I Once Ate a Pepper | www.alanraywartes.com
Q: Why did you become a filmmaker?
AW: Having produced and directed theater for the stage for a number of years, the leap to film was a natural one for me. I love the power of the camera to put the audience right in the scene and right in my characters’ lap. Animation represents a whole new level of storytelling potential that I’m having fun exploring.
Q: What are we going to see at the EFP? Has it screened elsewhere and what are your plans for it?
AW: I Once Ate a Pepper began as a poem I wrote many years ago when my kids were young. It languished in my slush pile until the digital revolution made it possible—and affordable—to play around with animation right in my own office. It’s an unpretentious film that exists only to bring a smile to as many faces as possible.
Q: What else are you working on?
AW: I have plans to produce an animated music video for a song I wrote for a library summer reading program called “97 Bazillion Books.” You can hear it at https://soundcloud.com/alan-wartes/97-bazillion-books
And I have a couple of new live action shorts in development.
Q: Tell us one weird thing about you and/or your movies?
AW: I really don’t give a crap about “success.” So I come at filmmaking like a toddler in a room full of toys. I play with something while it interests me and then I toss it over my shoulder and move on to something else.
Q: Where can people go to find out more about you and your work?
AW: You can see my writing and many of my films at www.alanraywartes.com.
Q: Is there anything you’d like to say about The Emerging Filmmakers Project?
AW: Fun. Cool. The indie filmmaker’s friend. Be there.
I Once Ate aa Pepper will screen June 19th at The Emerging Filmmakers Project.
