Francisco Rojas:

– As somebody who has worked primarily on digital, do you feel any need to work on celluloid? Many experimental filmmaking scenes seem to ignore work when it is made on digital, specially the one that exists as distillation of formal techniques.

Forrest Sprague:

– When I made my first several films, I considered them merely tests before I moved onto celluloid. I did not even consider them real films due to the stigma that still exists against digital. I think seeing your films, Rushnan's (Jaleel), and Antoni's (Orlof) gave me the confidence I needed to consider the legitimacy of modern digital films made by young filmmakers. I think the most important realization I had was realizing Epiphany could not exist on 16mm. It lives in the widescreen, and the improvisatory and durational aspect of the films could only exist in the digital format. That was when I realized I was truly content in making digital films for the time being. I'd never rule out celluloid, but I am in no rush right now.

Francisco Rojas:

– Your work has been shown a few times in the US, what is your experience of seeing your work with an audience and what should new viewers expect from your work?

Forrest Sprague:

– I immensely enjoy seeing the film on a big screen, and I see something new in it every time. The first time I saw it in a theater I sat in the back row, and I noticed eyes darting all over the screen trying to take in all the different variables. That was when I first realized the benefit of seeing it in a theater with an audience. Everyone was watching a different film. There is also quite of a bit of levity in Epiphany, and many people were laughing at one particular moment that I have always found hilarious at a screening in my home city of Portland, Maine. At another screening there was an impromptu Q&A, and I was surprised and flattered by the questions and observations posed by the audience. Despite it being the longest film in the program by far, I was so honored at how attentive and insightful the audience was. I think the most important thing is to simply observe, and let your eyes guide you wherever they want.

Forrest Sprague:

– I had several major life events happen to me within a week back in late 2022, including quitting my job and moving into a new apartment. Strangely enough, a church across from the apartment that existed for almost 100 years was torn down the same week I moved in, and I saw myself looking down at a tabula rasa of brick. That was the Church of the Epiphany, and it was demolished that week to build dorm housing for medical students. When I started seeing the emergence of machinery, and man, I began shooting immediately, not necessarily to make a film, but to capture something simply pleasing to my eye.

Francisco Rojas:

– You have a very important artistic relationship with Larry Gottheim, could you elaborate how that came about?

Forrest Sprague:

– After I completed what would be the first Epiphany, I had several friends give very reaffirming feedback on it, and having been penpals with Larry during the pandemic, I decided to send him the film. He was the first person I felt really saw the film as I did, and he invited me up to his house within that month to start talking about films, both his, and my own. He would subsequently see every cut of the subsequent Epiphanies before I released them. More often than not he would illuminate elements of the films I would not be entirely confident in. Every one of his suggestions became something that helped guide me through the rest of the series. He was wonderful at letting me trust my own judgement, while also honing in on aspects that I was not pleased with at the time.

It was originally supposed to just be the first part. I had kept shooting even after I completed the first film, simply because I was still pleased by the movement and contour I witnessed out my window everyday. I had a cut of the second film ready, but unsure if I wanted to continue making them out of fear of redundancy. When I first met Larry, I showed him the second part, and he gave his input that I must continue to show the evolution. So one part became three parts, and then three parts became five parts. The film began dictating to me exactly what it wanted to be as soon as I kept filming after completing the first film. It became apparent that the film organically wanted to show the progression from the rubble of the church to the roof of the new building. I would be up until the early hours of the morning letting it guide me through the editing. I have never had such a fluid process making a film before or since. It was never supposed to be a series, but I am very glad it is now. The temporal aspect of it still intrigues me, with months between each part, I fill in the gaps of the construction's progress. Almost like films between films.

Francisco Rojas:

– Before you discovered experimental cinema, which films were the most important for you? Which film was the one that made you think about doing narrative cinema? Are those ideas still around, can you still relate to what you loved about those films then and what you love about film now?

Forrest Sprague:

– It's very serendipitous that you ask that. I recently ran into an old college professor of mine, Joe McElhaney from Hunter College, at a screening in the city and I went up to him to tell him what an impact him showing Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise had on me. That same year I saw Jeanne Dielman in a class taught by Ivone Margulies. I think those two were the first times I really internalized the power of the master shot, and the durational aspects contained within them. Each film has an action that takes place in a single shot, and ends when that action is finished. Whether that is the mundanity of John Lurie's routinely existence, or Jeanne Dielman's endless domestic tasks. Both those films remain incredibly influential to me. If I ever made a film in the narrative vein, perhaps it could look something like that.

Francisco Rojas:

– How did the series come about? Was it always a plan to make a series of films?

Francisco Rojas:

– You could certainly argue that you haven't lost a sense for the durational and processes that get "resolved" within a single shot, watching your Epiphany series.

Forrest Sprague:

– Absolutely. I did not realize it then, but the duration of an action within a shot would come to define an unconscious side of my later filmmaking, the Epiphany series specifically. I find there is a tension that is built in every shot that I want to reach its completion before the film takes you to the next action to resolve.

Форрест :

– Oh yes, certainly after studying narrative cinema for years in college, and even considering making narrative films, after I was exposed to experimental film (Wavelength and Serene Velocity immediately come to mind), I had this eureka moment where I went "I have a camera, I can do that!" It felt incredibly freeing to realize that I could make exploratory films within my community that I knew would be building blocks for my future making films.

Cherokee (2020)

Франциско :

– Я спрашиваю об этом, поскольку помню множество жалоб на локдаун со
стороны режиссеров нарративного кино – хотя существует традиция экспериментального кино, которое десятилетиями снимается художниками в
своих домах, окрестностях и так далее. Стало видно, как многие из тех, кого
принято называть «художниками кино», теряются, едва за ними перестает стоять
полноценный производственный механизм. Когда иссякает бюджет, вместе с ним куда-то исчезает и размах замысла.

Франциско :

– Был ли ковид препятствием для твоего творчества? Насколько тогда все
отличалось от нынешнего момента?

Форрест :

– Все было ровно наоборот. Фильм "Cherokee" (2020), который считаю своим первым, был целиком снят в пределах квартирного комплекса, где я тогда жил. Я снимал во дворе, на лестницах, у себя в квартире, в общих пространствах, даже под зданием, на техническом этаже. У меня было много свободы, чтобы заново присмотреться к местам вокруг дома – к тем пространствам, которые мне прежде и в голову не приходило изучать.
Мой второй фильм, "Nor/East/River" (2020), полностью снят за пределами жилого комплекса – на East River Greenway, прибрежном пешеходно-велосипедном маршруте вдоль Ист-Ривер, во время Nor’easter*. Ограничения пандемии позволили мне нащупать собственный взгляд в стесненных условиях и под давлением обстоятельств, которые я не мог контролировать. Когда пандемия начала сходить на нет , я стал снимать фильмы в разных районах Нью-Йорка, но не сказал бы, что мой подход с тех пор радикально изменился. Возможно, именно ограничения ковидных времен помогли сформировать мою философию кинопроизводства.

*мощный внетропический шторм; в середине декабря 2020 года привел к крупному снегопаду в Нью-Йорке и других городах

Франциско Рохас (Франциско) :

– Ты снимаешь фильмы с 2020 года, но я хотел спросить: в какой момент это
впервые стало для тебя чем-то действительно важным?

Форрест Спрейг (Форрест) :

– Определенно во время ковида, когда я впервые по-настоящему погрузился в
экспериментальные фильмы, доступные онлайн. Уже несколько лет меня
интересовали Дерен и Брэкидж, которых я изучал еще в колледже, но только во время пандемии стал находить такие фильмы, чьи способы видения показались близкими моему собственному. До сих пор помню, как впервые смотрел «Самоубийство в
пейзаже» Джеймса Беннинга, «Горизонты» Ларри Готтхейма, «Три пейзажа» Питера
Хаттона и Provincetown Pieces Джозефа Бернарда. Я почувствовал родство с этой
художественной формой, которого раньше не испытывал. Эти фильмы вдохновили меня впервые за годы взять в руки камеру и начать разрабатывать собственный способ видеть.