, thankfully they were joined on.
• 21:59
  unknown: So
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Started to feel a little surreal, like what is happening?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm getting all of this behind me now, which is a great momentum to go into where you're at now for sure.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a huge blessing.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Very, very grateful.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and this is why for me, I'm so grateful that I decided to let it take the time that it needed instead of trying to rush the process.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: That this is the most important film I know I will ever make.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's about my family, it's about my legacy.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's I don't know what else would be more important than this one.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was like, whatever it needs to get to the best possible version.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if it has to take a decade, like I was in it for the long haul.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think it needed to have that time to really reach the levels of depth that I needed to get to and that the film needed to get to for it to resonate to bring on these types of people that have that level of influence and amplification power to well.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_03: Speaking of next, will the next project be as personal?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: Are you looking to do something in a shorter timeline?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like a year, two year, three years.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe not nine.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_03: You only have so many nine-year movies in you.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_03: Just the one, just the one.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I am still I'm sorry, I think I'm gonna need a long break.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: You've earned it.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna need like to tap out for a bit, but I'm really interested in children's media, and I always have been since like high school.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so thinking about a potential pivot into the children's media space.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have an idea for like a children's travel series.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see, we'll see where it goes next.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: But also tying in the themes of mental health, social issues.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it's still in this like theme of what traces of home is, but maybe being able to start earlier would be great for children.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_03: Traces of childhood.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_03: I love this.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's really fascinating.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: Hopefully, we have you back on and discuss that project at some point.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, oh, thank you.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: That would be great.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'll see what comes through when.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, Clint, now we're gonna do a little section that we call quick cuts, where we're gonna we're gonna leave the filmmaking questions alone for a minute and find out what you're like as a movie goer because part of Indie Film Weekly is trying to get people back to the theaters.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, no research needed for this.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: Just you can change your answers as we go, just whatever comes to mind in terms of your this is all about movie going.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: I'll let Jason ask the first question.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_03: There's only 10 collet, and these are easy.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: Not don't even overthink it.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: There's no right or wrong answer.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: You'll alarm soon enough, and it's called quick cuts.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: So okay, okay.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: All right, here we go.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_03: Popcorn or candy?
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, popcorn.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: Butter or no butter.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: No butter.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_03: Think about that one.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's a tricky one.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_03: Isle seat or center seat.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: And center seat.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: And what's the ideal number of trailers before a movie?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Five.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I like that.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_03: Matinee or late night screening.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Matinee.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're early.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_02: We go to bed.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: And what's your favorite movie theater either now or growing up?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I visited for the festival.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: We went to Milwaukee, and in Milwaukee, there is a beautiful theater, the most beautiful theater I think I've ever been to.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea it exists.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember the name of it.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we'll look it up.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: We'll figure out what that is.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_03: Shout out to Milwaukee.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Milwaukee.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_03: What's the first movie you remember seeing in a theater?
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Titanic.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: And then name a movie you saw more than once in a theater.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: It could be when you were young or old or recent.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: Titanic.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: You had to go back.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: Was it Titanic?
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_03: It may have been.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Titanic over and over again.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Theater over and over again.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I saw it Inside Out too, like three times.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: I love that movie.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: Great movie.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_03: And what's the last movie you saw in a theater?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: My choices of home.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_02: And it's an honest answer.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: That makes the last question very easy because the last question is for that film, thumbs up or thumbs down.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thumbs up.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: Thumbs up.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Great job.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_03: Quick cuts lightens it up.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Very cute.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: And you did pass, by the way.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: So much.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: What was our percentage, Glenn?
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: I keep that secret.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: I keep that a secret.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, sorry.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: It was Titanic, wasn't it?
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_03: I saw Titanic in the theater.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_03: So there you go.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: Well, before you wrap, I have to say we do have one more question.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: And it's the final cut.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: And Glenn will take it from here.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: So, Clot, when you started this journey, you were looking for, you know, essentially looking for home.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody was looking for home, I think, in Mexico and Palestine.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Nine years later, where is home for you now?
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: It had to become this full circle journey of me trying to find it Mexico, Palestine with my family, trying to find it anywhere external, and then having to go full circle to realize it was always here inside of myself.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was my big spiritual awakening realization that yeah inside.
• 27:05
  unknown: Yeah.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_02: All right, Colette.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_02: So before we let you go, remind everyone about the upcoming New York and LA screenings and maybe where they can find the complete schedule and follow you in the film.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: So our theatrical release is in a couple of weeks at the Angelica in New York.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll be having a run there for two weeks and then going to LA.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't want to come through Bucky, totally invited.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then we'll be going to SF Chicago and just going throughout the theatrical circuit.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: So if folks want to join in, definitely come to tracesofhome.com.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's where we'll have all the show times and screenings.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And if they want to join on the mailing list, also at tracesofome.com to get updates in their inbox as well.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you, Colette.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_03: And it's been a pleasure having you on.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_03: So much fun.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: Can't wait to see the entire movie, maybe on the big screen.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, okay.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to say thank you both to Glenn and Jason.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you all for having me and also for your courage to be able to talk about the things that maybe we are not talking about in this current political climate.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: That it means a lot to have the courage to have my voice on your platform.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for that.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, it would be so great for everyone to come out to see Traces of Home if they are available.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: We would love to have you there.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thanks to everybody for watching, for listening.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_03: This has been Indie Film Weekly Behind the Film.