MEET THE PROFESSIONALS - Josh Appignanesi (Part 2)
MEET THE PROFESSIONALS: JOSH APPIGNANESI ON TEACHING, LIVING, AND WORKING IN LONDON
Josh Appignanesi is a filmmaker, writer, and director, who has taught and mentored at The London Film School (LFS), Arista, Script Factory, Film Londonās Microwave, Guardian Masterclasses, and the Met Film School among others. We recently spoke with Josh about his latest feature, THE NEW MAN, co-directed with Devorah Baum -Ā read the interview here. In this next part of our Meet the Professionals interview series, read on to hear more about his work at The London Film School and his take on life as a filmmaker in London.
Can you tell us a little about your involvement with LFS, and what drew you to teaching?
I started doing a workshop there a few times a year, must be over five years ago now. It was Ben Gibson who got me along ā heās now the director of the Berlin Film School (DFFB), but at the time he was the director of The London Film School. Iād done some teaching before, at different institutions and training things, and this was a little workshop Iād concocted after my last film (THE INFIDEL) came out. Itās really nice to teach, in little bits. Particularly when itās practical teaching, itās not long-form teaching where you have to assess things over numbers of weeks. itās really fun, as a teacher, to just jump in and do two days with some really interested, excitable students who want to be there, who have chosen to be there for that weekend. And itās a really diverse workshop, as well, because itās not just filmmakers ā you get artists, you get graphic designers, writers, journalists, people from the corporate world, people from advertising and commercialsā¦. All kinds of people show up at all different levels. Some are really experienced as well, people whoāve made features before, or have made documentary features and are kind of transitioning into fiction films.
The workshop is called Visual Storytelling, and itās sort of how you tell a story through pictures. Over the last few years it seems like more and more people from diverse walks of life want to know about that, you know. Maybe they make music videos and they want to get into kind of proper storytelling, maybe they make documentaries⦠Itās a really cool course, itās gotten really fun. And that was the main thing - Iāve done a few other things in the past, and I might look to teaching some new stuff at the LFS, but the visual storytelling one seems to go down quite well. Itās just a really vibrant, fun place to come and do a couple of days, itās very practitioner-led, and itās good to do.
Did you go to film school yourself?
I actually didnāt go to film school, no, I just sort of started doing it. I do sort of slightly regret, now, not going to film school ā I did apply to a couple of film schools, I didnāt get in, I think what youāre supposed to do is just keep applying, but I just went, āIām too cool for school, I can just do it myself.ā I guess it all worked out in the end, but what I miss from not having gone, I suppose, is this sort of sense of a cohort and an institution thatās behind you, a sort of peer group around you. It was something that I had to build myself, and I think it maybe took a little bit longer to do that. So no, I didnāt have that formal training. I did do quite a few long form courses, particularly in screenwriting, that gave me a kind of formal grounding, particularly in the screenwriting side.
And where did that training take place, where were your earliest filmmaking experiences?
There was a course called North by Northwest. It was brilliant, it was a residential course in Denmark with all these tutors from USC, which is a great film school in America, I learned a lot from those Hollywood guys. And then there was another course here which was called Arista, which was again a residential 1-week writing workshop, that was really great. I actually ended up being a tutor on Arista ā itās sadly gone now, but it was one of the best in the UK. Those are the two main ones. Someone should definitely try to resurrect those kinds of medium-length writer training, itās invaluable, thereās a gap. But otherwise it was just me and friends making shorts and trying to get bits of fundingā¦
What advice would you have for anyone graduating soon from LFS, or has maybe already graduated, and is looking to start making their own films, collaborating with other peopleā¦What advice would you have in terms of the early days?
It was hard when I started out, and it certainly hasnāt gotten any easier. Itās different. My very early career was, I wouldnāt exactly say pre-internet, but it wasnāt the world it is now, social media and the web being everything it now is. Which obviously makes some things easier, we couldnāt have made this last film (THE NEW MAN) without what the internet allows you to do in outreach and speed, and what new technology allows you to do. But on the other hand, it was a bit quieter, in terms of your own internal noise and headspace. Still, I think the advice is the same. Ā Everyone knows the basics: you keep trying to make your stuff,Ā collaborate with people you like, find your voice, reach out to people... You have to keep trying to promote yourself, unfortunately, which is a horrible bit of it, but it is part of it. And to be honest, it never ends. I guess the one bit of advice Iād say is that there is no place that you finally get to, where you feel secure about your career and you feel that everythingās working brilliantly. Itās always ups and downs, and sometimes it can feel like itās mostly downs. And that includes questions like, how do you make money? Which is a really tough one, and one that most people I know working in media and the arts donāt really have an answer to. Sometimes you get some money, sometimes you donāt. So I donāt know how helpful that is, but itās my experience, anyway.
Outside of THE NEW MAN, what projects are you working on currently?
Iām working on far too many projects, actually. Several new script ideas⦠most advanced is the film that Iāve actually now shot most of, working with a producer called Jacqui Davies. Itās a film that we shot around Tate Liverpool, around an art show ā itās a quasi-fiction, it has sort of documentary elements in it, but itās basically fictional. Kind of an artistās film ā it has one foot in the artistās film camp, one foot in the fiction film camp. And itās pretty bonkers, itās a romantic thriller at heart, Ā inspired by the work of Leonora Carrington. She was one of the great surrealist painters of the 20th Century but isnāt as well-known as some of the others, mostly because she was a woman, and also because she lived in Mexico. She died recently, but 2017 is her centenary year, and thereās quite an effort to rehabilitate her. This film features her work and is inspired by her, although it doesnāt focus on her life. It focuses on the life of a writer called Chloe Aridjis, who is the star of the film but sheās normally a novelist, by no means an actor, which makes things interesting. Sheās a Mexican-American novelist who lives in London. Itās kind of a gothic romantic thriller set in the art world, and shot on these beautiful antique video cameras Iāve resurrected⦠Yeah, itās pretty crazy. Thatās my next project thatās coming out. The rest is all script ideas, in development. Most of the ideas that Iām having at the moment are me trying to get a handle on the incipient fascism that seems to be just bubbling out of every orifice of the world right now, in this really depressing way. Maybe I need to make a comedy about it.
In terms of balancing new projects with promoting THE NEW MAN, how do you manage your own time?
I have no time. Iāve had no time for a few years now. No, I donāt find it easy to manage anything, itās just all a massive, endless spiral of stuff coming at me, and Iām just about keeping my head above water. But thatās a good place to be! Itās tough juggling all this stuff, for sure, but I wouldnāt want it any other way, really.
What first inspired you to make films?
Well, Iāll tell you when I first fell in love with films ā obviously it was a gradual process, but there was this one particular incident. When I was about 16, I got home really late from this night out, and I turned on the TV. And there was just this completely hallucinatory film, Iād never seen anything like it, and it was weird, and I wanted to go to sleep but I just couldnāt stop watching this crazy film⦠It just haunted me, but I never found out the title because Iād missed the beginning, but it stayed with me for years. And then a few years later I discovered it was THE SACRIFICE, Tarkovskyās masterpiece, and you know, I was then a huge Andrei Tarkovsky fanā¦
But the mystery of that film, in a way that canāt quite be repeated now because of the internet, all the information is just out there. Back then I would have had to go out and buy a copy of yesterdayās newspaper to find out what the film was, or something, and that was sort of too much research for a 16-year old boy to do⦠I think the mystery of those times, and the mystery of that film, somehow combined in that moment. And I feel like Iām trying to get back to that sublime experience, but who knows if thatās possible?
What inspires you about working and living in London?
Itās obviously a really buzzing, inspiring place full of interesting people doing great stuff⦠To me, it feels like itās not a choice, really. I couldnāt constitutionally survive outside of a big metropolis ā maybe New York, I could do, maybe Paris, a couple of other cities, but⦠itās basically London and New York for me, given that Iām English language-speaking. And now, more than ever, in this political climate ā I just feel like big diverse cities are a question of the survival of humanity, without them weāre really not in a good place. Iām a city snob, I love cities. And then mountains.
What is the most challenging part of your job, and what are your processes for working through it?
Just sort ofā¦self-doubt, or something. Not to just sink into total defeat, and self-hatred. I think thatās the most challenging part, and I think I just⦠rant. I think I rant, and then maybe have a drink, or something? I donāt know, I donāt have the answer to that. I seem to keep going anyway, so there you go.
Who, living or dead, would be your dream collaborator?
God, thatās impossible. My dream collaborator⦠I very much like Tilda Swinton at the moment, I guess you could say her. Yeah, Iām really into Tilda Swinton at the moment, just really impressed with what sheās doing. Sheās fantastic.
For more information about Joshās workshop at the LFS, click here. THE NEW MAN is on limited release now and available on-demand from January 23rd with a countrywide screening at Picturehouse Cinemas on January 24th. Connect with Josh at @JoshAppFilm and his website.
Written by Laura Nucinkis.
Photo Credits: The Creative Life Film Co.