M dot Strange, director: HEART STRING MARIONETTE [The Silent]

M dot Strange directed HEART STRING MARIONETTE

1Q: Tell us a little about the origins of HEART STRING MARIONETTE, from concept to financing.

In 2007 after finished my first animated feature film We Are The Strange I got obsessed with Noh theater and 1960’s samurai movies so I decided to make a new film that dealt with these two obsessions at the time- The film was self financed other than about $2000 I got from fans who donated to the project- so the film was a “no budget” production- people have told me that my films look like they cost millions but they really only cost time- Once it was done I self released it on the internet and went on to make my next film I Am Nightmare. The film took four years and countless hours and days spent fussing over every little detail in it- I’m really proud of the finished film- though I’m a much better animator today so some of the animation makes me cringe.

2Q: Cinequest Film Festival is hosting the World Premiere of HEART STRING MARIONETTE. Explain to us how it feels to bring this film before hometown audiences for the first time, and what do you think their reaction will be to your film?

It was a really strange set of circumstances that brought the film to the festival so its a bit of mixed emotions- the film’s original composer and another person I have never met actually took the film- cut out all sound but the music-made some minor edits and renamed the film “The Silent”. Without me knowing about it that film was entered and accepted into the Cinequest film festival here in my home town of San Jose- I eventually found about it and notified the festival- they pulled “The Silent” and replaced it with the actual original film “Heart String Marionette” Since it was so late in the process “The Silent” is what is listed in the film festival programs so I’m not sure anyone in my home town will know my film is playing haha. So if you see “The Silent” scheduled in the festival program that is really when “Heart String Marionette” plays.

3Q: What was your best and/or worst experience while making HEART STRING MARIONETTE.

Tie for best experience- The best experience was watching newly rendered scenes right after I had finished animating/rendering them- there’s no thrill quite like that so see your idea realized before you that you created with your own hands. The other best experience was hearing the reactions of the fans of my work on the film- it spoke to so many people on such a deep level- it was awesome to hear their feedback.

The worst experience was finding out a former collaborator and an unknown third party were taking credit for the film as their own and entering it into film festivals/shopping it around while I knew nothing about it.

4Q: Festival audiences often have to make hard decisions about what to see, and the catalog descriptions sometimes run together. In your own words, why should people see your film?

I believe film festivals should be places where you get to see things that you usually CAN’T see in the cinemas- so people should see my film IF they want to see something they have never seen before. Heart String Marionette is one third weird Japanese animation, one third 1960’s Samurai film and one third totally insane- so if that sounds interesting to you- you should come see the film on the big screen… its also REALLY REALLY creepy.

5Q: Time to pre-plan: You just won the Oscar for HEART STRING MARIONETTE. Give us your acceptance speech.

You will die… inside.

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