I believe you come from a technical background. Can you talk about some technical aspects of this film, such as production design, cinematography, editing, costumes, etc.?
I come mostly from editing in terms of the work that I do in film. I filter everything else through that because I always think that editors don’t get enough credit. We try to previsualize what we’re doing and then shoot for the edit, so we are only getting what we need in terms of coverage because we didn’t have the time to figure it out later. We had to figure it out beforehand. Our whole team is just incredible—our production designer Grace Alie and cinematographer Nancy Schreiber and also our AD Jill Maxcy. Everyone worked together to pull off this big scope of a movie on a tight budget and tight time. It’s just amazing to get to work with people who just can make things happen. We all came at it the same way as a team.
“…clapping, cheering, laughing, reliving that experience, and honoring Virginia was pretty incredible.”
What are your hopes for this film? What are you most excited about or proud of?
The most exciting thing was playing in New York, and D.C. with some of the real parents and real kids who’ve gone through the program. It was really amazing. To get through the movie with a whole bunch of people who are clapping, cheering, laughing, reliving that experience, and honoring Virginia was pretty incredible. I just hope that a lot of people see the movie because it would be great for her and great for everyone. Even on a smaller scale, people can have a little bit of that same experience. I just want people to watch it.
What are your thoughts about the movie screening in public schools in the future?
Everyone just wants the movie to be seen. Virginia says the movie is really for parents and students and for people to be able to watch and say I can also make a difference in my kids or other kids’ lives. I think it would be great to play educationally. A lot of the students who come here went through the program, they felt like they saw their experience on the screen. I think other students will get that same feeling.
