00:25This is Tim Walsberg from Fast Track Uncerted TV.
00:28I'm here in New Orleans for the New Orleans Film Fest.
00:31We are many nuanced people, as everyone is.
00:38This is also speaking to an energy like pre-COVID.
00:43A lot has happened, I think, for everybody.
00:48This film, just getting it to the finish line, has required a lot of energy.
00:54You know, because a lot of it was so rooted in the realities of how we were operating,
01:01you know, and how we collaborated as artists.
01:04You know, my energy has always been like, all right, let's make a thing.
01:08Let's move forward.
01:09You know, like, yeah, let's make a movie.
01:11You want to make a movie on the other side of the world?
01:13Great, let's make a movie on the other side of the world.
01:14We can do this, you know.
01:16Was it easy for her to say, let's get on the plane and go?
01:20I mean, part of her was, I think, very excited for that, sure.
01:25But part of her was grappling with, you know, sort of the realities of work
01:29and sort of, you know, logistics.
01:32You know, like, she comes from, you know, she went to film school.
01:37She has this academic background, you know.
01:39My background is not in film, you know.
01:42I'm just, I've just been sort of a very proactive human being.
01:46So what do you do when you're not busy being Leon's muse?
01:49Um, I, um...
01:52She's, uh, filming a good show.
01:54Oh, are you working on anything new?
01:56We're always looking for new projects, especially from women.
02:00Oh, yeah.
02:02Um, I'm working on this project about punk rockers in Myanmar right now.
02:08Interesting.
02:09Well, look, I leave for L.A. next week, but we should definitely grab a drink or something.
02:13Um, I have to go, but it was nice meeting you.
02:16Yeah, definitely.
02:19The punks?
02:24I really feel like something that the film accomplished that I don't even think was fully...
02:30I mean, yes, we'd considered it because we're shooting it here,
02:33and it was about our experience here,
02:35but it did sort of, like, capture this little portrait of a time here
02:40that, like, since COVID doesn't exist anymore, you know?
02:45Um, and...
02:47In what way?
02:48The freedom?
02:49No, no.
02:50Just, like, certain locations that were sort of, like,
02:54you know, places that people would go to and, like, congregate.
02:57Certain, like, there's this, that one sort of burlesque party
03:01is this party, you know, that was a big sort of, like, subcultural space event,
03:08you know, that would happen certain times of the year,
03:10and, like, we all would just go, you know, that dick on her hand, you know?
03:15Like, anybody who lived here for, you know, a certain decade,
03:20which was just, like, really pre-COVID, that decade right before it,
03:25knows that and was there, you know?
03:28And, uh, and so, yeah, for me, I'm really excited to...
03:33What I'm most excited at this point, you know,
03:36is to be able to share it with our community, you know,
03:40and with the people that will see the small, sort of, like,
03:45the little Easter eggs.
03:47Oh, my God, is this water real?
03:51What about this cheese?
03:55What about the wine?
03:57Yeah, I think you should check the wine.
03:58I should?
03:59You should. You should make sure.
04:02Yeah, the wine's real.
04:04But, yeah, like, fuck this shit, I'm telling you.
04:08All right, it's a... it's a big mess.
04:11Mm-hmm.
04:12But the entire time we dated,
04:14I struggled to find the real you on camera,
04:22like, the essence.
04:24Oh, come on!
04:25Are you fucking kidding me?
04:27Yeah!
04:27The essence of me?
04:29Did you just really say that?
04:30I did.
04:30You remember that movie that we did
04:32with the bats and the bathrobe?
04:34And where we were under that bridge
04:37and you fell?
04:42Oh, my God, that was...
04:43It was horrible, but it was great.
04:48But, hear me out.
04:52Maybe Yamil has succeeded
04:54in showing a side of you
04:56that even I haven't seen.
04:58You know, your drive, your passion,
05:02you're taking big risks,
05:03you quit your job.
05:05This is...
05:06This is a real journey as an artist.
05:09And it's...
05:10It's compelling.
05:11And it's intriguing.
05:12And it...
05:13It could be a true feminist movie.
05:17You fucking talked to him?
05:18No, we didn't...
05:21He...
05:21He might have run into me last week
05:23and we might have, like...
05:24He might have showed me some...
05:25Some clips, but...
05:27Dude, what is going on?
05:29Because that time period you're talking to,
05:31it's a very interesting time period
05:32because you're talking pre-COVID
05:3310 years before,
05:35which is right at the end
05:37of when everything was sort of rebuilt.
05:39Yeah, post-Katrina.
05:41Yeah, post-Katrina.
05:41It's like a few years after Katrina
05:43and then pre-COVID.
05:45Where everybody was just...
05:46There was like an influx of people
05:48that, you know,
05:49a bunch of young artists, I guess.
05:51And, you know, I...
05:53Transplants, you know, gentrifiers,
05:55all of this, you know, like...
05:57You know, it comes with its difficulty
05:59and that was something
05:59that we were talking about
06:00because we're not going to make a movie
06:02about, like, you know,
06:03the black experience of New Orleans
06:04because that's not our experience, you know?
06:06It's like how to speak to the community
06:09that we love and care about, you know,
06:11and also sort of, like, you know,
06:16tip our hat and, you know,
06:18be like, we aren't New Orleanians, you know?
06:21We are from elsewhere, you know?
06:23So it was really important
06:24and I think really good that Maya is Polish.
06:26We know this, you know what I'm saying?
06:27That, like, we're speaking
06:28to a very specific counterculture here.
06:32Being, you know, that whole essence
06:35of showing New Orleans,
06:36bringing it back, but showing it here.
06:38I mean...
06:39I mean, I'm also very excited for that
06:41and, yeah, you know, like,
06:44I think it's...
06:46I don't necessarily want to spend my life
06:48basking in nostalgia
06:49because you want to move forward,
06:50but it's nice to be able to do that,
06:53especially in a movie,
06:53and to absorb and be in a time and place
06:56that was special
06:57and was special for us.
06:59And I...
06:59Early on, actually,
07:00I remember even in Rough Cuts,
07:02I'm like, I had an awareness
07:03even before COVID,
07:05I think it was like,
07:05we've captured some essence
07:08of this community,
07:09whatever it was,
07:10and it'll be a nice, you know,
07:12timestamp, time capsule.
07:14There's a pretty long scene
07:16where they're with the producer,
07:18the kind of final breakup
07:19between Maya and Emilio
07:21or the one that precedes it, you know?
07:23And I think I was always kind of worried
07:25that it's very dialogue-heavy,
07:27they're talking about concepts, you know?
07:30And yet I do...
07:31And this isn't necessarily
07:32about the community at this point,
07:34but that scene, you know,
07:36it has a...
07:38It feels like it has an energy
07:39and a dramatic force
07:40even within this
07:42kind of intellectual conversation
07:44because they're talking about
07:45what they want to do with their lives
07:46and who they are as people
07:48and what, you know,
07:49what you're trying to say with film
07:50and, you know, it's really where
07:52the villain all of a sudden
07:54has a valid point
07:55and kind of challenges Maya
07:57and the tables are turned a little bit.
08:24We'll see you next time.
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