Kristin Gorell and Edward Hall

00:08 My name is at Hall. I am 57 years old today is December 1st 2018 and I'm in the storycorps booth today with FileMaker script doctor poet and my friend Kristen Darrell.

00:27 Hi, my name is Kristen Grill. I'm 53 years old. This is Saturday December 1st. 2018. I'm in storycorps Atlanta with my friend who is also a wonderful writer organizer and a luminary of the Atlanta art world at Hall.

00:50 Christian tell me about the flower gate. I made that film.

00:59 I want it I was sitting reading Hans Christian Andersen stories one evening and decided that I wanted to make a puppet play and it was out of a feeling of being a bit frustrated with all of my work at that moment. And the very first thing I ever did that I felt really proud of creatively was when I was in first grade, I wrote a bunch of puppet plays and made the puppets myself and talk to teachers of the school into letting me perform them for the kindergarteners and they were based on Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales since I was like me to go back to the source my very first inspiration and so I was reading Hands Christian Andersen stories with the intent of doing an spt performance at the puppetry Arts Center experimental Puppet Theater and I had done xpt in the past and thought it was really fun and I was like

01:59 Going to do that again. That'll be a good thing for me to do. And as I was looking for a story, I found one that inspired me and I think it's called The Shadow.

02:12 And before IMDb says yeah, and I opened it up and was reading and really quickly started having scenes coming to my head. I could hear dialogue new new characters and it was

02:34 I was feeling though not a puppet play and I realized pretty quickly as I wrote the script that I needed to shoot it in Israel and that I wanted that in some ways. What I was imagining was Botha a story that I connected to personally as well as a re-imagination of the Hans Christian Andersen Tales From a perspective of a woman rather than a man a hundred years ago or or more.

03:08 And and that also was connected to how I understand the city of Jerusalem and the conflict there and how it affected the people who live there. And so I went to to Israel to shoot it with friends there including my recent EX.

03:29 I was trying to find some sort of like new relationship and healing with at the time and it was challenging words challenging making a film with or I wasn't able to see my locations before I was shooting.

03:47 And I where I was working with a skeleton crew and to handheld Sony cameras and that was it but it was a lot of fun and we shot the whole thing within a week and I ended up really I didn't intend to even show it but as I started editing it I realized I I liked something that I had there and so I wanted to to cut it together and and and show it to people only if and how it felt right for it to make its way out into the world. It's not really promotional piece, but it's a it end up being a

04:33 Quite metaphorical very poetic is the most poetic film I've ever worked on and I really enjoyed the process you wrote it or you can write it. I wrote it. I directed it. I didn't add it. Well, I did do some of the editing edited with another artist here in Atlanta Antonio Garcia and I brought him in as an editor because I didn't want to be doing everything myself. I had done a preliminary rough cut that was more of an assemblage and

05:15 And then I gave that to him and told him to do his own rough cut and then when he came back with that, we we sat down together and worked on a final cut her in the middle month of when we each had time to be together and do that. Where were you where were you living you made this film here in Atlanta, and I actually had to direct my extra shooting over Skype the cast of two actors and

06:00 A lot of footage that I shot on location in the old city in Jerusalem where people didn't know they were being filmed and but I didn't focus on anyone's face so that they're not characters. And also I was shooting outside of an Arab village where the West Bank in Israel sort of are right next to each other in the olive Groves there and at an Arts commune or had some friends living could let me shoot a lot of segments are the film on their land as well.

06:43 A Myra calling that you told me you do or think you do have some Jewish ancestry is was Russian Jewish from Odessa.

07:01 But you are first time in Israel been to

07:08 I let when I said my recent ex. I was married for a time to on an Israeli filmmaker director are on Moross and I was very involved in the Israeli film industry for a number of years working on his film and being connected to other projects. They're as well as written subtitles for a bunch of Israeli film.

07:35 I've been involved in various ways with a whole bunch of Israeli Productions and had the chance to work with runny. Alphabets and some other great performers there. Yeah. So I've spent a lot of time there and spent time throughout the Middle East as well all during the. Where I was involved with it wrong, but it's funny because I ended up taking him to places in Israel in the West Bank that he'd never been his entire life because he was too scared to go, but but he went with me thinking that somehow

08:20 I'd keep him safe.

08:24 Well, I can see you hear how he come through it.

08:30 NoHo

08:31 Although there were a few times where

08:38 Yeah, I did use whatever skills. I have to keep that from happening. But he's fine. Although he didn't really end up doing what I hoped it would too. If brought me gave my main actress a great deal is healing from an abusive relationship that she had been in when I met her that was one of my goals was to try to give her a chance to find expression from that and I knew that in asking her to be my actress and that being part of the content of how are shadows.

09:21 Can lead us to finding answers and Liberation from ourselves, but can also be our jailers that keep us in abusive cycles and in a sort of exploring that same and I knew that was something she was thinking about a lot so giving her an opportunity to act.

09:41 About that very topic. I thought would be cathartic for her and it was she's really blossomed since that time and our friendship has grown much much closer. She's one. She's like a sister to me now, but Iran and I had hoped when I devised the project that it would give us a new ground to be working together and collaborating as friends.

10:08 We'd had a difficult experience. I I did a tremendous amount of work on his film and when including writing chunks of it and which I was not credited for.

10:23 And that was a strain in our relationship, but I think we could have gotten past that there were other things but I thought that working together in a context that being generous with him in a context. That was am I making could perhaps transform our past and give us a ground to have a new friendship and and it did not it it had the opposite effect that it we're not in each other's lives anymore.

11:00 May I ask how the two of you met we met at the Sundance Film lab.

11:07 All right, 2006 fellow I am a fellow of The Institute and the project I was there with uncloudy day.

11:25 Is has still not been made, but I ended up being involved in different ways with a couple of other filmmakers from from that lab either like talking with them a lot about their work or

11:40 Ron and I started as a relationship then and that also started the beginning of my involvement on his film which one and reproduction the following year.

11:53 And yeah, so I think they were.

11:58 9 projects total that year of screenwriting and directing labs and 6 for the directors lab and my project was one of them in and it was a project I was there with another artist we are he was directing and I was I was there as writer.

12:21 So it was it was a joint project, but Iran's was one of the other six. So if you have what are the odds the universe had to work really hard to get us to meet and you were married for how long we got married gosh in like 2009 right before we took his film to Sundance.

12:46 And

12:49 Then we got divorced.

12:53 Are the US government help us with the getting married part? I don't know that we would have done it if we hadn't had immigration telling us we had to or not see each other for five years. And so yeah, it just has a lot of pressure in the circumstances to stay together. But it but you know, when you those aren't necessarily reasons that we should have done it though. So we 1414 so I don't know how many years that is.

13:52 You know like he took off for Israel for months at a time and I was cool with that and but you're not native to Atlanta or not born. I was born in Detroit shape of things to come is born in Detroit and I've lived the longest in Atlanta like this too much chocolate cities in the US, but I'm the whitest.

14:33 Not in my soul, but people

14:42 I like to laugh about it. I'm going to stuff I bet you I'm kidding. I've been why do people in my own family and we mostly think of ourselves as black but I grew up in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennsylvania tree capital of the world and it's right in the middle of Appalachia heart of coal country like right near Johnstown in Punxsutawney.

15:21 I'm so the groundhog and the Johnstown floods and where they do all this scary interviews about Trump supporters. Most of those come from the County's where that's where I grew up G. Who's the Atlanta Artist Joe something who does the he's done it now couple of times. It's the installation. We hang Christmas trees upside down by dram, right and they're on their on gimbals. So they they turn on on the axis of the truck with the idea being that they rain needles down onto the floor and eventually ideally they become these bear Hawks, right? And this is commentary he despises the Christmas tree industry cannot remember his name, but that was one of the first ibram things that I wrote a presage. I think that was the first thing that I wrote a real password.

16:21 460 Enchanted way but yeah, he does not have a good thing to say about that is from what does to the environment for what it does to the people who are in it? Yeah, it jumped monumentally wasteful. I normally refer to my hometown as a Lynch and Mayberry.

16:45 Hopefully not in versus on the Lynch.

16:49 How did I know?

16:54 Oh wait is the United States never mind a lot of great things about growing up there but a lot of rough things and yeah, and then I've lived all over like I went from there to spending some time in France to college and Boulder to California and lived in the Bay Area Silicon Valley Tokyo Tokyo. Yeah. I lived in Tokyo for a minute and and then he ran out Atlanta.

17:31 When did you fall in love with film?

17:35 Oh gosh.

17:37 That's what you always wanted when I was a kid. I was a

17:44 I like to think of it as a pink tomboy.

17:50 So I was like always wanting to you no climb trees build forts ride my bike super fast. But like if I could do it in a feather boa, that was ideal.

18:05 Okay.

18:10 I was always very theatrical can a kid and adventurous and but because I was oriented towards being a tomboy but not entirely athletically gifted but often end up breaking things. I'd be laid up for weeks and weeks at a time with cash but not like I broke my leg twice and created in trees where I had to be in like, you know on crutches for a couple months at a time another two or three times. It's expensive and my mother was like you were not allowed to break another phone. So it says yeah, they didn't complain about that. You know, they were I think my parents

19:06 My dad was a businessman and he worked a lot. I think so that you know, like they weren't Rich when I was a kid, but they weren't worried about paying a medical bill, but they were worried by the daughter they have left.

19:23 And just really didn't know what to do with me or how to deal with me. You know, this Egghead tomboy. So when I be laid up with my various casts Pittsburgh head amazing local TV channels that played all sorts of classic film all the time on like weekends and late at night and in the afternoons, and I when I'd be laid up would just watch all of these films whether it was like all black and white and silent films classic horror.

20:04 You name it musicals and I fell in love with all of it. Especially early American Cinema was just blown away and I started wanting to make films when I was a kid. There's some I don't have any of them. But like I used to hijack the family's Lino tell movie camera and make things that my parents would then be like

20:37 Do you think you're Italian?

20:42 Were you?

20:46 I always wanted to be but I'm okay.

20:50 I didn't know I was until I was grown. So I wish you would know I'm I am a month, but it's like Mayflower wasps descended from English and Scott mixed with Russian Jews. And then on the other side Romani Gypsy mixed with Polish Catholic.

21:11 Just leave out much.

21:14 Sounds like my family but it'll he's not in there. Well, yeah, you know one of my ancestors founded my hometown Mobile Alabama called This is Pierre Loren Dean or as some history books identify him Pietro lorandini with his birth name he change his name to sit in when the French took over mobile from the Spanish. Both parents were florentines. So now I'm reading it. So I'm learning all about the history of Florence right when it moves to get Bellini's versus the guelfs fascinating stuff absolutely fascinating and I keep wondering where are the lower and DVDs without us what's going on? I'm going to do the Hannibal Lecter thing someday and see where my relatives are in Florence.

22:14 I wear I definitely we need to talk more about that. But yeah, that's the first film I made for real was in high school. I translated a bunch of, short stories that were only in French at that time and turn them into little screenplays and then made my friends acting them. How old were you do? You read I can get along reading Latin French Japanese if I have a kanji dictionary with me. My Japanese is super Rusty now.

23:03 A Spanish some Italian reading because it's so close to French and Spanish and Latin you can parse it out.

23:16 That's it.

23:19 It ended how many of those languages would you say you have executed subtitles?

23:26 Are you always translate into your into English from Sunny? I've made the most subtitles from Hebrew Hebrew. I understand Fairmount in Hebrew, but now I don't count it as one of my languages, but when I work on subtitles when I when I've done them for people in Israel, they give me a there's always anytime with almonds made in Israel. There's a rough translation of the script from day one a shooting.

24:08 Into English that's part of fundraising got it. And so they always have that and so they give me that and the film and then I sit down and watch it a few times and I'm always that the the rest translations that they have of the script. They're horrible, you know, they're they're really horrible and they're they're stilted that start of like the information is there but it's tremendously awkward and then I try to work it into language that capture the characters as well. And I guess that's what I'm good at is reading the actors performances and then knowing what they want to communicate and figuring out how to say that so it's it's kind of

25:04 My experience is writing subtitle. So far as like is really a kind of writing that is.

25:11 Part translation in park creation of component, but the director said I've done it for have all been really excited by that. I liked it and would dialogue with me about what I was bringing forth because they all spoke English enough said they couldn't do it but they wanted that they wanted that feel of authenticity in the voices. And so if I couldn't get it right on a particular Amino seen or phrase or something, maybe like, oh, yeah, but can you do more and then we'd have a dialogue and then I'd be like, oh, what about this may be like you and get really really excited such a very fun process. I wish I wish there was more subtitles done that way cuz usually it's more of like a factory kind of job you from watching things on

26:10 What was it for Berlin Babylon? I want to say I was out of my spoken German was far beyond my recollection of my high school college German. I want to say there were times when I was looking at the subtitles and doing like really so yeah, I get the sense that I know what you're talking about. But I think I may have derailed you that you might have been headed toward telling me what your

26:45 What's your favorite movie was when you were young?

26:52 What do you think about right now? What what movie is there frame from movie that's in your head as you look at the ceiling?

27:00 Abbott and Costello, which one?

27:06 I don't know what I'm guessing but what and what's it? What are you getting rid of Frankenstein, famous? Because people don't realize there are weirdly Abbott and Costello comedies that are also like legitimate Universal of them are movies. I also really fell for Katharine Hepburn all of her old films and Jimmy Stewart Cary Grant.

27:42 All of that stuff Hitchcock. I fell in love with his cock growing up really early and I still love Hitchcock and feel like I understand those films in different ways every time I watch them.

28:01 There's so much in them. I find it telling that after it may have been decades on top of the international critics poll that it was Hitchcock film but not Citizen Kane off his perch where hadn't been for so long, but of course what fascinates me is that both those films are scored by Bernard Herrmann right now to go over to go and and Citizen Kane, which is the first thing that Herman ever scored for Cinema not first thing ever scored cuz you been doing work for Orson Welles. Yeah, the two the two films that that have been on top of that pole Forever both had music by Bernard Herrmann notes for me. Yeah, and and that's such an important component of sound.

29:01 No, I didn't think about making films for real for a long time and I still have really hesitated from taking on big projects because I was a single mother and I didn't want to commit to work that would take me away from my kids where I had no control over.

29:23 That you wouldn't be able to say. No. I've got to be there for them right now. That was always my top priority. I think because my childhood was such a mess. My mother got cancer when I was 10.

29:41 And I took care of her while she died. I was the primary caretaker for her Monica. She got breast cancer at 36 years old. She died at 36. So she was 33 when she got cancer. I was 10 and I took care of her while she was dying and my dad was working all the time and Franklin.

30:12 And

30:15 Yeah, and then after she died he checked out so I was really taken care of everything at the house from like 11 on he is so and and then he's been in and then I was on my own from link.

30:41 14 on Pittsburgh, Indiana

30:47 Wait, Indiana, what's her name, Jennifer?

31:02 How much younger 1/2 years? Yeah, I did my best shoes she has

31:16 I did my best to be there for her but I was a kid who had to do it real fast. Yeah, I refuse confirmation in the Catholic Church which sort of clothes that Avenue for me. So I was on my own. You you you you took it. I think you took it as a threat. I took it as a joke, right? I took my my first name, which I kind of loathe. So I'm at work often Edward Hall. I did go through confirmation, but I was like, this is an absolute. This is this is bullshit and I still feel that way. Yeah. I I I don't think I would have had the courage to do what I did had I not just watched my mother die and

32:16 You know, I'm prayed very very hard for that not to happen and tried to reach out and connect with the church and have them absolutely not make any effort.

32:31 To reach back. I think it was after the death of my dad that I had that.

32:39 And that was really I would say the beginning of the end was the first integrated grade school. I attended where the record pick me up by my Afro.

32:54 And head klansman Ultra boys. Yeah, that's terrifying.

33:06 There's some solace in all those things. I have no empathy they are but he roasts in hell if there is one. Yeah, you know, I think that was a

33:24 That was a theme throughout my growing up where I did was that the importance of the the church in people's daily lives. And also just a real remember being just disgruntled and frustrated and angry from a very very young age that I was not mail and that how different my life would be if I was especially over it.

33:55 Perhaps now that I'm older I realize that it pretty much on those issues, you know, whichever side you're on your screwed. It's all vastly overrated. You know what it's got to their there needs to be some some rethinking of parts of it. And it does I think I really think that's so men and women.

34:48 And that reminds me since we probably got something around 5 minutes left.

34:54 You and I are as we speak or under consideration for membership in the Georgia poetry Society membership is being voted on today to be barred members. Yes to be board members.

35:12 You want to talk about that while you're feeling about that in the most general terms, I could say.

35:21 I'm hopeful that it will be an opportunity to do some good things a little nervous given to the obstacles that we've faced as we've approached the society that there's some very some of those same kinds of gender issues and attitudes and parochialism. This is how we've always done things. And and I think you and I are both coming in wanting to bring more questioning attitude, you know, not like we have all the answers, but I'm more explorative adventurous kind of Outlook to what creating in the Arts could be and how it interacts with people's lives rather than telling people how it is.

36:19 And I get the sense that's why we were invited to be involved in the first place. I totally agree and I think most of the people there want us to do that and are excited about us doing that. Even the people who are doing the other way. I think that's why I absolutely agree. I don't I don't think I got no sense of any ill will on the part of any members, but I do think that there may be members.

36:54 Were they to hear this talk would not see eye-to-eye with us particularly in our views on religion at large where you know, one of my recent I talked about the fact that you know, my white looking mother, you know was the one who revealed race to me. And also though. She was not Catholic sent me a message every Sunday. And so that poem is called shy 10 which if you remember your Hebrew, right, this is a name for the devil also right side on Satan and so it's no wonder to me that to this day with regard to the church. I think of myself adversarially I think of myself as an enemy of the church. I think it's not about the things that I'm about. So yeah.

37:50 Amor

37:52 I I see it more about individuals then about the church and their I've met two people over the years.

38:03 That

38:05 Why I think our

38:07 Very religious and working in a religious context and doing amazing things that I completely agree with and that I would support like with my life and then there are people who I think are doing real harm and I both

38:25 Could be called religion.

38:28 Well again lifting small Boys by their afros does not fall under the heading of anything that I would consider a ghetto.

38:40 That's really positive. That's real hard that right like that that

38:48 That was so unlike anything. I had ever encountered from a priest and just not true for my siblings. They put they they're all at least 10 years older than me. So they grow up in a different America than I did but different United States, but yeah, that was if I had pinpointed that's pretty much the beginning of the end for me. I didn't mean was rulers guns were quite Corporal as I was coming through Catholic grade school as well and

39:21 At the same time, you know, I met I met some of them many years later and I realize that they also were the ones who in there in one of their phones with punishment help cement my obsession with dictionary. So you stood for the punishment the nuns at st. Peter Claver would make us copy verbatim a whole page from the dictionary.

39:45 And my hand, why did my handwriting was always very slow so I can never finish this punishment assignment which I was chided for but now I don't like 56 dictionaries, right so but dictionaries were big thing in the house. Anyway, that's the Paradox of the human mind though, as my favorite one of my favorites by Romeo. We are you talking about this with the with the flower gate to arm. Our minds are sort of subconscious are shadows. So to speak are the keys to our release are Enlightenment our Salvation are joists and also the keys to our destruction. Our torment are jailing of ourselves, depending on how we relate to them.

40:42 I don't think I have anything to add to that. Thank you for talking with me today Krista.