THE LAST VISIT Directed By Bee Sack

Indie Express: Tell us about your film?

Bee: The Last Visit is a short film about introducing my lover to my grandma, a story about looking for a sense of home, of belonging, as a queer Jew in the Diaspora, with such a legacy of death and exile. As the north American Jewish community's attachment  to a Jewish homeland in Israel plays out as erasure and genocide of the Palestinian people, this is a film about creating home and hope inside of me, thru reconciling my relationships with people past and present, and finding some peace in the beauty of the land.

IE: How did you come up with the idea for the film?

B: Day dreaming while at my day job

IE: How did you assemble your production team?

B: They are my friends and folks I met over the internet at mandy.com

IE: How did you find your cast?

B: My good friends

IE: How long did the film take?  (From conception to final edit)

B: 35 years to conceive it

A minute to round up my friends to act in it

A month to gather the rest of the crew and make the story board

One afternoon to make lunches

Some early morning wake-up calls

One day to shoot

One day to do voice overs and add music

And one long week to edit it

IE: Tell us a little about your process of directing (writing) this film.

B: this has been a really exciting process for me. Most of the time i have movies in my head and getting this out of my head and into live action has been a mixture of exorcism and affirmation.

I am honored to work with an amazing crew. Though I felt the time pressure of using borrowed equipment and volunteer time, I learned so much about film-making by just doing it. One of the pieces that was really amazing was how no one involved really had any idea what the film was until it was finished.

I worked with each of the crew members on each of their parts, and thru their skill and I think a sort of creative bonding, the whole story was revealed.

IE: What was the most difficult part of the shoot for you?

B: The freaking snowstorm that blew in the one day we had the camera to shoot. it was so cold the battery died a few times.

IE: Any particular moments from filming that stand out for you?

B: Feeding breadcrumbs to cardboard puppet ducks!

IE: Tell us about the film’s festival experience so far?

B: It has screened in 12 different festivals:

Barcelona Jewish Film festival -Barcelona, Spain 2007

Festival Internazionale Di CinemaGayLesbico E Queer Culture

(MilanoInternational Lesbian and Gay Film Festival) - Milan, Italy 2007

Triangle Television SproQuets Gay and Lesbian Television Festival on Triangle TV - Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand2007

Reel Affirmations Washington DC International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival - Washington, D.C., U.S.A. 2007

Fresno Reel Pride Film Festival - Fresno, California, U.S.A. 2007

ReelPride Michigan -Michigan, U.S.A. 2007

Reeling Film Festival – Chicago, U.S.A. 2007

New Filmmakers Film Festival - New York, N.Y., U.S.A. 2008

The Melbourne Queer Film Festival – Melbourne, Australia 2008

Inside Out Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – Toronto, Canada 2008

Festival Del Mar – Baleric Islands, Spain, 2008

Frameline 32 San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival – San Francisco, California, U.S.A. 2008

Action On Film International Film Festival – Pasadena, California, U.S.A. 2008

IE: What are you most looking forward to at the festival?

B: I wish I could be there but I have to work here in Toronto :(

IE: What has been your most interesting Q&A so far?  What was your favorite question?  How was the dialogue afterwards?

B: Umm, I haven't done any large scale q&a s yet.

But my most favorite question was from my pod-daughter Melissa. She asked me how I was able to play flute for such a long time without stopping.

IE: What films or filmmakers inspire you?

B: Wow. There are too many. I like the phantastical realism style...breakfast on pluto, pan's labyrinth, an adoption story, funny Felix...

IE: What made you decide to become a filmmaker?

B:  How it incorporates so many arts media, and also I organized some workshops for young women to learn film-making, and realized that I wished I was attending :)

 IE: What is next for you?

B:  As usual my brain is overflowed with film ideas...I think a fantasy/

anti-war documentary about a queer klezmer band time traveling thru the vestiges of jewish community and resistance. With puppets.

IE: What is next for the film?

B: I’m not sure...I’d like it to be used in the education system.

I’d love to make a sort of sequel to it, another short

IE: If asked to give one piece of advice to a new filmmaker making their first short film… What would it be?

B: hmmm....I guess make sure that whatever equipment you use is compatible. Can’t tell you how frustrating it was for me and Malinda to have to spend 1/2hour rendering each 2 minutes of video shot.

IE: What question would you like to be asked about your film? 

B: What does the water tell?

IE: What is the Answer to that question?

B: migration/ diaspora/ longing and connection