Keir Moreano “Unspooled” interview
I was intrigued by Keir Moreano’s documentary film “Unspooled” when I first read about it. It’s the tale of an ill-fated student film shoot — it follows a crew of NYU film students trying to work on one guy’s senior project.
I’m a former NYU film student — some might say “failed,” but I would counter “come to my senses,” as I left the program after three years there (some would argue, and I would agree, that the third year there was on paper only) — and I look back on the experience as a very odd thing indeed. It’s a time of ego feeding and arrested development for some, for others its a time where you figure it all out and start looking at creativity as a career path.
For many, it’s the last time that creativity is allowed to be totally self-indulgent.
I liked Moreano’s film a lot because it got inside that world and really showed the combination of professionalism and fumbling that lies in its atmosphere. It’s also a movie that can speak to anyone who is trying to achieve something and who has realized that among the insurmountable odds that they face might just be their own ability against biting off more than they can chew.
Moreano is originally from Seattle, where he currently lives.
JM: Your film really captures how delicate and collaborative a process filmmaking is — and it really presented the tug of war between the impression that the director completely makes the film and the reality that its the result of multiple personalities and capabilities coming together to make this one thing. Was that something you wanted to reveal?
KM: I think you touch on something that is really true, which is that it’s such a highly collaborative thing, and it isn’t something that people think about when they start to make a film. I think that a lot of people come in thinking that they can do it on their own because that’s the way they’ve always done it. I’m of the generation that grew up with digital cameras and Final Cut Pro, all high schools had video programs, and so I think that a lot of people came into it feeling like, “Oh, yeah, I can do this on my own and I’ll just get some people to help out, to act and get everyone pizza,” and, of course, the reality of it is that it’s highly, highly collaborative. I think my film testifies a little bit that, in the end, it’s not even one person’s film, it’s a collective experience and a collective ownership over that experience. I think it’s hard to be an auteur.
