SHORT CIRCUIT FILM

Fertile Crescent

dir. Jason Willford

14:50 minutes

 

An Interview with Jason Willford

 

SCF: What would you say is the basis and the inspiration for your work?

JW: My inspiration overall is modality. Modality is a particular mode in which something exists or is experienced or expressed. This term was first represented to me via Miles Davis and his development of Modal Jazz.

 

SCF: What is your background as an artist?

JW: My background as an artist started with my family. Their guidance came unfettered and without censorship. Most families read together, mine watched movies. I understood the diegesis of tempo and shot composition before verbal comprehension. Musicals such as South Pacific and dramas like Name of the Rose became the foundation for drawing and painting, film, and live projections. I studied visual art in public school and college, started making films at thirteen, and broke into the public market at twenty-one.

 

SCF: What inspired the story and the style of Fertile Crescent.  

JW: Most of my inspirations stem from my previous work. Fertile Crescent was designed for art galleries, and at the time I had an installation called Form & Function which had rave reviews. Positive feedback at that stage in my life was intimidating and filled with pressure to deliver better work. In reaction, Fertile Crescent was made to anger and disgust people like E. Elias Merhige's film Begotten, but like Form & Function it has been successful.

 

SCF: Are there any anecdotes about the making of the film that you would like to share?

JW: Fertile Crescent was a labor of love. Convincing the actors that the nudity would not be exploited or overly sexual was a challenge, and reducing the artistic design to a mix of Asian and African references was a long trial and error process. In the end we referenced the film Begotten and the video game Shadow of the Colossus to make the film you see today.

 

SCF: What are you up to now?  Do you have other films in the works?

JW: Right now, I'm writing a commisioned Sci-Fi web series called The Shift, still in development, but for the time being it's shopping F.C. to film fests. 

 

SCF: Are there any interesting things about you that may or may not have anything to do with film that would be fun to know?

JW: Fun facts about me? Hmm. Despite the serious tone my films carry I am somewhat of a clown. I love humor and constantly ask and tell jokes. This probably came from my screenwriting mentors who said "Tell jokes if you want to tell stories. Jokes are mini three-act structures". You would be surprised how much this helps.