Rachel Lears, a documentary producer and cinematographer, is based out of Brooklyn, NY. Rachel’s most recent feature documentary, Netflix’s “Knock Down the House,”The US Documentary Audience Award was won by her, as well as the Festival Favorite Award at Sundance Film Festival 2019. She was shortlisted for an Oscar, and nominated in 2020 for an Emmy. Her previous feature, PBS’ “The Hand That Feeds,” co-directed withRobin Blotnick was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2017 and won numerous festival awards.
“To the End” 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.
RL: “To the End” tells an epic story of historic shifts in climate politics in the United States, through the interwoven narratives of four young women of color who are key players behind the Green New Deal (GND), an ambitious plan to stop the climate crisis and address racial and economic justice in the process. The film features Varshini Prakash, the Executive Director of Sunrise Movement; Alexandra Rojas, the Executive Director of Justice Democrats; Rhiana Gunn-Wright, a policy writer known as one of the architects of the Green New Deal; and the GND’s best-known champion, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“To the End” builds upon my last film, “Knock Down the House,” but is a darker and more complex story. The climate crisis can cause despair and even cynicism. Our protagonists face the reality head-on and find courage to face it.
The film presents this compelling, urgent story in a cinematic format that plays with tropes from dystopian science fiction as well as the utopian visioning that organizers and activists must do to envision and build alternative futures.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
RL: In Fall 2018, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report stating that, in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of global warming, the world must enact “rapid, far reaching, and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” before 2030. This apolitical group of scientists aimed their work directly at world leaders, emphasizing that it’s physically and technically feasible to achieve this— the key missing ingredient is political will.
I was immediately drawn to exploring how this political will could be built because, for most of my career, I’ve been making films that explore the nature of power and how impossible things become possible through movement organizing. I’m also the mother of a young child and very personally invested in hoping that the climate crisis can be contained.
During post-production for “Knock Down the House,” I began conversations with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her team about this project, which soon grew to include the other protagonists and focus on the Green New Deal—the only policy proposal that would actually meet the scale of the action that scientists demand.
W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?
RL: Although the film opens in 2018, its last scenes were shot in December 2021. The film truly speaks to this moment. Since the onset of the pandemic, the relationships among all the crises we face have become more intuitively clear: the pandemic, economic inequality, racial injustice, political violence, and the climate crisis — all are interlocking. Many people feel a sense of staring into the abyss, and it’s become commonplace to reference dystopia in describing the United States or the world.
While the situation is grave, we haven’t reached the apocalypse yet — and there’s still so much we can do to build a better world. But there is no path to stopping the global climate crisis that doesn’t involve engaging with politics in the United States. “To the End” frames our protagonists’ fight for a just and sustainable future as an epic coming of age story of courageous young women confronting multiple dystopian dimensions — climate disaster itself, the corporate media, and the Kafkaesque world of Washington, DC politics.
I wanted to draw viewers into a cinematic world that combines science fiction and political thriller. The film uses music, sound, color, and lighting to help them process the existential anxiety of this historic moment and to imagine themselves in new roles in changing history.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
RL: This film was not easy. The pandemic was one of the most difficult. Our protagonists did not slow down, so we couldn’t just put the project on hold, but most of their activities in 2020 and early 2021 moved completely online, which posed significant difficulties for observational filming. We created intimate visual scenes of pandemics in homes and outdoors, with interviews done remotely using audio equipment that we sent to the participants.
We also decided to use archival footage throughout the film in ways that are framed by the main characters’ cinematic point of view, as if they are either viewing this footage on a device or remembering it. This helped with a number of sequences that we couldn’t cover observationally and helped the film maintain the feeling of vérité coverage.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Let us know how you got the film produced.
RL: We received many grants for this film, and were very lucky to have been funded primarily by two private investors, Impact Partners West and Lost Gang Films West. Story Syndicate’s executive producers helped to bring in Impact Partners during the development stage. Then, Impact Partners helped bring in Lost Gang to finish the film.
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
RL. I became a filmmaker in my 20s, a bit later than most. I was enrolled in graduate school to get a Ph.D. (in Cultural Anthropology) and had a background both in music and photography. Documentary art was a form that allowed me to deeply engage with visual and auditory aesthetic registers, as well as ideas, people, and stories. I love that it’s a form based on collage—the actually existing material, the true story, and the archive all shape the creative process.
At the same time, I think there’s vastly more creativity and artistry involved in documentary filmmaking than most people realize. It’s not simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time with a camera, though that itself takes quite a bit of creative work—there are as many aesthetic choices involved in nonfiction storytelling as in fiction.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
RL: Best advice: Do something every single day that could lead you to something in six-months.
Worst advice: Hire someone to shoot your films. This might be great advice for some, but for me, it’s been crucial to my style and workflow to shoot the bulk of my own material myself. One-person crews allow for incredible intimacy and flexibility.
W&H: What advice do you have for other women directors?
RL: This is for aspiring directors. Learn to shoot, edit and ask for money. You can choose what area you wish to specialize in later on. However, if you are able to do these things, you can begin making your own films. Seek out other kindred filmmaking spirits to collaborate with—it’s really helpful to have someone else on the team who is as dedicated to the project as you are, especially in the early stages.
If you don’t feel comfortable in — or get annoyed by — cis-straight male-dominated film spaces, seek out networks of other women, non-binary, and LGBTQ film professionals to work with.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
RL: I adore Rachel Grady’s work and Heidi Ewing’s. I’ve followed their work and been inspired by it since I was first learning to make films. I love their nuanced, intimate stories. They have great characters. Their narrative drive is strong. They also show delicacy when discussing sensitive topics. Their work is grounded on observational style and has incredible attention to the poetic details in photography, soundscape, music, and music.
W&H: How are you adjusting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you creative? If so, how?
RL: I managed to make most of “To the End” during the pandemic, so I have managed to stay creative! 2021 was an intense year for my filmmaking career. I had to travel a lot for the shoots and work very quickly on the editing.
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 are your suggestions for making it more inclusive?
I believe we need a National Film Board like other countries to fund and support artists and projects that do not fit into the market’s requirements at any given moment. I believe that the major film distributors should be legally required by law to support independent filmmakers and filmmakers from underrepresented groups. This system is similar to what certain European countries have in place to ensure that major streamers support local content.
I believe we need a national healthcare system and free public universities. We also need family leave, more labor protections for freelancers and other social democratic reforms.
Source: Women And Hollywood
