An Interview With Ben Meade

Ben Meade is a documentary filmmaker based in Kansas City. He resides in Lenexa, Kansas, and is Associate Professor of Film and Digital Media at Avila University. His films include Vakvagany, Das Bus, and James Ellroy Presents Bazaar Bizarre. His new documentary, American Stag, takes a satirical look at pornographic "stag films" in film history. His films have screened in more than 30 countries worldwide, an have acquired distribution through the Sundance Channel, multiple international DVD labels and television networks. FilmGuru.Net spoke to Ben this month after he returned from a shoot in Ireland.

Documentarian Ben Meade in Venice, Italy.

1. What project are you working on right now? Something in Ireland?

I am finishing up a music documentary called American Music: Off the Record. It features theorists Noam Chomsky and Douglas Rushkoff and over 50 musical acts in an interrogation of the American music industry. The film covers a great deal of ground from the authenticity of live music to the circumvention of the corporate machine by indie distribution, to the demise of the privately owned music store. Deadline in June 1.

I also just got back from Ireland on a nine day shoot with the Irish Rock Band, The Elders. 150 Fans went. It was nuts. The working title is "message from the battlezone."

2. You mentioned an upcoming project involving gangsters. Care to shed some light on it?

It's The Owney Madden Story. We go into production September 2008 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Owney Madden was the most notorious gangster in US history, yet not many people know who he was or what he did. Time to dig up some more bones.

3. Your documentary American Stag ran into a few censorship roadblocks. Has the controversy helped you promote your film?

Yea, in fact that's how the deal with Bravo happened. They wanted it because it looked like something it was not.

4. What do you feel is your most important work to date?

Probably Vakvagany. It was the most difficult film to make, and taught me more about who I am so I could move forward. I had been ill before I went to Hungary to shoot it, and I learned what faith was. Plus it has played at 123 film festivals worldwide.

5. Tell me about your dream project.

A big budget fantasy film without CGI, working with Ray Harryhausen.

6. What led you to do documentaries?

I think narrative film is fine, I just see the world in a somewhat negative light, and docs are easier to do when you brood as much as I do. Plus narrative film is so star driven, which is bullshit in my opinion.

7. In your career, what's the strangest (or stupidest) thing you've done trying to get a film made?

Inserting a vegetable into an actor's sphincter in Bazaar Bizarre.

8. This week NPR reported that the Academy (AMPAS) proposed some rule changes for 2008 that would require documentaries to have a larger release schedule (14 cities, 3 day engagements and screen twice a day in at least 10 states) to be eligible for Oscar nominations. What impact (if any) do you think this will have on the documentary film making community?

This has happened (in my opinion) because documentaries have become so political and someone somewhere is trying to turn the heat down. Docs make people think about important issues, and the specialized class that run things don't like that. I think you will have more low budget docs now than ever before, and television will be most widely used means of distribution (as soon as we get rid of the head of the FCC, he's a real problem and people are afraid of him).

9. In addition to making films, you are also working on a couple of film festivals. Tell me a little about each of them.

The Kansas International Film Festival was started by the Mossman brothers and I back in 2000. We first called it the Halfway to Hollywood Film Festival, then changed the name in 2003. It was a smart move. Our festival has become the largest in the area, and I think we have a great team. Each year it gets better and better.

I am also on the board of directors of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival and Institute. We played there in '06, and fell in love with the place. It is literally a documentary town with one theatre that only screens docs... we even bought a second home there. I am the first person in the history of the festival that was asked to be on the board. Since I have only attended one retreat, I still am learning their system, but really dig the people.

10. Finally, what is your favorite movie of all time (and why)?

2001: A Space Odyssey. I guess because in 1968 I was 13 and I got it when not many people got it.