SAFARI Directed By Catherine Chalmers

Shane: Tell us about your film?

Catherine: Safari is an evolutionary melodrama that follows the travails of a New York City cockroach as it swims out of the primordial sea and

crawls on land as if for the first time.  It navigates a lush, verdant jungle where it encounters oversized insects, amphibians and reptiles. 

But, returning to nature has its perils.

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

C: The American Cockroach, Periplaneta americana, a.k.a. waterbug, which stars in the film, is one of the largest of the main roach pest species. 

The near universal hatred we feel for it, which was one of the reasons I was attracted to working with it, makes for a rich conduit to the complex

and often violent relationship we have with the animal world. 

S: Was this a school project?

C: No.

S: How did you find your cast? 

C: I raised nearly all of the twenty species that appear in the film.  Each lived in specifically designed habitats to provide the proper temperature,

humidity and ground cover.  Predators eat live food, so I raised the animals they ate as well.  At the height of filming in the spring, when the

insects were molting and coming into their prime, I was tending the zoo about four hours a day.  I felt a deep responsibility to keep everyone

healthy and as comfortable as possible.

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

C: One and a half years.

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

C: Keeping the cast alive. 

S: Tell us about the films festival experience so far?

C: I’ve only attended two festivals so far.  One was SXSW, which was an absolute blast.  And I was ecstatic Safari won a Jury Award.

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

C: People are often shocked I shot it in New York City and wasn’t done with computer graphics. 

S: What films or filmmakers inspire you?

C: Babel and Crash.

S: What made you decide to become a filmmaker?

C: I would love to be called a filmmaker, but I think at this point I’m still mostly a visual artist. 

S: What is next for you? 

C: I’ve been working in Panama on three short videos with leaf cutter ants.  And I’m also working on a screenplay, full-length, which even includes humans. 

S: What is next for the film?

C: This summer and fall the Boise Art Museum is showing my entire American Cockroach project, which includes five videos, twenty-seven photographs,

three large sculptures, and twenty-two drawings.  Come see!!!

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

C: Have fun.