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Meet the Filmmaker: Josh Berkowitz, “Shame, Compassion and Defence”

Q: Why did you become a filmmaker?
JB: I became a filmmaker because of John Cassavetes and David Lynch but that was much later on. I have been making films with the best friends I have had my whole life and still make films with these same people. I decided at a certain point somewhere in adolescence that being weird was way more important than being cool until I began to influence people through my films and that being weird was cooler than anything.

Q: What are we going to see at the EFP? Has it screened elsewhere and what are your plans for it?
JB: I made Shame, Compassion and Defence in my junior year of college when I was going through a really painful revelation of a childhood trauma and this vision came flying out of me and has snuck its way into other peoples psyche through its music and unexplainable nostalgic haunting quality. It has screened during a retrospective of my film work in 2017.

Q: What else are you working on?
JB: I am currently working on a play called The Family Rules, The Family Jewels, a psychodrama in three acts which is about all taking traumatic memories and turning them into song, dance and slapstick.

Q: Tell us one weird thing about you and/or your movies?
JB: I always write about real things and the realer I get the less real it seems. I guess that is what I love most about life, the absurd and the surreal. I believe that magic comes from manure.

Q: Where can people go to find out more about you and your work?
JB: all inquires can be sent to joshberk11@gmail.com

Q: Is there anything you’d like to say about The Emerging Filmmakers Project?
JB: Super grateful that they appreciated my wackiness and essence.

Shame, Compassion and Defence will screen during The Emerging Filmmakers Project on Thursday, September 16th, 2021 at The Bug Theatre.