Krystin is a screenwriter, director and producer. Her script “Ride” sold to Lionsgate with Jill Solloway attached to direct. Her pitch “Love in Vain,” an unconventional biopic centering around Blues music pioneer Robert Johnson, sold to Paramount. She was chosen as one of Variety’s 2022 “10 Directors to Watch.” “Alice” is her first feature film and will be released nationwide in March via Vertical Entertainment and Roadside Attractions.
“Alice” is screening at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, which is running online from January 20-30. More information can be found on the fest’s website.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
KVL: “Alice” is a film of freedom and self-belief. One person can make an entire movement. “Alice” highlights the power of defining yourself on your own terms, not the labels put on you by others.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
KVL: “Alice” was inspired by true events. I found the people I was reading about as heroic, poetic, brave. My heart connected with all the men and women I read about.
W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?
KVL – I want people to think and feel. “Alice” should be a reminder and an inspiration that self-expression and embracing who you are defined on your own terms is powerful and what you believe in can actually make a difference. One spark is all it takes to light a fire.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
KVL: Covid. Period. The fun part of directing my first film was the easy, exciting and fun part. Covid cast a shadow over a beautiful process. [We were hoping that]We could pass the test without any positives, and we did.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Please share your insights on how you got the film made.
The film was fully funded by KVL: Steel Springs Productions.
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
KVL: Since I was six years of age, filmmaking was all I wanted to do. Films were my reality. It is the only language I can speak to some extent.
Screenwriting was a way to get into directing, and that was what I had been preparing for my whole life. My heroes as a child were Akira Kurosawa (and Andrei Tarkovsky), Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone. I would watch their films and learn how their films and films were cathartic and from my heart. [how they used]The camera is both a character and a means to tell a story.
Movies are in my DNA.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
KVL: Quentin Tarantino, my mentor, gave me the best advice. He advised me to not be afraid to ask any questions on set. First-time filmmakers often fear asking questions, fearing that they may be judged. For example, a shot the director may have in mind may not be doable or maybe it is, but until the director asks — because they’re trying to act as if they know every little thing — they won’t know. He empowered me to be unabashed during the process and really enjoy the first time making a film– because it’s the only time it will be the first time.
Be there for the camera operator whenever possible. He is your best friend while on set. It is unacceptable to be seated behind a tent screen in a tent. When your actors can see you and know if it’s cold or hot or anything and you’re right there with them, freezing, on fire, etc. they’ll give you their all.
Worst advice you can get? Luckily I haven’t gotten any from anyone, or if I did, I wasn’t listening and didn’t retain the information.
W&H: What advice do you have for other women directors?
KVL: Don’t take no shit. Ha. No really, though, there’s a lot of ignorant and insecure masculinity in this business — [guys] who don’t really have a sense of who they are, so they’ll try to assert themselves. Just put them down gently, meaning play chess and don’t roll over. Nothing can stop you if you know who and what you are.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
KVL: This is a difficult question to answer as a cinephile. It depends on genre and era and so many things, but I will say this: I love Agnès Varda and every film she did. I have a huge amount of respect and love for Sofia Coppola’s contemporaries. “Lost in Translation” was one of my favorite modern-day films as a kid growing up. Jane Campion is a modern-day inspiration.
W&H: How are you adjusting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you creative? If so, how?
KVL: My life got busier during Covid with shooting “Alice” from prep, to post, to now it coming out. Also, I’ve been cooking up my next project so I haven’t had the cooped up experience with Covid — yet.
W&H: The film industry has a long history of underrepresenting people of color onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — negative stereotypes. What steps do you believe are necessary to make the industry more inclusive?
KVL: It is important to not categorize films by race, but by the heart and story of the characters. There’s a reason the sound “care” is in the word characters. I’ve really been noticing an adverse to being politically correct in the sense that, for example, as an African American woman, if I want to make a film about Buddha, I may get turned down. Instead they’ll opt for someone from Nepal or India, which feels a bit ridiculous and sad that filmmakers are getting wrangled into created boxes built around their race.
I say tell stories from the heart and you can’t go wrong. The world needs to stop defining people as different and instead see them as one species. Every story that can lift people and the world should be told.
Source: Women And Hollywood