Get Out! GAY Magazine – Issue 410 March 20, 2019

I’m interested that you
focused on a gay theme.
We are actively searching
for places that would be
interested in helping to
put out this film, because
we want to get the word
out as much as possible. I
mean, this is what I’m really
excited to do with my time
right now, outside of my
band, is working on film
stuff, because I love film
so much. I think it is such
a powerful media. People
can have such visceral
experiences with even a
short film like this. You
know, the emotions can
come out quickly. I don’t
know how
many times I
have looked
at a Thai
long-distance
phone
commercial.
The heart
strings are so
easily tugged
upon with a
combination
of images and
music.
I’ve been writing for
Get Out! for nine years
now, a gay themed
publication, and have
come across many
different films on the
subject; however, in
the two minutes that
I watched your film, it
actually said a lot more
in the two minutes than
many of the other, longer
films. Who wrote it?
Sunny and Shivin, the
brothers, came up with
the concepts for the “safe
house” setting with the
flashbacks to the traumatic
experiences that people
meeting up kind of purged
themselves with these
experiences that they had
gone through. When they
shot it, they started to edit
it and sent it to me, and I
wrote the music to it and
put that quote in at the
end.
Well, the music was
awesome, and the entire
film was really affecting.
Where do you even find
the time to do these
films. I mean, don’t you
tour constantly?
Yeah, we are constantly
touring. I’ve got a new
family that I’ve just started
with my fiancé. We have
a seven-month-old baby,
and it’s so fun. So I’m
excited to get home from
this tour more than ever
and to get back into the
family mode.
Aside from this film,
what other films have
you done, and have
they also been created
to raise some kind of
awareness?
I’m happy with a couple of
the 2mm films that we’ve
made in addition to this
one. They are all up on
the YouTube page and the
Instagram page for 2mm. I
did an animated film with
a voiceover actress friend
of mine and an animator
that I found on Instagram,
who I asked to collaborate
with us. I wrote the script
for this metaphoric idea
that I have of the world
being like a big party and
all the rooms are different.
Some rooms have better
food and drink than other
rooms. A lot of our party
rooms are really great, but
we can hear from down
the hallway screams of
some people that are in a
room which is actually on
fire. We don’t really want
to do anything about it,
because our party is so
fun, but maybe someday
that fire is going to spread
down the hallway into our
party room, so maybe
we should do something
about it. I like the way the
voiceover goes in such
a fast tempo. You don’t
really get a chance to
understand what you’re
hearing until it’s over,
and then you realize,
“Wow that’s kind of
interesting.” It kind of
goes along with the fact
that I don’t like the idea
of people being directly
preachy with an idea
of how they think the
world can be a better
place. But if people
have ideas about it,
and they want to try
and kind of subtly put
them into art, that makes
people kind of feel good
when they’re watching
it, or feel something, or
think something that’s
interesting to them. That, I
think, is a really productive
way to start conversations.
Did you ever consider
doing a full-length film?
Yeah, I’m definitely using
the shorts as a way to
get practice in the realm
of shooting, editing and
writing and in directing
and scoring. These are all
aspects of the filmmaking
world that I love, and then
moving towards the idea
of longer pieces and just
practicing the individual
skills.